WORKSHOP OUTDOOR

Dolanan (Javanese for playing), or Outdoor Workshop is a programme with the objective of familiarising children with traditional games and other activities normally done outdoors. Some of these games include gobag sodor (a team-based game involving reaching an end line), benthik (a team-based game involving two twigs or bamboo sticks), egrang (traditional stilts made of wood or bamboo), kelereng (marbles), tarik tambang (tug of war), and so on, with the aim of providing children with the opportunity to play in a fun and healthily competitive way. This programme also includes other outdoor activities such as saba kebon (garden exploration), pasaran (playing shop), and such, with the aim of acquainting children to the nature and environment around them. Dolanan centres around the values of education and characters for children. The activities in the programme helps with the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development in children. As a means of preserving tradition, this programme also introduces children to the intrinsic values embodied in traditional games, so that in addition to having fun playing, they can also learn these values. Activities included in Dolanan are aligned with the concept represented by Kolong Tangga Museum as to preserve and revive all things related to children in the past. This concept has become an important rationale in each and every activity involving children, to ensure that they can experience the importance of traditional games in their development. One primary objective of this programme is to foster interests in children for traditional games that are in decline and becoming forgotten. Through these games, children can experience firsthand the differences between traditional and modern games that they are more familiar with. During play, in addition to having fun, children can also learn about the history and culture incorporated in these games. As such, children can come to appreciate cultural diversity through these games which have existed for a long time. This becomes a crucial means to preserve the forgotten traditional games.