Family Bonding Workshops @ Fei Yue FSC

The year 2020 was a year with events no one could imagined would happen. Even amongst fear and uncertainty, we celebrate FAMILY because it's family that holds us together. So it was in good timing that in December as we reflect on the year, I conducted 2 Family Bonding online art workshops for Fei Yue Family Service Centre's Family Central and Project Family.

With the right tools, guidance, encouragement, inspiration, we provided a creative space that is safe and comfortable for everyone to talk about our family values while making our Salt Art Jars.

CONTACT US at cartwheelssg@gmail.com if you're interested in having family bonding programmes at your school, organisation or company.

Social-emotional Learning @ TOUCH Childcare

When I told my friend, Valerie, that I was going to conduct a process art workshop for children based on her book, "I Hear You", the first thing she said to me was, "Rebecca, go hear them."

It was a fantastic 2-day Holiday Kids Process Art Workshop at TOUCH Childcare Hougang and TOUCH Childcare Clementi, for their Kindergarteners who were transiting to Primary School. It's so heartening to know that the principals and teachers share the same heart as CARTWHEELS in wanting to bring social-emotional learning into art programmes.

On the first day, we explored the emotions that we may feel, talk about them and learned to express ourselves based on the story, "I Hear You". And just as Valerie hoped, many voices were heard and we had lots of fun expressing our emotions through art and also hearing our friends' emotions.

On the second day, I had a wonderful time retelling "The Apple Tree Story"to the children and teach them to make their own apple tree. This story had been such a big part of my life in inspiring me and my work when I was a social worker. Each child's apple tree turned out so different with its own flavour and just like the Apple Tree, I hope the children discover their unique qualities as they grow!

CONTACT US at cartwheelssg@gmail.com if you're interested in having process art programmes at your school.

Creative Space @ Safe Place

We having been volunteering at Safe Place since August 2020, an organisation that empowers women and families with unsupported pregnancies to make life-giving choices. It has always been a hope of mine to facilitate a Creative Workshop for mothers because my personal journey with process art brought me the much needed rest when I was a first-time mother.

As the Covid-19 safe distancing measures now allows for visitors, I am grateful for this opportunity to be able to interact with a small group of mums. Here are some of our monthly creative workshop activities:

We talked about sensory play for babies and made discovery bottles. Through making these discovery bottles, the uniqueness of each bottle brings about significance in the play and bonding with their children.

The creativity process brings growth in all areas of our lives and especially so in this session where we could have a conversation about our personal life values while making a Salt Art Jar.

It was a good time to reflect on 2020 during the Christmas season so as to gain strength for 2021. Every now and then, we will write down even the little things we are thankful for on our personalised Gratitude Boxes, and as they add up in the coming days, months and years, they will be an encouragement for those tough periods in life.

Inspired by Monet, we started off the year 2020 with creating our impressionist gardens of rest. It was a beautiful day painting in the garden. May these gardens of rest give us strength for the new year.

I hope this Creative Space set up for them once a month, brings rest and relaxation for these mums as much as it did for me.