Puppet show on Life of the Buddha (Year 2008)

Every year, the children listen to the story of Buddha, about how he was born and how he became the Buddha. We were afraid that the children might get bored if we tell the story again and so, for this year, we did a puppet show on life of the Buddha. We made the children perform for two purposes, one to perform during Wesak Day celebration and the other to make them remember the details during practice.


The puppets were made from printed out pictures of the characters and scenes, glued to a stick (as shown in picture) and the story was recorded with narration mixed with songs from “Come and See” album. Some girls were assigned to sing along while the some others played the puppets.

The children learn while they perform and during Wesak Day celebration 2008, they managed to put tears in some audience’s eyes. One of the weaknesses of this puppet show is the puppets printed. The color was not sharp and bright enough and many couldn’t see from behind. We can improve on that in future.


I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has chipped in their effort to make it work. To the principle of SDS and facilitators, I’m proud of our team spirit. It’s always a pleasure to work with all of you. To Cheng Sim and Mrs. Yong, thank you both for helping out. Without the two of you, the show would not go on so smoothly.

Treasure Hunt – Gotong royong (Year 2008)

“Thinking green in our neighborhood” was the theme for the last semester of Sunday Dhamma School. In line with the theme, we had a gotong-royong at section 7. Our mission was to clean the whole playground. To make it fun, we turned the gotong royong into a treasure hunt, a hunt for recyclable items and rubbish. After having this idea, we made Melvin, a teenager, the master mind behind the whole event and he made it seem like “Amazing Race”.


Children were divided into several groups and each group would have to run to a “check point” and answer certain questions or do certain thing that the persons in charged require them to do. They had to pick some recyclable items and throw them into the respective recycle bin to complete their task.


The children were all very excited and tried their best to be the winner. In no time, the park was clean! The children even had a chance to catch some fishes (paper fishes laminated with magnets on them) with fishing rods (a stick with magnet) from a pond (children’s swimming pool) full of rubbish.


Well, the children definitely learnt a lot about recycling and team spirit. At the same time, through the questions asked and activities done in each “check point”, they recall about global warming, recycling and the dhamma.

A Trip To Bird Park and Ti-Ratana

Note: This is not a report, just my personal experience and views. Photos taken by Hoong.

The trip to Ti-Ratana and bird park was wonderful. Although it was tiring, I believe many had enjoyed themselves, learnt something and made some new friends. What I enjoyed the most was the team spirit and the buddy system implemented. I could see the responsibility in the children which I have not seen previously.


Our first stop was the KL Bird Park. We were blessed to have a "tour guide", telling us about each species of bird, letting the children touch and feed the birds at the same time. The children were thrilled and I would say the adults were equally excited.

Bird Park - Part 1

Bird Park - Part 2

Before proceeding to Ti-Ratana, we had our lunch at the garden next to the National Monument. It was a beautiful place indeed. We were telling the children about the place and linking it to the advertisement that goes:

Lady: Can you tell me how to get to the National Monument?

School boys: You go straight and don't belok belok.

Remember?

Lunch at National Monument

After lunch, we hopped up the bus and we were on our way to Ti-Ratana. The place was quite huge consisting of a few buildings. They have a chanting hall as well as a multipurpose hall with a stage and a good P.A. system. The children there were very independent, I would say and that's what our children should learn. One thing which I felt lacking was the communication between us and the Ti-Ratana children. We were supposed to have games but due to the space constraint (there were too many people), we had to just go with the performance. Our children put up two performances. They really did a great job! The children of Ti-Ratana were talented too and by showing their talent on the stage, we could see the satisfaction in their eyes.

Ti-Ratana

Field trips of this sort should be encouraged. Children learn better if they can experience certain things themselves.

Game on Buddhist Flag

Last Sunday, we thought the children the symbols of Buddhism. To further enhance their understanding about the Buddhist flag and to let them remember the color of the Buddhist flag, we thought of a game to bring out the effect.

The game goes like this:

* Children are divided into 2 groups.

* Each group would be given color papers (color of the Buddhist flag).

* Each group would have short of one or two colors.

* Children are given 5-10 minutes to complete the flag, sticking each color paper together with tape.

When time is up, we would ask to see the result but none of the group would be able to present a complete Buddhist flag.

Then, we would tell them that the Buddhist flag cannot be built due to the shortage of color. Each group is like each person. Each has his or her own specialty and strong point as well as weakness. So, if the two groups could combine, they would easily build a beautiful flag. This also means that we (Buddhists / siblings/ friends) need to be united and help each other so that things get done.

Suggestion: We could combine the older children with the younger children for this game. Older children will be in two groups and the younger children will be in the other two groups. The scenario now is that the older children feel they are superior and do not wish to mix around with the younger children. From this activity, we could actually tell them that none if more superior to the other and that they should always help each other.

Quiz on Life Story of the Buddha

The children of Sunday Dhamma School have heard the life story of the Buddha several times and to repeat the story once again would make the children bored. So, how do we solve this problem since the syllabus of this term is Wesak and we want to tell this story again?

We came out with a suggestion to replace the story telling with a quiz on life story of the Buddha. The questions are basically set in sequence with the story, that is from the birth of Prince Siddhartha to the growing up of the prince, to the four sights, to when Siddhartha left the palace until he attain enlightenment and become the Buddha.

No story telling will be done this Sunday, but throwing of questions to the children. Our purpose is to make the session livelier and to test how much the children have absorb and could remember.

This is how we will have the quiz:

* Children are divided into 3 groups.

* Each group will be given several pieces of paper.

* Each member in the group would take turns writing the answer on the paper.

* Each group will be given 30 seconds to answer each question.

* When time is up, each group’s representative would show their answer and the right answer will be given 1 point.

* By the end of the quiz, the points will be totaled up and the group with the highest score will get 3 extra stars whereas the second group will get 2 extra stars and the last group will get 1 star each.

* For those who did not participate, no extra star will be given. Here, we are encouraging everybody to participate.

What do you think?

Busy Term For SDS

This term would be a busy term for us. The theme for this term is Wesak. Wesak, which falls on the 19^th of May would be celebrated everywhere and here in Sungai Long Buddhist Society, we would have a Wesak Day celebration, details yet to discuss.

What we know is that Sunday Dhamma School children will be taking active roles in the preparation of Wesak Day celebration. The younger ones will put up a show while the teenagers would help out like adults.

So, the syllabus for this term includes:

The significance of offerings

Symbols of Buddhism

Life Story of the Buddha

While sharing dhamma on the above topics, we are actually preparing them for Wesak Day. Last Sunday, we showed them how offering is done and have the older kids to actually offer flowers, incense, light, water and fruits to the triple gem, after which we showed them a slide on the significance of offerings.

This Sunday would be a day we tell the children about each symbol and at the same time let the children do some crafts. The smaller children would be doing glitters mandala which would be used as decorations on Wesak Day whereas the older ones would make candle holders which would be sold on Wesak Day.

As for the show, how about a puppet show on life story of the Buddha by the little ones and a song by the older kids?

Well, a big event it will be and it will definitely take up a lot of our time and effort. We hope everyone learn something through this.

If you have any suggestion, please feel free to drop me a line here.