The Agape Children's Church department organised a "Kidz Safari" last Saturday for children ages 6-12. About 82 of them signed up.
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Guess who was asked to help out with the games and decor? Yup, yours truly, together with Aunty Chris (Advisor) and Eunice. I took leave to paint the animals and prepare the other games. I got Mum, Dad, Aunty Chris, Uncle Alan, Eunice, Esther TC and even Sze-En to help with the painting.
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One day before D-day, we decorated the smaller car park in the church compound. Thank God for the Aspirers (Youths) who came to help. It was the last day of school and some of them self-declared that day a holiday (!!!) They ARE youths alright .... and sometimes needed to be pushed to get a job done but overall, they did a GREAT job. I think about 15 young, vibrant & spirited youths turned up. They livened the whole day just by their squabbles. :)
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We managed to make the whole place look a little jungle-like by hanging green raffia strings on the volleyball net. I'm not sure whose brilliant idea was that - either Esther's or Aunty Chris'. It would look better if the strings were a darker shade of green. I totally forgot to buy spray paint to test it out. :(
We scattered the animals around the compound.
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D-day arrived. We were supposed to meet in church at 8am. I had to pick up Qing, Jian and Eunice for breakfast before heading to church. That meant ME waking up at 6am (!!!)
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By 8am, we were at church, getting things ready and prepping the teachers and helpers. For a while, things were a little chaotic. Some teachers were asking us where their game station is, while others asked us what their game is all about. Things, however, got settled by 8.30am and Sis Yeow called everyone together for a short prayer.
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Many enthusiastic children were at the registration counter even before 9am. Tags (made by Eunice) were tied around their wrists for identification purposes.
Right after registration, each child was asked to guess the weight of the Lion cake (which Aunty Chris made). At the end of the day, 6 of them guessed correctly (3kg) and the cake was divided for them to take home.
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The event was from 9am - 2pm. At 11am, we gathered all the children indoors get their food and watch an educational DVD - Wriggley's Safari. We didn't know it was catered for pre-school children so after a while, the kids got bored and wanted to play the games again. The poor teachers and helpers had to reopen their game stalls early!!!
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The weather was great at first. By noon, it was cloudy and breezy - perfect weather. Alas, at 12.45pm, it began to pour. The children were not bothered about the rain and continued playing until 2pm.
GAMES
We had a total of 16 games for the children to play. Upon registration, the children were each given 20 playcards. Agape kids can exchange their coupons (earned by attending Children's Church and participating in the weekly activities) for playcards too. Those who ran out of playcards can earn more by memorising Bible verses, arranging the Books of the Bile or solving the Iron Puzzle.
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The kids will be given tokens in games they excel in. These tokens can be exchanged for prizes at the Prize Counter. The most sought-after prize was the MP3 player, which was worth 100 tokens. There were 5 of them in total and the first one was won within 2 hours. We found out later that 3 friends pulled their tokens together to be the first to get that prize. Smart fellas!!!
This game is also known as Kim's Game. It was so easy, we had to modify it a little. At first, the children were supposed to only guess TWO animals out of the whole bunch. Later, it was changed to remembering at least 4-6 animals - which was pretty easy too. 
We couldn't think of a name for this game that relates to the Safari theme. The children were supposed to hook the bottle of water using the home-made fishing stick given to them. This takes a lot of concentration, focus and plenty of patience. Water Shed was named because of the water bottle.
The children LOVED this game!!!! Give them a wet sponge, persuade a reluctant teacher or youth to go behind the tiger and aim hard!!!
Even though this game is called "Splash", there's no water in sight. You see, the stuffed toys were supposed to be closer together and a pail of water placed under them. The children were given 4 small bean bags to throw at them. If their aim is accurate, the toy would fall into the pail of water. But I didn't want my poor bears (and a tiger) to get wet!
Safari Mania is like "Spot What". We actually scanned these pictures from the book and blew it up. As a result, the resolution was not great and some of the things couldn't be spotted. :( Overall, it was ok. Might need to come up with MY version of "spot what" next time.
The original name for this is "Egg Tray" - so boring. I got Aunty Chris to think up of one and she came up with "Safari Droppings". Sounds gross but it's a GREAT name. We coloured some parts of the tray and should the ping pong ball fall into one, they get a token. Each child was given 4 tries.
This is also a very easy game. You can definitely hit the cans, unless you've got a very bad aim or are cock-eyed. You might be wondering why we named it "No Monkey Business". I don't know either. (haha!) We placed some potted plants behind the cans and hung 5 monkeys on the branches to link the name to the game.
The hoops were made out of gas pipes. For the little ones, these hoops can be quite heavy. To give them a handicap, the younger ones can choose to stand on the chair provided. The other alternative is to aim at the shorter giraffe.
Velcro was used in this game. The smoother part was cut and pinned onto the cloth while the other part was glued onto the ping pong balls. Chances of winning : 98%. So what we did was to decrease both the velcro on the cloth and the ping pong ball. After that, chances of winning dropped to 60%
This game is almost like "Feed the Tiger" except that the children get to throw tennis balls instead of sponges soaked with water. That took away ALL the fun and fewer children played this game.
Bro KK Tan and Alexi helped build this game. They made two of them. The children were given a stick with a rounded loop made of steel at the end of it. With a lot of concentration and patience, they goal is to move the stick from one end to another without touching the main frame. The moment the hoop touches the frame, the alarm would sound.
Elephant trail is a three legged game which involves 2 people. According to Rachel Wong, some of the children who were eyeing the MP3 player, played this game many times until they were a pro at it. And because the queue for this game is short, they played it over and over again.
Give the monkey a banana!!! We went round the whole of Seremban town searching for plastic bananas for this game. Gone were the days when children played with plastic fruits and vegetables. Yoke Chan gave us a brilliant idea. Unripe bananas!!! We attached one hooked banana onto the stick and the children had to hook it on the monkey's hand. After a while, because of the heat, the banana got ripe fast and the hook kept coming off. We had to use masking tape to tape it down.
Remember the "pin the tail on the donkey" game we used to play when we were kids? This is exactly the same concept. We drew two elephants onto the board. Mama and baby! Once again, those who are short can choose the baby elephant.
Crocodile alert is like fishing. We threw in 20 plastic hooked squeaking crocodiles into the pool and the children had to hook as many crocodiles within 60 seconds. Most of them managed to hook 2-3..
The day before, when we threw in the crocodiles into the pool, most of them went turtle! Dead crocs!! Aaron managed to find a way to "revive" those crocs.
Animals' Antics is similar to "Win, lose or draw". Once again, we found it difficult to come up with a Safari-themed name. Not many children played this game because they don't like to draw. Some who loved to draw, played it a few times.
