03/04/2025
🌻Phase 4: Tara, Tayo’y Lumikha: Day 2🌻
During the second deployment to Camp 3 Elementary School, on April 2, 2025, LikHaya continues its mission of fostering inclusive communities where children with special needs are free to frolic and display their artistry. Driven by the success of the first deployment, LikHaya spearheaded the initiative by implementing more fun and engaging activities.
To break the ice, LikHaya first kicked the day off with a lively storytelling session, narrating the story of “Leo the Late Bloomer” by Robert Kraus. Using colorful sock puppets, it tells the story of a young tiger who struggles to keep up with his peers. However, through his patience and determination, he eventually blossomed in his own time. By the end of the story, the amusement etched on their faces was imminent as they came to understand its message. A message of strength, patience, and perseverance that defies pressure, highlighting that everyone learns and grows at their own pace
Following this, the children were given the chance to create their own sock puppets. Under the guidance of the LikHaya team, the children quickly brought life to their sock puppets, giving them names and identities. Through this activity, they were taught self-expression, another means of developing storytelling skills and creativity.
After bringing the sock puppets to life, the children hopped right into a paint-by-numbers activity. Each child had a pre-made canvas, split into different segments based on which color was to fill in the section, and it was easy and fun to explore painting with. While they carefully filled in the sections with bright colors one after the other, budding motor skills developed, along with the confidence of being artists. Their paintings emerged as a beautiful representation of their creativity to be displayed proudly for all to see.
As their last activity, the children then enthusiastically engaged with gooey and sticky slime. The children were really excited to dive into this one. They were ecstatic about the gooey stickiness and stretchy texture, providing sensory engagement, fun, and therapy. The room glowed with shouts and laughter as they experimented with various colors, glitters, and textures, proudly showing off their experiments.
Recognizing the importance and benefits of sensory learning tools, LikHaya distributed self-designed and self-made sensory kits to children with special needs, which were tailor-made to fit their needs. The other artistically inclined children also received squishies to ensure everyone was included and none was left out. As the activities were going on, representatives from LikHaya also joined in and left their own colorful mark on the school. Collaborating with Little Hands, Big Hygiene, Nam-Ay Eskwela, and Project: READ, the other advocacy groups of our class, LikHaya left behind their own mural to commemorate the successful completion of their advocacies, reminding the children that change is possible through collaboration, creativity, and compassion.
When small hands tap into their hearts and start creating, a kaleidoscope of colors and emotions comes to life. Time passed by so quickly, and now, our second and last deployment has come. However, this does not affect the enthusiasm that the children have poured into each stroke of paint, each carefully crafted piece, and each heartfelt word filled with creativity. The molding, shaping, and giving form to the visions are events to archive in the future as evidence of their boundless imagination and resilience.
In this second and final deployment, we are carrying with us more than just artifacts; the more significant souvenir is all that we learned — the patience to refine, the courage to venture, and the joy of self-expression. As the curtain closes on this chapter, the ripples of the effects will run through time to leave behind a glowing legacy of inspiration and passion.
Let it be a celebration of the hands that made, of the minds that conceived, of the hearts that believed. The colors may settle upon the papers, but their stories will always be alive.
🩷🌻
