With the advent of summer and summer vacations, parents are looking out for ways and means to keep their tiny tots gainfully occupied during the holidays.
Most playschools and public schools in the city have formulated short-duration modules filled with activities and games aka summer camps.
Activities like dance, music, art, crafts, games and sports are quite in demand, some schools have also added a dash of social consciousness to the mix by incorporating sessions on life-skills and safety geared for young minds.
School principals attribute this to the heightened need for children to know how to stay safe in adverse situations, in the light of the recent cases of the brutal sexual assault and murder of 5-year old girls in New Delhi and Ranchi itself, and the rising number of such incidents all over the country.
‘This year we have introduced a new section titled ‘Personality development and life skills’ in our summer camp. Besides dealing with basic manners, etiquette and confidence building, we will also deal with the issue of how children from four to fourteen years of age can protect themselves in adverse situations. We will give them tips and teach them how they can stay safe,’ said Anupama Sinha, Centre head of EuroKids school, Morhabadi.
Similarly, Kidzee has tied up with a non-government organisation (NGO) to hold special sessions for children in its schools all over India.
According to Nimisha Sinha, the head of its Bariatu Road branch, ‘This module is basically and extension of what we are already teaching our children in class. We will touch upon topics like recognising the sensitive places of the body, distinguishing between a friendly and unfriendly touch and how children should react in a hostile situation so that they can attract attention and summon help simultaneously.’
Kidzee’s summer camp is open for children between 4-12 years’ in age. Chiranjeevi Public school, another institution that caters to pre-schoolers as well as older children, will be holding Karate classes for little ones.
“The classes will give children pointers on safety and security issues and also teach them simple and rudimentary self-defence techniques in Karate,’ said Maya Kumar, principal of Chiranjeevi.
“We will organise classroom activities aimed at building the confidence levels of the little ones, as they are generally very shy. The idea is to inspire them to freely speak to the teacher if anything (or anyone) makes them uncomfortable,” states Anupama Sinha of Euro Kids. According to Varun Budhia of little learners’ School, ‘As part of our course curriculum we teach the kids to not talk to strangers and not accept any food, chocolate, ice-creams, anything from strangers.’
Its not all serious business though, with schools having playful activities too. Euro kids is focussing on exploration and discovery through events like science-based and lab activities, treasure hunts, ‘Yummy Time’ i.e. making Pizzas, breads and other nutritious and tatsy treats without using gas stoves, etc. Kidzee’s theme is nature and environmental awareness through theme-specific crafts, brain exercises, plantation and quizzes. The Tree House has yoga, story-telling, puppet shows,, water games and dramatics on its menu; while little learners’ has a host of maths-based puzzles and treasure hunts, number recognition and ordering games. Chiranjeevi has added a bit of magic to the holidays with magic tricks, science experiments and a unique contest for Summer Prince and Princess to cap a fun-filled vacation.