Children, parents enjoy Kite Museum

Tifa Asrianti ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 07/07/2008 10:31 AM  |  City

While 5-year-old Dio colored in a fish on his kite, his mother Lia glued the bamboo frame of her kite.

"I'm done. I want the kite to have red tails, please," Dio told Ade, a guide at the Kite Museum, on Sunday.

ALL THINGS KITES: ALL THINGS KITES: Ade (left), a guide at the Kite Museum, teaches some children how to make simple kites on Sunday. A visit to the Kite Museum consists of a tour of the museum and a lesson in kite making. (JP/Tifa Asrianti)

Ade put a tail on the kite and attached some thread, before handing it back to the boy.

Herry, Dio's father, helped his son fly the kite in the museum's inner courtyard, as Lia watched in the shade of the museum's multipurpose hall.

The Kite Museum, established in 2003, is located at Jl. Haji Kamang No. 38 in Pondok Labu, South Jakarta. The museum has around 600 kites, coming from around the country and world.

The museum's founder is Endang W. Puspoyo, an entrepreneur with a passion for kites. She previously established Merindo Kites and Gallery in 1985, which served as a kite workshop in the area, before establishing the museum.

Herry, Lia and Dio heard about the museum from a friend.

"I find the museum interesting because it has programs for all visitors, including parents," Lia said.

Ade said the museum had three categories of kites: traditional, creative and sport. However, he said, most of the kites on display are traditional ones because they require less space.

He said there were even traditional kites that were used for catching animals.

"In Lampung, Sumatra, fishermen caught layur fish using kites, while in Pangandaran, West Java, people used kites to catch bats that were believed to have curative substances," he said.

Creative kites, Ade said, come in two types: 2-D and 3-D.

"We have several 3-D creative kites in the form of horse carriages, dragonflies, butterflies and ships, and all of them can be folded," he said.

Ade said the museum had three types of sport kites: ripstop (made of nylon), stand kites (use a two-hand control) and quatrefoil (which has four threads to control it).

The museum also displays kites from other countries, such as China, Japan, India, Korea, the Netherlands and Canada.

"We clean the kites regularly with dusters as most kites are made of papers," Ade said.

Nai, another museum employee, said that besides providing information on kites, the museum also has craft programs for children, including pottery, paper umbrella painting and batik-making classes.

"We want to encourage children to learn to make the products with their own hands," she said.

Hilda, a fifth grader, was taking the umbrella painting class with her cousin Bia.

"I took the pottery class yesterday. Today I am painting and making kites. I think I'll take batik painting tomorrow," Hilda said.

Price of entrance to the Kite Museum is Rp 10,000 (US$1) per person, which includes a tour of the museum and kite making. It costs Rp 40,000 a person to take the pottery, umbrella painting and batik-making classes.

Other creative classes:

Batik class at Textile Museum
Jl. KS Tubun No. 4
Tanah Abang
Central Jakarta
Phone: 021-5606613

Pottery class at Fine Arts and Ceramics Museum
Jl. Taman Fatahillah No. 2
Kota
West Jakarta
Phone: 021-6907062

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