About Me

My name is Koo Yi Jie, a centre leader in one of Singapore's early childhood programs, and passionate early childhood advocate. As the saying goes, “it is easier to build a child than to rebuild an adult”, our work with young children is truly phenomenal. I have a Early Childhood Education Diploma (2013), Degree (2015) , and Masters in Education from NIE (2021) . I am a certified Adult Trainer (2022) , specialized in Early Childhood Content. For collaborations and content development, please feel free to email me at kooyijie@gmail.com.

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Wednesday, July 1

SuperHero Me



"Our children today are growing up amid rising expectations and complexity. Success is no longer dependent only on grades. What they need is a stronger sense of self. To know who they are, and where they want to go. Or, in other words, to find the superhero in themselves". - Mr Lee Poh Wah 
Superhero Me is a social initiative by Lien Foundation, in collaboration with In Merry Motion and Logue, held at the Plaza at the National Library Board in late June 2015. It is a value-based craft + play event as we advocate for play for children. Basically, we are telling children that superheros are making the world a better place and there is a superhero within us. We can make the world a better place by being resilient, kind, grateful, patient and respectful to one another. 


Sharing of the five values

I love the 5 values; 

Tree of Resilience: Be it rain of shine, a tree 'never gives up' and stands firmly onto the ground throughout the year.

Cloud of Patience: In order to form clouds, tiny water droplets work together and wait patiently for the right time to rain.

Bird of Gratitude: Baby crows are well-fed and nursed to excellent health by their mothers. When these crows grow up, they return their gratitude by sharing food and taking care of their mothers till the latter passed on. 

Fruit of Kindness: It reminds me of a funny story of my mother. She told me she love to eat fish parts with bones ever since I was young. So, I always gave her the fish parts with lots of bones while I enjoy boneless fish. It took me over two decades to realized that no one likes fish with bones. They eat it out of love. Share with others your favorite food is an example of being kind.

Heart of Respect: Respect means listening when others are talking, means having eye contact to the person you are talking to, treating everyone nicely. Respect should come from the heart.

Adorable!
  
Dinosaurs made of cardboard, sweet!


Highlights

- Love the design of the entire place, very bright and lively. Its every nook of the area could easily captivates children's interest. How they utilized recycled materials as part of the decorations was amazing!

- Materials was open-ended. There were many loose materials, recycled materials, feathers, wool and more, the children loved the different textures and colors.

- Family-oriented. It makes parents feel very comfortable and welcomed. This was nicely done by sharing some strategies that parents can be engaged in, having enough space for adults to participate, effective questioning techniques.

Possible Improvements (Note: The organizers did a fantastic job, these points are merely taken from my own perspective as a classroom teacher) 

- Craft activity was not developmentally appropriate for younger children (below 6 years old). There were sample works and the organizer/volunteers encouraged them to do it a certain way. I never believe in showing sample work as it kills creativity and ownership. 

- Paint was not children-friendly. In any paint activity with young children, non toxic, washable paint should be used.

- Decoration and Sounds are distracting. There were too much sounds as many activities took place concurrently. The decorations are really colorful and nice but could be too visual overwhelming to some. There could be a balance in black and white space.

Craft work
Personally, I like this event and I could tell that the children were meaningfully engaged throughout. They could share examples of being nice/kind/respectful/grateful and they were really sweet when they told their mummies and daddies that they promise to take care of them when they gets older. The participants are really happy and had fun! It is my pleasure to work with them and I look forward to more projects!

Learn more about the event at @superhero_sg/superhero me festival. They are really talented and their photos speaks for itself.