by Felicia Tan
A different venue, a different context but the same old objectives – to raise fund for charity with a children-led craft fair. This year the children raised S$1698.75 for Club Rainbow (Singapore).
This year’s Children’s Craft Fair (CCF) was part of the Homeschool Convention 2019 whereas the previous four fairs were on the opening day of Imaginarium at the Singapore Art Museum @8Q. Despite the more obscure location and smaller crowd, the creators-cum-vendors (children) were steadfast in their commitment to the making and selling of their crafts.
There were new participants as well as veterans who have been a part of CCF since the first one in 2015. One of them has since become an entrepreneur, helming her own slime business on Carousell and Etsy, and making sales internationally. Many parents saw the benefit of self-directed learning through a craft fair like this. Children took ownership of the process, worked through their mistakes and got to enjoy the fruit of their labour in the end. After all, as Dale Carnegie put it, “The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.” I admit though it was hard to look on without intervening at times.
As usual, a separate smaller room was provided for children who preferred a smaller crowd and lower volume. The sign that was specially designed for this room really touched me: It is small actions like this that promotes growth in the homeschool community. I appreciate the effort made by many to include, support and encourage.
A different thing we did this year was to introduce the beneficiary to the children prior to the CCF. The organisers invited Club Rainbow to give a talk to familiarise the children with their mission and activities so that the donation would be more meaningful.
We would like to thank Qiren Organisation for their generous hospitality and venue sponsorship.