It was a lively week at SPD as staff, volunteers, caregivers and clients got together to celebrate Singapore’s 54^th birthday.

Bake Sale and Games at the Day Activity Centre

The Day Activity Centre (DAC) organised a National Day Fiesta on 6 August, a festival of food and games to celebrate Singapore’s birthday. Freshly fried and baked snacks and pre-packaged nibbles prepared by the DAC staff, as well as sponsored snacks and drinks from our friendly neighbour, Forty Hands, were put up for sale by the DAC clients. Clients’ money handling skills were put into practice and funds were raised for more outdoor activities and outings for the clients.

Besides the snacks booth, clients also manned the various game booths, such as hitting the bull’s eye, hand bowling and tossing the ring, attracting participation from staff and other clients who came to join in the fun.

Lessons in Patriotism for our Little Ones

An exciting day awaited all from the Building Bridges EIPIC Centre at SPD Ability Centre on 7 August.

Teachers and caregivers lined up a series of entertaining activities for the children who engaged in hands-on activities and interacted with children from other classes. Together with the adults, the children tried their hands at preparing their own beverages, expressed their creativity through colouring and completed artwork of various insects and had fun posting for photos and getting character tattoos.

This year, the EIPIC team collaborated with the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and got our children to make clay models and decorate their own artwork of the Utama’s Cat, an actual museum exhibit specially adapted to suit the National Day theme and to celebrate Singapore’s rich history. This was part of SAM’s initiative to extend the museum experience and education beyond the museum grounds to reach out to the community, particularly those with special needs.

One of the caregivers, Mr Lu Dong Yi, praised the well-organised event. “It created lots of opportunities for the children to interact with one another. Activities were fun and significantly helped the kids and parents to bond. Thank you teachers for the great event!” he commented.

Our staff from other divisions also volunteered to help out at the activities and joined in the celebration, adding to the energetic atmosphere.

Appreciating Diversity

Parents and caregivers took the lead in organising this year’s Racial Harmony and National Day celebrations at SPD@Bedok on 6 August.

They came together and worked closely with our staff to put together an event that guaranteed great fun and learning for the children.

Much like fairy godparents, the caregivers magically transformed the four classrooms into a different world with distinct ethnic themes. There, the children’s imaginations took flight as they tried out different traditional costumes and accessories. The little ones were also introduced to different ethnic art and craft, for example the art of Rangoli (creating patterns on the floor using colour materials like rice) and Chinese calligraphy. They also explored traditional musical instruments, such as Kompang (drum-liked instrument) and Chinese drums, and played traditional games including hopscotch, zero-point (skipping game) and chapteh (weighted shuttlecock).

There was also a variety of traditional delicacies, such as nine-layer kueh (colourful layered steam cake), wajik (sweet sticky rice cake), kurma (sweet ginger-spiced snack) and muruku (savoury crunchy snack) to sate the children’s appetite.

“We are extremely grateful to the caregivers who went out of their way to prepare for the event and to ensure that all went smoothly. I look forward to many more future collaborations!” said Haziyah Mohd Jailani, teacher at SPD@Bedok.

Advocating for a Sustainable Singapore

Our Building Bridges EIPIC Centre at SPD@Jurong took the opportunity to create awareness of environmental sustainability for the children during this National Day.

Everyone sang along as National Day songs were played and children with birthday in the month of August were invited to cut the birthday cake in the design of the Singapore flag. The children and caregivers then had a game of “Amazing Race” where they participated in a series of interesting and educational activities.

In keeping with the Sustainable Singapore theme, the children recycled used plastic bottles by converting them into pig or aeroplane-shaped coin banks. They added their personal touches to their coin banks by decorating them with stickers relating to Singapore. The children were also introduced to recycling efforts where they learnt about the different materials that could be recycled. A variety of games, including traditional ones like hopscotch and knocking out the cans, and photo-hunting of correct locations and animals, were also played.

This National Day, the children had a delightful time while enhancing their communication skills and learning more about racial harmony and recycling. Not only did the children enjoy themselves, the adults did too!