KG Trip to the Stellar Museum, Ms. Neha Arora, Form Tutor KG
Play is fun and play is so much learning as well.
Stellar Children’s Museum could well be deemed as a never ending play area for the kids and at the same time, for the elders it could be an interactive session with loads of learning for the children. Simple and colorful installations and do-it-yourself tasks based on well researched themes make all the seven exhibits immediately engaging and amusing.
The stations explore the areas related to basic mechanism behind air, gravity, magnetism, water, gear movement, art and paint and many more for the children to perform repeatedly simple functions. It automatically leads to enormous joy for the young minds.
Spaces like glass wall to paint, where the children were thrilled to see the wet paint dripping down as they randomly made their brushes travel or the pin art wall, where even for an elder it created a bursting desire to push your face on one side and see the emerging impression on the other sided pins, were just some of the areas I am mentioning. There were many more like this. A delightfully pretty pretend play zone soon became the center of attraction. With a downsized supermarket, house, school and a medical room, it was an instant hit amongst our youngsters.
It seemed like any number of hours would be less for the children to explore. The remarkable water play unit, jungle themed Explore It unit with its tunnels and hanging ropes and the Discover It unit with its interactive geographical information were engaging to the core. The Invent It gallery had an interesting Air Wall where children could see how scarves and paper cups behave when a gust of wind blows in a confined space.
Well, our children just wanted to be like them, circling inside the museum with
no intention of being taken out.
Gr 2 Tikkling Adventure Camp – Ms. Upasna and Ms. Belinda, Form Tutors Grade 2
The camp had everything that kept the children on their toes conqueror their fears, become independent, experience village life, sleeping in tents and acquire new silks, roughing it out without baths, leaving the comfort of their homes and eating meals independently.
The children independently learnt to group themselves into two groups and called themselves Camp rockers and White tigers under the guidance of instructors. In their respective groups learnt to make flags and hoist them in front of their tents which give then a sense of independence and leadership.
Trekking to the village was an eye opener for the children, where they actually experienced the difference between urban and rural life. They gained knowledge by seeing cows being brought back from grazing in the fields, being feed and given water. Through inquiry, curiosity, questioning, they began to understand the ways of life in a village.
Trekking up the mountains was not only fun for the children but a challenging experience of overcoming fears, dangers of climbing and looking at nature from a birds eye view. They even tried to analyzed height and distance, turn and twist ‘in the path they climbed.
The children learnt the skill and technique of tenting pitching by actually setting up a tent themselves, when they followed the step by step process given to them by the instructors.
A day filled with activities of learning, acquiring new skills, learning new techniques, perseverance, being competent, lead the children to take up the challenge to experience various activities such as; Mountain climbing, Zip – line, Commando crawl, Hop scotch, Gorilla Cave, Bean Balance etc. Tractor rides and camel rides was an experience where the children acquired the skill of co-operation, communicating their feelings, respect and concern for each.
A camp fire was the high light of camp where the children gathered together near the fire of fun and frolic; they sang the camp song and many other songs as well. They even began to socialize, get to know each other better and develop sense of respect for each other.
Gr 3 trip to Garh Mukhteshwar - Ms. Aruna Jha, Form Tutor-3B
Form 3 ventured out on an Experiential Learning Program – A 3-day trip to Garh Mukhteshwar. The Baghaan Orchard welcomed us with sounds of buzzing bees, chirping birds, peacocks and miles and miles of greenery laden with wheat fields and mango trees. The sight of immense nature and beauty left us spell bound.
Visiting and interacting with village students was an amazing experience for the young learners. Village students introduced themselves in English and answered questions pertaining to their school life. A buffalo ride to the village, and visit to the Pradhan’s house was a unique experience . It took us all around the residential area and across rich fields. Tube wells, jaggery making mini mills, cattle dung, huts, and children playing on the narrow lanes of the village, smiling and curious faces of the villagers greeted us as we past them on a slow and bumpy transport.
The Pradhan’s family welcomed us warmly and offered hand knitted charpoys to rest. They showed us mulching of cattle, and their water outlet – a hand pump that was tried by our students. After a look around their house and living, we returned to our cottages. Sumptuous dinner, some evening play and musical program ended our busy and exhausting day and we retired for the night.
Next morning we left for Fort Unchgaon that stood majestically in village Unchgaon. The present Raja Surendra Pal Singh inherited this early 19th century fort in 1927. The palace exposed us to an old zamindari life style, still preserving traditions. Our students enjoyed the lush gardens around the fort. Pottery making was our next engagement and children loved it. The evening was wrapped up with outdoor games – cricket, soccer, Frisbee and mind blowing talent show. Students confidently performed in a dance and musical show and we retired for the night. Next morning we packed up for our journey back to school.
Students did return with a feeling of confidence as they realized that they could manage themselves even if they are away from home for a while.
