PARENTS stuck for something for their children to do during the school holidays can turn to the People's Association (PA), which has a range of courses lined up over the next two weeks.

But before you curse the thought of more academic classes, relax. The courses are all fun activities such as soap-making, manga-drawing and and ice cream cake-making. They are all designed to help children learn while having fun.

What's more, they are not all held at community centres either. Instead, children and their parents can attend classes at places such as polytechnic laboratories.

A new course at the museum will see children convert junk materials to usable decor items and learn to paint on recycled materials.

In other courses, they can get movie-making tips, grow crystals, make sushi or chocolate, learn jazz dance and even discover how the police solve crimes.

The PA has been running holiday courses for children since 2003, but it has decided to offer new courses to keep up with trends like video-making.

Collaborating with polytechnics, which is a new initiative, allowed it to offer specialised courses.

Brothers Joseph, Samuel and Daniel Lee, who are between five and eight years old, attended a trial class in soap-making at Republic Polytechnic with their mother on Tuesday.

Daniel, eight, said his favourite part was deciding the shape and colour of the soap he was creating - an orange leaf.

Said his mother Mel Lee, 43: 'The most important thing is that it is fun for him. Along the way, if he learns something, then well and good.'

The courses are open to children from ages four to 14. A two-hour course generally costs between $20 and $30.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jun 6, 2008

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