Bhubaneswar: Parents are engaging their children in a number of innovative activities to beat the heat as the temperature continues to soar.

Schools and organisations are organising summer workshops for dance, including Odissi and modern dance, theatre, swimming, painting, horse riding, filmmaking, photography and a host of sporting activities.

SAI International School's annual summer fiesta commenced on Wednesday with an aim to indulge the students in fun outside the confines of their classrooms.

The fiesta helps children explore their latent talents, hone their skills and learn new activities in an attempt to make their vacation meaningful and exciting.

Students will learn swimming, music, arts and craft, discover culinary skills, and understand the basics of photography. They will also be shown films followed by an activity based on it. Faculty members from the Shiamak Davar Institute for Performing Art will provide dance lessons to enable the students inculcate the correct techniques and get wholesome training.

A few offbeat courses such as bird watching, night sky gazing, robotics, cooking, filmmaking, editing, animation and graphics design, radio jockeying, anchoring, theatre and acting are also being offered for the students.

Odisha Modern Art Gallery is also organising a summer art camp - Fine Heart - for children to teach terracotta, pottery, flower making, wall hanging, glass painting, tie and dye, canvas painting, balloon craft, tribal painting, and patta chitra.

"Summer camps for children have undergone a sea change in recent times, moving from basic arts and crafts to specialised courses in robotics and adventure camps at exotic locations. The prices of the courses have also raised," said Manisha Jena from Bloomingdale that hosts specialised courses.

A number of summer camps are being hosted on weekends to involve parents in the activities.

"For working parents, it is difficult to get time with their children. It is important for them to spend time with them and weekends were the only option. Me and my daughter have taken part in cooking lessons," said Anushka Debta, mother of a six-year-old.