Teaching children? You need props too.

If you are teaching a group of fidgety young children and find it very hard to gain their attention, who do you call? Your right brain, of course, to wake up your creativity so that you can create some visual props for the next lesson.

I have offered to create a lesson plan touching on "Perfect Speech / Mindfulness", since it was a topic I have touched on in my blog, "Philosophy Recycled".

This little prop I have created is to remind the children to handle their words with care.



I will be on a look out for newspaper articles of fights and crimes of passion instigated by harsh speech. A good way to show them the cause and effects of one's action in the heat of the moment. If they are not mindful, they have the power to hurt another with mere words.



What can that power transform words into?



What a wonderful way to be able to teach the children with the help of some free material. So, what if I am not able to think up of any props to create on the topic I am working on? I can get the children up and moving with some right and left brain activities to improve their concentration. This is Brain Gym and is taught to the students of the Sunday Dhamma School in Bandar Sungai Long.

If you would like to create the same prop, I have the instructions posted on my blog, Creative Recyclers.

Underwears? Yes, can be recycled.

The Sungai Long Buddhist Society organised a holiday camp for children of age 6 to 13 in the community and I was requested to conduct a workshop on pollution and the concepts of "Reduce, Re-Use and Recycle".

That put me on a search for slides and information that I can share with the children. I know that the younger children love action heroes and would enjoy watching cartoons. The older ones who are already aware of what pollution and 3Rs are about would need some surprises to get them to pay some attention.

Here is one that I have discovered from YouTube.



I know that this slide is a hit with the children because they kept recounting the story. Though underwears are not recycled in Malaysia yet, the slide is a good way to widen their horizons and get them to question what waste material other than paper, glass and aluminum can be recycled.

A mother of one of the participants became very concerned when she heard about the scene where the hero tried to commit suicide because he failed to persuade the Japanese to recycle their underwears. I cannot blame her for bringing this up to my attention because a 12 years old Indian girl in Malaysia committed suicide when she did not do well in school. So, be mindful if you are showing this slide to the children. Take time to explain that committing suicide is not the right or only way to solve a problem.

Did I discover any other interesting slides? Let me show you in my next posting.