Kampong Days in Frontier!

Now, what do you think this is?

Awesome! That’s the word to describe the whole month of July! July was really exciting and fun because there were many activities for us to take part in as part of Racial Harmony Day celebration!

These Games are fun!

Earlier in July, I saw some kampong house structures in the canteen! Wow, I was intrigued by them! I didn’t know that the older generations lived in such small wooden houses! I was shocked when I saw the toilet that was used in the kampong! It was small and did not have any toilet bowl. Instead, the toilet was raised above the ground with a platform that housed a bucket, covered by a wooden board. From the description provided by National Heritage Board, I have learnt several other things. In the 50s and 60s, many kampongs did not have electricity. Most households used firewood or charcoal for cooking in a brick stove. To get water, the kampong residents had to fetch water from public standpipes to their homes every day. Wow, I can’t imagine myself having to fetch water from public standpipes every day. I must really appreciate the modern amenities that I have and use them wisely instead of taking them for granted!

Kampong Doors~ Are these doors secured?

I was really glad that the Travelling Exhibition by NHB lasted for two weeks because that meant that I could play traditional games with my friends for two whole weeks! Hurray! Look at some of the games that I played with my friends! Gasing, Hopscotch, Goli, Capteh, Congkak, Five stones and Pick-up sticks etc. Have you played them before?

Frontierers playing Congkak

Initially, I did not know how to play the games. Fortunately, my Social Studies teacher taught us how to play the various games during Social Studies lesson. She not only passed the different games such as capteh and kuti kuti around to let us feel and touch, but also demonstrated how to play the games and showed us videos from http://www.gamesweplayed.sg/about.html  to let us have a deeper understanding.

Kuti Kuti - You mean My Mom Used to play with these!

I thought that the word “kuti” is an English word, but I learnt from the website that it is actually a Malay word that means “flick”. After we learnt about the various games played by past generations in Singapore, we had to complete a worksheet to identify the various games. I was super happy that all my answers were correct!

Capteh and skipping ...

During Music lesson, I learnt to sing the song “The more we get together” in the various mother tongue languages. The song, which has a lively tune and rhythm, is about friendship. My classmates and I thought it was pretty cool to sing a song in different languages! My teacher told me that these are the songs that my parents may have learnt as children.


Learning "The More We Get Together" in Different Languages



Dragon Design for me!

My Kite, My Design

Art lesson was also amazing! My teacher taught us to make kites! She also taught us the design elements found in various cultural designs! For instance, I learnt that motifs are repeated to create patterns in Malay designs and Chinese designs tend to use bright colours such as red and pink! With oil pastels and tracing paper, I drew a Malay floral design and my friend drew an Indian henna design on her kite! Although I’m not sure if my kite could really fly, I’m proud to make the first kite of my life!

Zero Point!

Other traditional games such as ‘Sepak Takraw’ and ‘Zero Point’ were introduced to us during PE lesson.  Wow! I was surprised that rubber bands could be tied to one another to form a long skipping rope! I guess I would start collecting rubber bands now to form my own Zero Point rope!

So, these are the games that my mommy and daddy used to play!