SDN Rawa Badak Utara 17 Pagi

Remember my post about Kelas Inspirasi last week? Okay, Kelas Inspirasi is a place for people (volunteer) who wants to contribute to Indonesia to teach/share about what they're doing for their environment. This opens the door for a positive interaction between the professionals with schools in Jakarta, especially in elementary school. Volunteers (or professionals, yes basicly they volunteer) have to take a day off and share their experience with elementary school children, based on the participation's individual work, not institutions. This shows that the awareness for education is still high. Kelas Inspirasi is expected to encourage professionals to take an active role in education through similar activities. And also to encourage the kids to dream big, follow that dream and reach it! Because there are so much things out there that they can do for them self and for this country too.

On the 20th of Feb  2013...our team will be teaching (or you can say sharing) in one of the school in Jakarta Utara. SDN Rawa Badak Utara 17 Pagi. So earlier this morning, we went to the school and did some survey...

We're all excited about this! I'll keep you posted :)

Gufran :)

Meet Gufran, 12yo. My sister Raya, my cousin Kara, my bestfriend Mela and I, sponsor his education. He has 4 sisters...1 already left with her husband, 3 still lives with him. The youngest sister has down syndrome. His dad is sick and the mom has no job. But when I talked with Gufran earlier today, he always smiled :) He loves to play soccer too. "When I grow up, I want to be a doctor..." he said. Little things do count and it really made my day :)
Want to join us? You can also help another children too. I'm sure there are many NGOs or places where you can sponsor a child or you can contact YUM Indonesia. Let's help :)

You can check my good friend Echa's story on her blog :)

Children of Life

In the award-winning documentary Children Full of Life, a fourth grade class in a primary school in Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo, learn lessons about compassion. Toshiro Kanamori teaches the kids to be happy, to empathize for people going through rough times, to share their feelings and support one another. Trust, respect and friendship.

One tradition in his class is that every day, three students read out "notebook letters," a journal entries that express happiness, irritation, gratitude or sadness. 

"What's the most important thing this year?" asks Toshiro Kanamori to his students? "To be happy!" the children response.

"Empathy is the greatest thing. There's an expression I love: 'Let people live in your heart."
Toshiro Kanamori, 4th grade teacher

Thank you Eva for sharing :)

Highlights of the week...

Got to learn a bit from Fezia this morning...while doing her Aqua therapy with differently abled kids. Fezia was my yogi when I took my kids yoga teacher training. It was nice to see her working with those kids in the water. You can call me cheesy...but it was heartbreakingly beautiful seeing those kids doing their session.

One of the kids told us about his experience with this therapy (as you can see from the pic, using his communication board)...and this is what he said to Fezia..."At first I was so scared. And I want to apologize, because I was holding on too hard on you. Because it's my first time with you and I don't trust you at first. Yes, I want to have another session with you, I want you to come again.". And then Fezia told him that she'll come back to teach more people here so they can help him and other kids too.

And this is the part when I got teary eyes (Fezia and Tina too) when he said..."Not a lot of people work with hearts here...".

Let's help them people...let's help them..

Morning yoga with kiddos :)

I was volunteering for Desa YUM Cipanas Kids Day last week. And one of the activities was the morning yoga with the kids. I did it together with Vanessa, one of the Australian volunteer.  The kids were all excited to start the yoga.

Okay so we did it in a library...not that big of a space...but it has carpet on the floor....so it's safer for the kids. It was full house! I know...for a real yoga class it's not that appropriate if it's too crowded....but hey, it's for fun this time :)

Since we're talking about saving the animals (the first day)...Vanessa and I were thinking that we might as well talk about it too. So we asked the kids to join us...to used their imagination that they're going to the jungle...to protect the animals...

First we did the half lotus pose....we asked the kids to do some breathing. And then, we did the seated and twist pose. We told them that we have to do some warming up first before we go to the jungle :)

After that...we started with animals poses. We told the kids to used their imagination that they're in the jungle....and what animals can they find there. First they said, "lioonnn!!!!"....Okay so we did the lion pose with the sound of  "rawwrrrrrrrrr" while we sticked out our tounge. The kids were cute! Next, they saw some elephants...so we did the elephant pose. Then, we made baloon breathe for about 3 times. After that, they said...we made tree poses too. Then they found a cat....so we made cat pose with the sound "meeoow". And they found a dog...so we did the downward dog pose. And they wanted to see some cobra too.....so we did the cobra pose with the sound "sssssssssssssss..."..

After walking around the jungle...we asked the kids to do some breathing again. Then we made warrior pose...a warrior who's going to protect the animals in the jungle. After that....we did some lotus flower pose too and butterfly pose too...

Then we sat with our half lotus pose again...and placed our hands on the knees to do some breathing. This was probably one of the best feeling I've ever had...yes, you can call me cheesy hahaha. But it's true that "little things do count". I turned on the music "Di sini senang di sana senang" by Adithia Sofyan. I asked the kids to close their eyes...and just breathe in...breathe out. It turned out to be a very peaceful moment...one of the nicest feeling I've ever had...and I was very happy and glad to share that with Vanessa and the kids! 

It's cute that some of the kids were saying "ssshhhh we have to pray now..." :) I told them that we just have to breathe in...breathe out...listened to the nice words from the song...and relax :)

You can hear the song here..

After that...we placed our hands in front of the chest and said Namaste :) Yes...that was one of the nicest experience I've ever had...with kids too :)

PS: more pics here. 

My (small) Kids Yoga Class

I'm very happy to say that now i'm officially a Kids Yoga Instructor (one of my happiness list). I got the certificate yesterday morning! It was a great way to start the new month :)

So this is my yoga class:

My Yoga Kids Class with my nieces, the theme was "We're Going to the Zoo" :) I think it is necessary to encourage children to care for animals.

I compiled some songs that would make us feel the joy and fun of the exercise. Started with one of the song from "Where the Wild Things Are“ called “Igloo”. We began by sitting on our mat, rubbing our hands together, and breathing. It's funny to see them how they breathe through their nose. Not all kids can do that around the age of 5 (and I remember Fezia told me about it). So we tried to follow the "u u u u u" sound to practice our breathing too. So funny when one of the girls said "there's too much u u u u here in this song." But she did it anyway :) One of my nieces couldn’t do it, so I’ll practice with her more next session . And then we rolled our shoulder to the front and back, we put our head to the righ and left, up and down...we repeated it for a few times.

For stretching we did sun salutation, downward dog and cobra, we did this 3 times while the music followed us through “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles. Next, we did the warming up, imagining we are already in the zoo. We did the butterfly pose with the song "Fly like a Butterfly" ...they loved it as they sang along. Then we did the tree pose. After that, we did the elephant pose, then had big balloons breathe 3 times. And then the lion pose and the seal pose...all with sounds...their favorite was the elephant pose because they liked to swing it and said it was nice because they can make wind. The also enjoyed the lion pose because they can
stick their tongue out while saying "wwwaaaaaaawwwrrrrrrrrr" :p Then we stopped and had big balloons breathe again for 3 times.

After that we did the "Row boat" and the "Lotus flower" poses. The lotus flower pose was enjoyable, they kept on trying to do it....and finally they did it!

After that we did some breathing with the dolls on their tummy, and with the dolls...we made games on who can make the tallest and lowest mountain for the animals with their tummy.

Then, we lay down on our back while listening to some songs and had a quite time for a while. Then we sat, did a meditation and ending it all together by saying Sat Nam. I explained to them the meaning was to be truthful to yourself, parents and teacher and to other people too.

Here are some of the pics... 

tree pose

lotus flower

I think Yoga with children offers many possibilities to exchange wisdom and share good times. The greatest challenge with children is to hold their attention long enough to teach them to do yoga or the poses. Because actually the breathing exercise, balance control, self affirmation, relaxation and meditation are great for them. Mediation can be challenging for adults and children, but it really is needed in today's fast paced life. We need quiet time to look within ourselves and children do too.

I think with animal adaptations and behavior, adaptation from our surroundings, music and playing instruments, storytelling…together we’ll do it with our bodies and minds in a flow that could only happen in child's world or child’s play….we’ll make it fun!

I am very grateful to to join Fezia's Radiant Child Yoga workshop & training. I will definitely want to learn more (for myself too)....and going to use and pass this knowledge to help kids, to help them have a better quality of life…for their own good and others too. And let them  appreciate more about their body…and little things in life…like smile and breathe :)

SatNam :)

Kutakatik Art & Craft Holiday Program 2012 :)

Helllooo...

It's time for your kids to have fun again at Kutakatik Art & Craft Class Holiday Program! We'll be doing some ooking, painting, drawing, papier mache, making toys and more! We’ll learn how to use things around the house (recycled) and combine it with new stuffs.

For 3 - 14 y.o
Rp.500,000 /kid, 4 days a week
or 1 day for Rp. 125.000
(including snacks, drinks and
material)

If register before june 10 2012  you'll get Rp. 50,000 discount.

June 11-14 • June 18-21 • June 25-28 * July 2-5 * July 9-12 * July 16-19 2012
9:30- 11:30 or 14 :00 - 16:00

at Pondok Indah

Registration:
082113131132/08129231376/
02170509109
or kutakatikartcraft@gmail.com

KidsYoga Teacher Training

I met  Fezia Tyebally a couple of months ago, my good friend Tina introduced us. They both are kidsyoga teacher for typicall & differently abled children. And thanks to both of them, they made me want to learn more about kidsyoga too.
And last week, I attended the 5 days Kids Yoga Teacher Training with Fezia, for typicall children and differently abled children. It was a very insightful and nice training. It was like a mental shower for me. I learned more a lot from her about little things in life, kids, yoga itself, breathing, and of course yoga poses too. There were 14 of us and we were having fun together. Five days training, we're all tired but yet we're happy! It's always nice to meet new people and learn from them too :)

Pic from BlissWellnessCo

Fezia showed us some simple poses for kids and the benefits behind those poses too. I was amazed, never thought about it before. Each poses have their own effects/purposes, for our body, us adults and especially for typicall/differently abled kids. Yes, she told us that "we're not a healer, we're there to help the typicall/differently abled kids so they can cope with things more easily..."

We learned that we can use these kind of tools to play or to do yoga with kids :) And we were surprised about it. It's very usefull! Besides all of the poses, we can play games with kids too. And yes we have to make it fun in the class!

This training made me appreciate more about our body, little things in life and kids too of course. I think we just have to respect each other and children too. We don't need labels. And that everybody has their own God/Jesus/Muhammad or whatever they feel call/feel it in this universe....it's their own business. We just have to be kind and accept our differences, same thing like the typicall person/kid and differently abled person/kid. Always think positive, and  yes, nothing's is perfect....so what? there must be some other way.

Lia, Me, Fezia and Ade :)

Some thoughts from Fezia that made me think for my self, kids and people too..."Whatever you do, do it with your heart and kindness, you try and try and then you let go...simple..." :)
And..."How do you spell Impossible? I-AM-Possible.."....how do you read this " Opportunity nowhere? Look again, and you will see that Opportunity Now Here..." :)

Now I know that Tree Pose and Downward Dog are my favorite yoga poses :) So I rubbed my hands now, breathe and let's say "Sat Nam". Sat Nam means "be truth to yourself". We need to have balance...for our mind, body and spirit...to be truthfull to ourself. And now I can't wait to do my homework and start to do yoga with kids...and help the kids too :)

Shadow Puppetry for Early Childhood Education Workshop

I attended a two days workshop about Shadow Puppetry by Susan Allen & Susiawan, founders of Yellow Coco creative nest, a community based arts Nyuh Kuning, Ubud, Bali. They live together in Ubud. The workshop discusses as they say it, “the usage of shadow puppetry in classroom teaching and learning. We can use the shadow puppet to learn about science, change of time, source of life, counting...and lots of more stuff”.  And it's true :)

Susan told us too...that, puppets have captured our imaginations from when we were young, teaching us everything from basic math to the alphabets.

Susan & Susiawan made us think about, "how to use art in basic education." And let the kids use their imagination and creativity. Use their body, mind, soul....wholeness :) The creativity itself has to be risk taking, in a non-judgemental atmosphere. We have to teach the kids about acceptence and differences too. Let them play too...and yes, creativity needs time, especially for  kids :)

And to make the shadow puppet, it could be musical, story based, emotion, colourfull. Ouw and the kids will gain more confident too by playing behind the screen. :)

Susan & Susiawan's wayang

We made our own Gununngan :)

We made our own storyboard and wayang too.

One of the reasons why i love arts & crafts....check out the materials. And as for simple wayang, you only need simple stuff such as, brown paper, strings, chopstix, etc...as you can see from the pics :)

After that, we played the story too. We had to put our mind like we're in Pre-K or Kindergarten :)

Great people, great speakers, nice positive vibe...it was a great workshop! It's always nice meeting new people, share knowledge and just have fun with them :)

Make your own therapy tools :)

I've been working with 2 kids with special needs these days. Autism and speech delay. I looked for tools that could help me for my therapy with them. I found this article that is very helpfull. It's from this website, by Terri Mauro. Improvise with some homemade items may give you a preview of how your child will respond, well children have different needs. I'll copy paste some for you...

For calming the mind of an autistic kid, (or any special need kid) maybe you can try this one:

Fidget Toys

When "sit still and pay attention" isn't enough to get them paying attention, that's when fidgets work best combined with things that allow a little movement such as move and sit seat wedgesYou can get sets of nifty fidget toys, of all kinds and sizes and shapes. Try, for starters:

• A balloon filled with sand and knotted securely
• A smooth stone
• A palm-size sea shell
• An old set of keys
• A combination lock

For the speech delay, maybe you can try this one:

Oral Motor Items

Strengthening the muscles in your child's mouth can increase speech production and decrease drooling. Anything that gives the mouth a strong sensory jolt can also improve sensory integration and make your child less likely to finger-suck or mouth objects. Try these around-the-house items to do a little impromptu oral-motor therapy.

• Straw: Have your child suck something thick -- pudding or yogurt are good choices -- through a regular or twisty straw.
• Whistle: Speech and occupational therapy catalogs sell a variety of fancy whistles, but your child can get some benefit from a plain whistle, a plastic flute, a kazoo, or one of those mini-trombone-type whistles where you pull the end of it and the sound goes up and down.
• Bubbles: Blowing bubbles is good exercise for your child's mouth. Make sure he or she actually blows rather than just waving the wand around.
• Cotton balls: Hold races to see who can blow a cotton ball across a table the fastest. Have your child do it with just his mouth, and then with a straw.
• Plastic necklace: Inexpensive aquarium tubing from a pet store makes a nice chewable necklace for kids who need to gnaw. Try knotting some beads in the tube for extra oomph, or putting it in the fridge for a cool bite.

You can also try this:

Weighted Items

• Weighted blanket: Take a heavy afghan and and fold it into quarters to concentrate the weight. Put it on your child at night and see if it stops rocking, rolling, and sleeplessness.
• Weighted vest: Take an old vest or shirt and fill up the pockets and hems with curtain weights. Have your child wear it during stressful times, but not constantly -- it will lose its effect with overuse. Consult with an occupational therapist trained in sensory-integration techniques to determine the appropriate amount of weight for your child.
• Pencil weight: Got a big box of loose nuts and bolts in the garage? Rummage through to find some nuts that will fit on the end of a pencil, then glue two or three of them around the barrel.
• Weighted stuffed animal: Take an old favorite stuffed animal -- but one not so favorite that your child will mind you slashing it open -- and cut open paws and tummy to insert more curtain weights, nuts and bolts, or other heavy items. Sew the critter back up securely and let him sit on your child's lap during homework.
• Body weights: Catalogs sell weights for wrists, arms, even shoes. Improvise by putting some books in a backpack or weights in a fanny pack and having your child wear them when jumpy.

Tactile Experiences, for children who have tactile defensiveness...sensitive to touch sensations:

• Rice: Fill a bin with rice and let your child plunge hands deep into it. Hide some toys and measuring cups for added fun. Dried beans are another good choice.
• Bubbles: Blowing bubbles is good, and trying to catch bubbles is good, too. Kids who don't like to touch stickly slimy substances may be less threatened when the stuff is bubbling through the air.
• Shaving Cream: Spray some on a shower or bathtub wall and let your child fingerpaint with it.
• Sand: A sandbox can be a full-body experience for a child with tactile cravings. Let your child get down and dirty with it.
• Ball pits: You can buy a big inflatable pit and the balls to fill it for big bucks, but many kids' restaurants will let your child play in theirs for as long as you want for the price of a slice or a soda. Bring a book and enjoy it while your child hits the pit and has a great therapeutic experience.

 Maybe you want to try it at home :)

Happiness is...

One of my "Happiness is"...well...it's my work...well maybe it's not a job...maybe like Rumi said..."Let the beauty of what you love be what you do...". I love kids, I love social work, I love to make things (like my totebag and my boneka), I love arts and crafts. I'm blessed because I do what I love :)

First, me and my sister, with our baby steps....pursuing our dreams with Kutakatik Art & Craft Class.
Then, I got a chance to have a training and be a homebased therapist for autistic kid. I always wanted to work with special needs children. And hopefully this coming April, I will be doing some training to be a Yoga Teacher for kids and kids with special needs too.

Hopefully....I can help more kids too! So, thank You God and wish me luck :)