Wednesday (06/10/2021), dozens of students at Bayside Christian College in Melbourne were engrossed in coloring the puppets with colored pencils and crayons, then cutting and attaching sticks to the puppet bodies and hands so they could be held and played. This activity is one of the materials given in the Muhibah Art and Culture activity between FBS UNY and schools in Melbourne Victoria Australia. Previously, modules and puppet pictures were sent with 4 choices of characters. The character taken from the Ramayana story, namely Ravana, Rama, Sinta, and Hanuman. The students just print and follow the procedures described in the module. At a glance, the Ramayana story is also presented so that students get to know the story behind the puppet’s character.

The tutor for this session was Mrs. Dwi Retno Sri Ambarwati, M.Sn. and Mrs. Arsianti Latifah, M.Sn., from the Fine Arts Education Study Program, assisted by a student from the Craft Education Study Program. The activity went smoothly and the participants were very enthusiastic. These elementary school students in Australia became acquainted with Javanese wayang characters. They also knew the characters after previously being given knowledge of the Ramayana wayang story. They chose one of their preferred wayang figures to make paper puppets. Unfortunatelly, the time was very short, only 45 minutes per session, and soon had to move on to the next art practice session. Even so, most of the participants were able to complete their work well.