Traditional Toy DIY Session 2009



Any idea what these are? Those children are busy filling tiny little bags with beans. Yah! They were making their own five stones and chapteh during their September Holiday Craft Session.

Frankly, I don't have the time to work on these two projects before hand. Base on instinct, I gathered the materials I had and headed straight to the centre to teach the craft. The original technique to make five stones needs some basic sewing skill, but it's a big task for children around 4 years old to handle needle and strings. So I changed the whole process into a easier and faster way for them. That's to use UHU glue to put the two tiny pieces of cloth together. Easy Right??

The children filled up each bag with beans after the glue on the sides dried up and sealed it up again with glue on the last opening... All it takes is about 5 to 10 mins to get it all done. The children were so eager to play with their very own five stones, they started playing with it immediately even before the glue dries completely.

As for the chapteh, I can only recycled the rubber that I used for the base. There were about 22 kids altogether, I can't actually make them to pick up bird feathers from the green fields around their estates. So, materials like feathers and thumb tacks used have to be puchased. All they did is to gather 3 pieces of feathers, holding them together with double sided tape, poke a thumb tack into the centre of the rubber base, then, into the end of one of the feather. Secure the feathers and the tip of the thumb tack with a tape and it was done!

It's a relief to see everything put together successfully within that 2 and a half hours for twenty over kids. Looking at them, playing with the traditional toys I 've taught them to make, was a great achievement for me. This experience that they had will accompany them through their childhood memories, I believed...

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