On Sunday, June 8th, 2025, 11:30 pm – 6:30 pm. AYLUS Oakland Gardens works with FASCA during the Taiwan Children’s Festival in Flushing. FASCA needed more help during the festival, so AYLUS Oakland Gardens offered to help them.
The goal of the festival was to get the children out of their houses and have fun without being on the screen. It allows children to be more active while also having fun. The Festival had many activities that the children could participate in and rewards that went along with the activities. The festival also allowed the children to socialize with others and bond with their family. Each family was given a sheet of paper with a map of Taiwan on it for each member of the family. On the map, there were 8 locations, and next to those locations was an area for the stamp. The locations were also numbered 1-8. So the children would go to an activity station corresponding to the number on the paper to get a stamp and a reward.
In Station 1, there were clay molds that children could use to make their clay sculptures. The participants were given a ball of clay and could choose which mold they wanted the ball to be in. The volunteers could either help the participant with the mold or show how to use the mold and then let the participant try to do it themself. The participant also got to keep the clay afterward.
In station 2, the was a glass bottle and a ring tied to a string. The goal of this activity was to get the neck of the bottle through the ring and use the ring to try and get the bottle to stand up straight. Each person was given three chances to get the bottle to stand up before their turn was up. Even if the person didn’t manage to get the bottle to stand up within the three turns, they would still receive a little treat for trying. Since this festival wasn’t about who was the best at an activity, it was about bringing joy to children and others. At Station 3, people had the opportunity to fish for their treat. The people were given toy fishing rods and a chance to fish for a plastic toy floating in a bucket of water. The people were also given candy even if they didn’t get the plastic out of the water. In station 4, the were balls and velcro targets. The goal of this activity was through the ball at the velcro target and get it to stick. This activity helps people better their aim and precision. If even the person tried and didn’t get the ball to stick, they were still given a treat for trying. In stanchion 5, there were Plinko boards. They used marbles as the ball and popsicle sticks as a way to launch the marbles on the board. The person playing the board would still get a treat no matter what score they got. At station 6, there were darts, and it was a chance to have some friendly competition with a family member to see who could get a better score on the dart board. It didn’t matter who won because everyone was a winner for trying something new. In station 7, there was a ring toss. Each person was given 10 rings, and they would throw them at targets. The children would get candy for just trying the activity, and when they do get a ring, they just get more candy. For station 8, there was cup pong. Each person was given 10 ping pong balls, and they would try to get them into the 6 cups filled with water. Just like in station 7, the person participating in the activity would get candy for trying, and when they do get a ball in the cup, the person would be given more candy. The was also a puppet area, where people would go on stage and view the Chinese puppets on display. They were also allowed to use some of the puppets to make their own puppet show. This festival was a wonderful opportunity for the community to come together and have fun.
This festival was a great opportunity for AYLUS Oakland Gardens members to learn about the importance of patience. Sometimes the children wouldn’t be listening to the instructions, so members had to think on their feet and resolve the problem. It was also a good way for members to socialize with others. Members had to talk to the children by explaining the rules and directions. It made members more outgoing because they would have to find ways to attract people to their station. Members also had to make sure that the children weren’t hurting themselves or others with the toys. Overall, this festival allowed members to be creative and improvise when things didn’t go well.
We would like to thank FASCA for giving our members the opportunity to help with the festival and for giving us the chance to work with children. We would also like to thank the festival organizers for giving the children fun activities to do over the weekend. Lastly, we would like to thank all the volunteers who went to help during to festival despite how long the hours were.
Our Volunteers:
1. Jia Qi Liu: 7 hours
2. Hong Hao Liu: 7 hours
3. Ioklee Lin: 7 hours
4. Ioknor Lin: 7 hours
5. Vicki Lin: 7 hours
6. Isabella Wang: 7 hours
7. Matthew Lin: 6.5 hours
8. Ricky Song: 5.5 hours
9. Tianxiang Ding: 5 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Cui Fang Li (Fannie): 8 hours
Teng Fei Liu (Faye): 8 hours
Hsinhui Liao (Karen): 8 hours
Report written by: Vicki Lin
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
