Curious · Persistent · Kind
My name is Murphy Kwok and I am five years old. I am a curious and brave girl. I like doing experiments and coding with blocks. I like going on nature adventures and looking at animals too. I like reading books and making things with Mum and Dad more than watching screens. I go to bed early and get up early. When something is hard, I don't give up. I stop, I think, and I try again!
Murphy is a curious, determined and warm-hearted child. “It's still Day One”, the words behind us in this photo, is a belief at Dad's company and has become our family motto: stay curious and keep learning. We often tell her, “Play seriously, learn seriously.” It is fine not to know something yet, as long as she puts her heart into it. We believe in learning by doing and in time spent together: rather than give her the answer, we sit beside her while she tries, makes mistakes and tries again. Dad shows her what lifelong learning looks like. Mum looks after her full-time, plans our weekend activities and takes her along when she volunteers. We hope she grows up confident, humble and happy to help others.
From mixing up left and right to finding and fixing her own mistakes
When Murphy first tried Matatalab unplugged coding, she often mixed up whether the robot should turn left or right. When a route got long, she felt like giving up.
We did not correct her answers. We sat on the floor with her and traced the robot's path step by step with our fingers. When it went the wrong way, we asked together, “Why did it go there?” Over a few months, she learned to stay calm, find the mistake and fix it.
She entered six coding competitions in a year, starting in August 2025, and won first place in June 2026. We tell her competitions are for learning; the placing comes second. So when she does not win or gets something wrong, she does not cry or fuss. She looks back at what went wrong and says she wants to “try again”. To us, this matters more than a prize. Debugging has also taught her to break a problem into small steps.
“I like coding with blocks. I make the robot go through the maze!”
Mum also signs us up for parent-child STEAM activities run by different schools at weekends. Murphy has built a windmill and a spinning top for a parent-child science contest, made a water filter with sand and stones, pushed a wooden cart with magnets and lit a bulb with a closed circuit. With Mum, she used generative AI to make a picture of our family, which won first place in a parent-child AI art competition.
Dad has taken her to AWS and Google offices for family days and visits, where she saw new technology up close with other children. She asks “why?” about new things and makes friends quickly. After one visit she had a new wish: “When I grow up, I want to go to work with Daddy!”
Active days and quiet times
“I like riding my bike, skating and swimming. I can do the high rope course too!”
Mum and Dad's notes | At four, she learned to ride without stabilisers and got back up when she fell. At a children's traffic park in Tokyo, she could not speak the language but queued on her own, rode the smallest 12-inch bike round and round, and carefully kept to the traffic lights.
🏃🏻♀️ Traffic park · Forest Adventure
“I like drawing, making things and being on stage!”
Mum and Dad's notes | Reciting with a microphone, playing a weather presenter in a TV studio or performing at her kindergarten's end-of-year ceremony, she is relaxed and confident on stage. For a talent show, she also learned plate spinning and magic tricks.
“I like going to farms. I feed alpacas and pick strawberries!”
Mum and Dad's notes | She has met many animals and plants since she was a toddler. She is gentle with small animals and likes to try new things: she has used a magnifying glass to start a fire, and sawed wood with Dad, focused and careful. At home, she grows bean sprouts.
🌱 Kadoorie Farm · Sai Kung eco camp
“I like reading stories with Mum and Dad!”
Mum and Dad's notes | She enjoys reading with us and often brings a picture book for us to share. She asks about what happens in the story and likes to turn the pages. We also joined a reading night where families read together in tents.
🏅 Gold Award, Parent-Child Reading Scheme (kindergarten)
| Placing | Competition | Organiser | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coding and STEAM | |||
| Champion | 2026 International Youth I&T Education Contest: Unplugged Coding2026年國際青少年創科教育大賽－不插電編程比賽 | International youth I&T education association國際青少年創科教育協會 | 2026.06 |
| First Runner-up | Matatalab Unplugged Coding (Yau Tsim Mong)Matatalab 不插電編程比賽（油尖旺區） | TWGHs Lo Yu Chik Primary School東華三院羅裕積小學 | 2026.07 |
| First Prize | Coding Planet Explorer CompetitionCoding Planet 探險家比賽 | Buddhist Lim Kim Tian Memorial Primary School佛教林金殿紀念小學 | 2026.04 |
| First Prize | 3rd Matatalab Coding Challenge第三屆 MatataLab 編程挑戰賽 | Tung Chung Catholic School東涌天主教學校 | 2025.08 |
| Second Prize | GBA Unplugged Coding Challenge 2026大灣區不插電編程挑戰賽 2026 | The Boys' & Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong香港小童群益會 | 2026.06 |
| Second Prize | Tuen Mun Kindergarten Coding Competition屯門區幼稚園創智編程比賽 | LST Leung Wong Wai Fong Memorial School樂善堂梁黃蕙芳紀念學校 | 2026.05 |
| Parent-child creative work and maths | |||
| Champion | “Our Family” Parent-Child AI Art Competition我們這一家：全家變身大冒險 親子AI生成藝術比賽 | Ching Chung Hau Po Woon Primary School青松侯寶垣小學 | 2026.09 |
| First Runner-up | Lantern Design Competition (Parent-Child)國安家好花燈設計比賽（親子組） | Islands District women's association離島婦聯 | 2025.08 |
| Third Prize | 4th Parent-Child Maths Invitational第四屆親子數學邀請賽 | Tsing Yi Trade Association Primary School青衣商會小學 | 2026.01 |
| Most Popular Online, Bronze | “Planet Guardians at Home” Photo Competition「我家也有星球未來守護者」親子攝影比賽 | Lutheran Tsang Shing Siu Leun School香港路德會增城兆霖學校 | 2026.01 |
🏫 Kindergarten awards | Gold Award, Positive Star scheme; Gold Award, Parent-Child Reading Scheme; Gold Award, Healthy Living scheme; Certificate, Little Helper scheme; Helpful Child Award「德育小種子－正向之星」計劃金獎、親子閱讀獎勵計劃金獎、健康生活小勇士獎勵計劃金獎、「德育小種子－我是小幫手」計劃嘉許狀、樂於助人獎
We believe children learn a great deal by exploring. Rather than leave her learning to tutoring centres, we take her out to look closely, try things with her own hands and learn from her mistakes, growing in character, mind, body and creativity.
Dad | Dad is a Senior Cloud Architect at Amazon Web Services, working on AI projects in Hong Kong and Japan. He holds the AWS Golden Jacket for earning the full set of AWS certifications. “Learn and Be Curious”, one of Amazon's Leadership Principles, guides his work, and he brings it home: he takes things apart, builds things and asks questions with his daughter.
Mum | Mum looks after Murphy full-time and has volunteered in the community for years, at carnivals, visits to elderly people and painting stalls, and by leading outdoor activities. Murphy often goes with her and is learning that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
