Free play session to build cooperation using toys
At the event held on November 22, 2024, I presented the story ‘Bitter at First, Sweet at Last’ with the theme of Friendship. We opened with each person saying, “ My name is ____, and the good thing that I have is…”
They simply answered, ”My kindness is to invite friends to play.” “This morning I helped my mother to cook.” One child told me, “One of my kindnesses is that I usually go to the rice fields with my father to help drive away the birds that will eat his rice plants.”
The village environment with high religious observance shapes them to avoid contact with the opposite sex. They always equate playing together with the opposite sex with dating. Ironically, this was said by children aged 6-8 years old. I wanted to bring them together and hoped they could play together without any barriers between them, by playing the Light and Lively called ‘Magnet’. It worked! As ‘magnets’ in this game, they joined hands and worked together as a team.
Then we read the story Bitter at First, Sweet at Last. They seemed eager to listen to the story. When we entered the discussion session, one child asked, “Why are Israel and Palestine at war?” I threw the question back to all my friends. Some argued that Israel captured Palestinian villages. Then the discussion got more exciting and I asked where did friends get information related to the war? They all answered, “from television and the internet.”
Free play session, children build a ship with legos
Then the next question is, how do we resolve the war? Some answered that we must be friends with everyone, that if we are wrong, we must apologize, and that we must rebuild damaged houses so that they can sleep comfortably and not in refugee barracks like in the story Bitter at First, Sweet at Last.
One child suggested, “Why don’t they all move to Indonesia? It’s quiet and peaceful here. There’s no war.” Then I shared information with them that there is also war in Indonesia, a war between tribes. I took the example of a tribal war that occurred in Papua. They were shocked to see that there was a war going on in their country. At the end of the activity, we made gifts for our friends using legos and straws.
The personal reflection that I take from this experience is that television and internet information media, which are often also exaggerated and exploited for business purposes, have a big impact on children. Information displaying war and violence is very interesting and will get high ratings, while broadcasting news of peaceful paths in war situations is rare. Through Power of Goodness, we can learn and know the real things that happen and the positive things to find the way of peace even in difficult situations.
Nauval – Niscaya, Bintang – Baik, and Izar – Istimewa are reading children’s books in a free play session.