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Saturday, January 14, 2017, is National Children’s Day in Thailand. Kids get to go to lots of fun places for free or half-price, like the zoo or children’s museum. You can celebrate, too, by doing one of the activities below:

Fun Activities for Kids:

1.      Sing The Chang (Elephant) Song
Elephants are very important to the Thai culture. Long ago they helped plow the fields, haul logs from the forest, and carry people to where they needed to go. Warriors rode their elephants into battle. Here is a fun song about elephants:
Sing along on (with Thai and English subtitles)

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2. Make a Spirit House:
Most Thai families and business have small Spirit Houses (san phru pham) outside of their homes or buildings. Every day they leave food and light candles and incense to honor the spirits of ancestors and nature, such as air, water, trees, or animals. The Spirit Houses can be very simple or fancy. To make one, you’ll need:

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To make one, you’ll need:
Supplies:
Shoebox with top
A slightly larger piece of cardboard to serve as the platform
4 toilet paper rolls
Colored construction paper
Scissors
Pencil and pen
Crayons and markers
Ruler
Glue, scotch tape, and clear packing tape
Chenille sparkly pipe cleaners

    1.Snip the four corners of the lid and flatten out flaps on the table.
    2. Fold lid in half along the length to form a steep roof.
    3.Cover the roof in construction paper using glue.
    4.On the shoe box cut out a door on the front and windows on the sides.
    5.Cover the box with construction paper using glue, cutting out door and windows spaces.
    6.Color and decorate the sides and roof as you wish with
    7.Tape the roof over the box.
    8.Use pipe cleaners to form chofah, which are sharp pieces that stick out of the spirit house   roof. (They represent a bird’s beak and are meant to keep evil spirits out.) Shape the pipe cleaners and tape to each corner and at the top of the peaked roof.
    9.Cover the four toilet papers rolls and the large, flat piece of cardboard with construction paper.
    10.Tape the toilet paper rolls to the bottom of cardboard to hold up platform.
    11.Place Spirit House on top and to platform inside the shoe box.
    12.Decorate as you wish.

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3.      Make Sticky Rice with Fresh Mangos
     
This is one of my favorite treats.

Note: Thai sticky rice--also called “sweet rice” and “glutinous rice”–is available in Asian stores and somerice larger grocery stores.

    1 1½ cups sticky rice                                     ½ and ¼ teaspoons salt
    2 cups water                                                  1 tablespoon tapioca starch
    2 cans coconut milk                                       2-3 fresh ripe mangos sliced
    1 cup and 1 tablespoon sugar

1.     Bring rice and water to a boil and simmer 15-20 minutes.
2.  Put 1½ cups coconut milk, 1 cup sugar, and ½ teaspoon salt in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil then remove from heat. Stir cooked rice into coconut milk mixture. Place in a rectangular casserole dish.  Cover and cool one hour.

3.  Make a sauce by mixing together ½ cup coconut milk, 1 tablespoon sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, and tapioca starch in a saucepan; bring to a boil.

4.
     Serve rice with mangos slices and sauce over the top.

ENJOY!!