On our visits to CCF children and their families, we often see kids in the remote areas make their own toys from any local materials they can find; wooden sticks, leaves, or unwanted items around their houses. I guess it’s just the way we did when we were young, creating our own toys from imagination. It is the first step of learning outside school.

It was a day our team went to Ban Sompoi in Tak province for project follow-up and the “Happy Saturday” activity conducted for the kids in the community. After the session, the kids ran off to find their corners making the most of their free time. At this point, I joined them and spend some time with each of them. There  was one group of girls  who were concentrating with doing something behind the folded table, so I approached them to find out what they were up to. I found the Karen girls weaving. They gathered some old nylon strings and bamboo sticks, sitting in the shade, imitating how their mothers weave. They divided the nylon strings by colours, just like the pattern of their Karen traditional clothing. They made the looms out of bamboo sticks, old and torn nylon strings for yarns, and the table to secure the little looms. This shows how kids are good at copying what they see in their everyday life and they can make it very well, using imagination and creative thinking.

Children are proud of their creation, it will boost their self-confidence. Our job as adults is to support and guide them to the right tracks, according to their skills and interests. Till one day they are able to spread their wings, it’s our time to step down and let them mold the newer generation.

Jareonwut Komolvanich
Regional Program Officer
1 August 2016