Children enjoy working in the arts and crafts corner at ARAMCO's Summer Cultural Program. – SG photo by Amal Al-Sibai Amal Al-Sibai Saudi Gazette
During the long summer holidays, dining at restaurants and shopping at the mall can become a bit redundant and monotonous after a while. If you are looking for something different for the entire family, a place where you will be an active participant rather than merely an observer, a place that will challenge your mind and unleash your inner creativity, the ARAMCO Summer Cultural Program in Jeddah is the place to go. You should allow at least two days for enjoying the festival because one day may not be enough for everything on offer. The festival is open to visitors 7 days a week from 6 in the evening until midnight. The following is a summary of the most popular tents to help you find out which of them would be of interest to you and your family. The Kid's Island tent is where kids not only engage in many fun activities, but also learn new and important concepts.. Their journey in Kid's Island starts with a puppet show, followed by a clown show, a corner for face painting, and also an arts and crafts corner where children use recyclable items found at home to make art projects. The artist responsible for this corner, Amna Al-Naami, said, “The supplies in this corner are eco-friendly, biodegradable, and recyclable items that the child uses to create a piece of art. We introduce the child to the idea that there are some items that can be reused for different purposes or recycled and that reducing the amount of waste thrown out by each family can significantly help protect the environment.” Other activities at the Kid's Island included free painting, three-dimensional drawing, dressing up and acting out different jobs, and finally baking pizza and decorating cupcakes. The Science and Knowledge tent is a major attraction for children, teens, and adults. Kids can watch a simulation of a hurricane, producing electric current by pedaling a bicycle, getting rocked about in a simulated earthquake and trying to unravel mysterious optical illusions. There was one corner for men only; the pregnancy empathy. A male volunteer wears a vest weighed equal to that of a baby in the final trimester of a woman's pregnancy. The volunteer is asked to perform simple tasks such as picking up an item from the floor. All this so that he can understand what pregnant women go through and to appreciate them more. One man was truly astonished by the burden of the load! Each day several scientific experiments are performed for the crowd; and children from the audience are invited to help out. On the night my family was there, children poured baking soda, dishwashing liquid, water, and vinegar into a model of a mountain to create a volcanic eruption. Be sure to check out the roaring dinosaurs and test your children on how many names of these magnificent creatures they can remember. The Cultural and Heritage tent attracted visitors of all nationalities who marveled on how the kiswah or covering of the Kabah is sewn on black silk with thread made out of real gold used for the embroidery. Tourists took pictures beside models of the Grand Mosque, the Prophet's Mosque, and a replica of some of the old clay castles that originated in Abha. This tent is an antiques collector's galore as it is plentiful in artifacts such as pottery, hand woven baskets, the traditional Hijazi costume, and centuries old Arabic coffee pots. The large Heritage tent was also divided into several workshops and training courses where attendees could learn from experts in time management, communication skills, public speaking, photography, and Arabic calligraphy. Classes are being offered every evening free of charge for both men and women. Several arts, photography, and calligraphy contests are being conducted with valuable prizes for the winners. Other stops you must make at the Aramco festival are the mobile library, the stage that hosts stand-up comedy live shows, and also the driver's education program. To assess your traffic safety knowledge, put your driving habits to the test, and find out what to do in case of emergencies on the road, you can sit behind the wheel of one of the stationary automobiles at Aramco and go for a simulated, 3-D road trip. “This interactive technology combines visual and audio input, and movement to teach the youth preventive driving; which means being alert, attentive, and cautious motorist, and it helps visitors improve their driving skills. The simulated road trip lasts for about 7 minutes and it takes the driver through major intersections, traffic lights, stop signs, residential streets, and an accident to teach the young driver the correct response to a multitude of situations that could arise on the road. School students are welcome to try this educational sort of video game so they can learn traffic safety rules from a young age,” said Nabeel Baeshin, manager of ARAMCO in the Western Province. Overall, the festival is extremely well organized with helpful assistants and separate entrance and exit doors to each tent to avoid crowding and congestion, which is a pleasant rarity in Jeddah. There are only two weeks remaining so hurry up and make your way there for great edutainment.
