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Children make clay models at a pre-Holi workshop organised at South India Club from March 3 to 6. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta
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It was pretty much a chance to be themselves and the children just loved it, dabbling in an array of activities from clay modelling to shooting arrows or just sitting back and watching others get creative.
Sajjid Ansari, 7, flaunted the “Nokia” cellphone he had made with clay. Such was the detailing — complete with all the keys and even the brand name etched in the right place — that no one would have guessed that the boy was making clay models for the first time. Clay-modelling done, Sajjid ran out to play with a rubber tyre and a betel leaf branch.
Around 250 children from different strata of society had gathered at South India Club in Hindustan Park for a pre-Holi workshop, Children Unbound, from March 3 to 6. Ten friends from various professions had joined hands to conduct this workshop with a difference.
“We wanted the children to have fun in their own way. Here, they got space to let their creativity run wild. They painted posters if they wanted to, tried their hand at clay-making or carpentry if they wished or created their own collage with paper or cloth if they were in the mood for it. There was no competition, no teaching of skills and no stress to perform,” said designer Urmi Hazra, one of the organisers of the workshop.
“One of our friends taught the children puppet-making. Other than that, they were not made to sit and learn anything. We encouraged the children to create on their own and sometimes just sit and watch others create. We wanted to teach them how to work in collaboration,” Hazra said.
The children had fun too, making toy bows and arrows and then teaching the elders how to shoot with them. Many were up to pranks too, but the organisers just “let them be”.
In the evening, there were storytelling sessions and fun lectures on nature and birds. To encourage children to read, some books were also on sale. At the end of the day, each child was gifted a potted plant and asked to look after it till the next workshop.
The participants included students of several city schools such as The Heritage, Delhi Public School, Ruby Park and Vidya Bharati as well as children of domestic workers or contract labourers from Trinita, Society for Protection of Children in India, Joka, Nari-o-Sishu Kalyan Kendra and other such organisations.
“It was good to see children from different social strata, bonding so quickly over simple fun activities,” said one of the organisers.
CHIT CHAT
Science exhibition
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| A participant at the
sit-and-draw meet |
Students of Naktala High School put up models of a submarine and a radio transmission set at an exhibition recently. The theme of the event was “Science for human welfare”. The best display was by Souvik Bhattacharjee, whose model illustrated how one can regulate water level by applying Ohm’s Law. Other interesting efforts included Subhadeep Kundu’s Live Computer and Srijan De Sarker’s Village Planetarium. The students of Class X also put up charts on the ecological system.
Painting contest
A sit-and-draw competition was organised by Arunima Active, an organisation that works with special children, at Beltala Girls’ High School on March 4. Around 110 children from special and mainstream schools attended the event. The participants were divided into two categories — Under 11 and Over 11.
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