Located on Hoang Cau street, Hanoi, Creative Gara is a carpentry workshop exclusively for children, where young carpenters can make toys on their own without any interference from teachers.

Visiting the workshop on a winter morning, we found members of Creative Gara busy preparing materials and tools for a class themed “decorating the Christmas tree”, which had about 40 students. At this class, the children, aged between three and twelve, were free to use their imaginations to create their toys. 

Creative Gara classes are open mostly on weekends with a particular topic for each week. There are also courses of four or six sessions for children to complete an item as desired. Creative Gara classes also allow parents to share ideas and work with their children.

Open on weekends, Creative Gara gives children a chance to show their creativeness through making wooden toys.  Each class of Creative Gara has about 40 students.  The Creative Gara showroom displays products made from young carpenters.  Showing wooden toys to young visitors at Creative Gara.  Each group of students receives instructions from two volunteers to ensure safety while they work.  A volunteer helps a boy finalise his product. Parents of students can join their children's activities at Creative Gara.

In 2015, with a desire to create a place for their children to play, Pham Quy Phuc and his friends built a storage facility of carpentry tools where their children could play with toys made from wood, an environmentally friendly material which can be recycled from discarded products.

After three months, the storage facility attracted many parents who asked if their kids could join its activities. Phuc and his friends decided to expand the space into a workshop named Creative Gara which has quickly grown into a popular place for children.

Phuc said that in the early days he and his friends had a hard time designing products and content for the courses. Given that woodworking is not easy and has many required skills, Creative Gara classes have volunteers to guide and supervise the children to ensure their safety. The instructors also make carpentry tools suitable and safe for kids.

Joining Creative Gara classes, children have a chance to practice, play and create, instead of playing online games which might have negative effects on their development.

Materials from tree branches.  Clean ice-cream sticks are useful materials. Colourful buttons are used to decorate the toys.   Before coming to Creative Gara, most students did not know how to use a hammer.  User-friendly files made by Creative Gara members.  Small saws are designed to ensure convenience and safety for young carpenters.   Creative Gara also helps children learn to work in teams to complete a task.   High focus on minor details. Christmas trees made by Creative Gara students.  Happy with her finished product. A Christmas box made by young students.

 

By Khanh Long & Tat Son