The Little House (Montessori)
As the children made their way to the museum, we stopped by the iconic Raffles statue, which is located by the Singapore River. Mrs Jo shared a snippet of its significance in Singapore’s history: the statue marks the spot he landed on terra firma.
They continued on their walk to the museum after a briefing on museum etiquette. The children were eager to learn more about the fascinating stories on various mythical creatures.
A group photo as soon as we entered the museum.
They were then split up into three groups and each were allocated a docent. Mrs Natalia, Ms Anisha and Ms Ambica refreshed them on their museum etiquette and an introduction on what the children can expect during the session.
Our first stop was the ceramic jars that were used to carry water, oil, preserved food and other commodities. Many of these jars were made in southern China but others were produced in Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia. The lady on the left is a shadow docent learning the ropes.
A mythical creature that was spotted on many of the jars was the dragon. The children were intrigued by the designs and were excited to count the number of dragons they could spot.
Mrs Natalia explained how the dragon was an amalgamation of different animals. They immediately pointed out the scales on the dragon that came from the fish and were excited to learn more about the story behind it.
As they sat down, Mrs Natalia began the tale of the fish and the dragon. In the past, the dragons would guard the gate of the river in which the fishes swam into and would not allow the fishes to swim past them. Many fishes were envious of the dragons and would try different methods to get through the gate just so that they could join the dragons. However, no fish succeeded. A baby fish, who refused to give up, discovered that the dragons were very competitive creatures as they were often engaged in various competitions between each other. Then, it came up with an idea to taunt the dragon on its ability to fly. Thus, the dragon sprang into the sky and the fish slipped thru the gate. Instead of getting angry, the dragon smiled and said that the fish deserved to be a dragon as it was able to outsmart the dragon. Then, the scales on the fish gradually became larger and it turned into a dragon. The children identified the moral of the story which was not to give up despite adversities.
They were taken to the next exhibit which included more ceramic products that were mainly from Vietnam. Blue and white porcelain of the Yuan dynasty, which was popular abroad, heavily inspired the Vietnamese in their ceramics.
Children spotted more creatures like dragon, parrot and lion and were eager to hear another story behind one of the animals.
Mrs Natalia sat them down and started the story on how the parrots got their colourful feathers from. A long time ago, in the forest where the parrot lived, a forest fire happened due to the lightning strike. Instead of flying away, the parrot flew to warn his other friends and told everyone to run to the river. However, its friends were trapped by a ring of fire around them. The parrot flew to the river, collected as much as water as it could to put out the fire. As it was doing so, the feathers of the parrot started to turn black due to the smoke. An eagle came and was so touched by the parrot’s determination to rescue its friends that it began to cry. It’s tears put out the fire and cleaned the parrot’s feathers. Sun and rain came and slowly the parrot’s feathers turned colourful.
Next stop was a creature that intrigued everyone as none of the children had seen before. It’s uniqueness was such that parts of the creature were made out of the strongest and most powerful part of different animals. The name of the creature was Makara.
The children pointed out how certain parts of the Makara included the trunk of an elephant, the teeth of the crocodile and the horns of a goat. Mrs Natalia explained that it is usually placed on a boat or in front of one’s house for protection.
The children sat down and listened to a story on how the Makara got it’s jaw from the crocodile. Once, there was a mighty elephant that was boastful and constantly won many races among other animals. One day, it was challenged by a crocodile as it was crossing the river. The fight lasted for weeks and the elephant refused any help from anyone. As the fight went by, the elephant finally asked God for help as it grew exhausted. Thus, God gifted the elephant with the jaw of the crocodile with a promise that it will not grow arrogant. One of the children pointed out how the moral of the story was such that there will always be someone who is better and stronger no matter how strong they think they are.
Mrs Natalia took the children to the next artefact which was of the God Ganesha. They looked at one of the four-armed statue where Ganesha used its trunk to tuck into a bowl of sweetmeats. They pointed out a cobra on his tummy and were excited when they learnt that there is a story behind it.
The children gathered to listen to the story of how the cobra ended up on Ganesha’s tummy. Ganesha was riding on a mouse while holding plenty of sweet puddings. Suddenly, a snake popped out of nowhere and scared the mouse away. The mouse jumped and as a result, Ganesha fell. His stomach burst open and all the puddings came out. Feeling furious, Ganesha took the snake and tied it around his belly. As all this was happening, the moon was watching from afar and began to laugh. This angered Ganesha and he broke off one of its tusks and hurled it to the moon. Without the moon, the world turned dark and thieves began to roam around terrorizing the area. The Gods pleaded for Ganesha to bring the moon back. He relented but under one condition – the moon would no longer shine in its full glory every night.
Meanwhile, some of the children were taken to view an artefact called ‘Hanuman’ by Ms Anisha. She explained that Hanuman is the devoted monkey general from the Ramayana. It takes the form of a human with a monkey head. The hand at its mouth indicated humility.
The story, as told by Ms Anisha, regarding Hanuman captivated the children. One day, Hanuman got hungry and could not find any fruits to eat. Then, it saw the rising sun looking red and resembling a fruit. Hanuman mistook it for a fruit and decided to fly towards it at great speed. The sun God saw Hanuman flying towards it and shouted for help. In no time, one of the Gods came down while riding on his elephant, to stop Hanuman. He forgot that he was hungry and began to play with the elephant by pulling its trunk. The God pushed Hanuman away with his powerful weapon, the thunderbolt. It resulted in a huge injury on his face.
After, they were taken to view another artefact which had the buddha sheltered by the naga – a serpent deity shown as a multi headed cobra.
Ms Anisha and Ms Ambica shared a story on how the naga protected the buddha from a flood that happened a long time ago. When the buddha was busy meditating, the heavens darkened for seven days and a heavy rainfall started. As soon as it started, the naga’s body coiled up to serve as a cushion for the Buddha. At the same time, they stretched their heads, providing a hood over the Buddha’s head as a cover.
After the session ended, the children thanked the docents and exited the museum. Along the way, they had a scenic walk by the Singapore river as the children made their way to the bus. They all got excited at the sight of the bumboat.
Thereafter, we continued our walk to the bus marking the end of the day’s trip.
