August has always been a lively month for Philippine culture, as it is the time of Buwan ng Wika. In schools, your kids have all sorts of activities relating to the month’s celebrations, which teach them to better appreciate local culture. But with the schools closed in the meantime, it’s up to parents like you to continue the tradition. Here are some great Buwan ng Wika activities you can do at home with your kids to celebrate Filipino culture.
Buwan ng Wika activity No. 1: Play Pinoy games
If you find your kids just lazing around after their online classes, one way you can get them to be more active is by playing traditional Pinoy games. This also lets them discover the games you enjoyed when you were young. Here are a few Pinoy games you can play with your kids any time.
Tumbang preso
For this game, all you need is a tin can and a slipper for each participant. To start the game, stand the can and position yourself behind it. You will serve as the taya. Your kids then stand behind a line some distance away. Each player will take their turn to hit the can with their slipper and make it fall over.
When the can has fallen over, the players will try to take back their slippers. You then have to put the can upright again and try catching one of the players as they run back to the starting line. The one you catch becomes the next taya.
Dampa
This is another simple Pinoy game that you can play with the kids. For this one, you only need a bunch of rubber bands. Draw a starting line on the floor and line the rubber bands for each player on it. To move their rubber bands, players cup their hands together and slam them on the floor behind the bands. The air pressure then blows the band forward. The first one to reach the designated finish line wins.
Buwan ng Wika activity No. 2: Learn Philippine history through pretend play
Since we are already on the subject of playtime, another great idea to teach Pinoy culture is by incorporating Philippine history in your kids’ pretend play. Here, you can scour your kids’ old costumes from last year’s Buwan ng Wika celebrations. You can also make the costumes with the kids as a separate fun activity.
As to what scenes you and your kids can reenact, there are a lot of choices. Scenes from the life of Philippine historical figures like Jose Rizal are always a popular choice. You can also act out how life was like back in the old days.
For your kids to better appreciate the play sessions, you can also explain the story behind each scene more. Talk about the lives of our heroes and the struggles that they have when fighting for the country’s freedom. You can also talk about other historical events and how these affect their lives at present. All of these also help develop a sense of nationalism in your young ones.
Buwan ng Wika activity No. 3: Learn more about indigenous Filipinos
Since Buwan ng Wika is all about celebrating Filipino culture, then it would be a good idea to teach your kids more about the culture of the country’s indigenous groups. Here, you can start from the above activity. Look for images of indigenous costumes and see if you can recreate some of these using the materials you have at home.
From there, you and your kids can start exploring the culture of the ethnic group behind each costume. There are plenty of resources online you can check like the National Museum of the Philippines. These offer various media content that will teach your kids about the beliefs and practices of each group. YouTube is another good source of content that will help your kids learn more about local ethnic groups like the Lumads of Mindanao.
You can also talk about the different challenges that indigenous people are facing. For example, tell your kids about how kids who are part of indigenous communities go on with their daily lives. This is a great way to teach your young ones to be more emphatic about these local groups. They will also better understand the concept of inclusivity and how to live in harmony with people from different cultural groups.
Buwan ng Wika activity No. 4: Teach them to appreciate Philippine literature
The month is also a great time to get your kids appreciating Filipino literature more. One good way to do this is to help them in their Filipino subject homework. Here, you don’t just read the stories for the sake of answering the questions on the assignment. Instead, you can further explain the lessons that each story is trying to teach your kids.
Once they become more appreciative of the stories in their textbooks, you can then start exposing them to more Pinoy literature. Picture books like Liana Romulo’s Filipino Celebrations will help younger kids learn more about our local culture. Meanwhile, your older kids will likely enjoy young adult titles like Edgar Calabia Samar’s Janus Silang series.
Hone your kids’ love for Philippine culture this month
As you can see, Buwan ng Wika isn’t just about commemorating the creation of the Filipino language. It is also about celebrating Filipino culture. And by instilling that love into your kids, you can be sure that they will be more proud of it as they grow up. Go ahead and celebrate being Filipino with your little ones.