On 17 April, 24 students from the Special Needs School in Puchong participated in a school trip to Muzium Negara and ten museum volunteers were at hand to make this a fun trip for them.
The students, aged between 7 and 12, were divided into three groups and were led through Galleries A, B and C by the volunteers. The students were engaged throughout and gave the volunteers their focused attention. Upon completing the tour of the galleries, they assembled at Dataran Muzium and took part in a few traditional games, namely the baling tin, gerek buluh and sepak buluh ayam.
This picture shows the children playing the Gerek Buluh. In this game, a wheel is attached to a long bamboo handle and the participants are required to roll the wheel to the opposite side and hand it over to their partners who will then take over in a relay. The winner is, and no marks for guessing, the team that is first to reach the finish line.
The children had the most fun in this game. Although some of them had difficulty controlling the wheel and went zig-zag instead of going in a straight line, they all managed to hold on to the bamboo and finish the game.
Below are pictures of the children touring the galleries. Kudos to volunteers Cay, Mique, Karen, Fafa, Miju, Vallie, Zakaria, Sarah, Serena and Colin for taking the time out and making it a fun day for the students.
Museum Volunteers, JMM 