Qing Ming Festival special: Learn about ancestral tablets (Sun 26 March, 9.30am - 12.30pm)

Location:

Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre

Power Station room

30A Yishun Central 1

S768796

(Next to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital)

Activities include:

- Charades! How would you act out the concept of "Me"? How would you introduce yourself to a stranger? Or to yourself? Understand why it is important to know who we are.

- Doodling of family tree. Kids will list their family members as far back as possible. But it doesn’t have to look like a tree. How about, say, a travellator or rivers?

- Science experiment to understand why blood is thicker than water / 血浓于水. (Don’t worry, no kids will be harmed in the process :P)

- Use of Google Earth to explain the ancient concepts of clan culture / 宗族文化 and ancestral halls / 祠堂.

- Deconstruction of the character "家", its relationship with pigs, and how the Chinese concept of home differs from Western ones.

- Dramatic reenactments of the roles an ancestral hall plays, such as 家法 and 家训.

- Understand the astronomy behind the major Chinese festivals of 除夕, 清明, 中元节, 重阳 and 冬至.

- Understand the concepts of 初一十五 and the 24 solar terms / 二十四节气. Appreciate how they guided the agrarian lives of our ancestors.

- Appreciation of why ancestral tablets were needed and why they look the way they do. Realise they are nothing to be frightened about.

- Origami activity to help kids think of what they would say to their ancestors, if they had the chance.

- Discussion of how we ourselves would like to be remembered by our descendants. How should we lead our lives to make that happen?

Important to note:

* Due to limited slots, bookings are non-refundable.

* Do note that by attending this workshop, your child will not understand the complete story of the Qing Ming festival. What we aim to do instead is to plant the seeds.

* Photos of the classes may be taken and used for publicity purposes.

* Parents are allowed to sit in to observe the workshop if they wish. Do note that you will have to sit on the floor (like the kids do) to maintain a conducive learning environment. Photos are allowed.

* Curriculum is subject to minor changes.