I have been a BIG fan of Pratham Books since the first time Starry Eyed gifted Cub a couple of them - The Monsoon Concert being one of them. I have a whole lot of them at home and Cub loves them as much. I also keep a stock for gifting and gave them as return gifts for Cub's birthday last year.
Last year, a couple of friends had done book reading for them on World Literacy Day and it sounded like a fun thing to do. So, when the chance came up again this year, I jumped at it... okay I was little hesitant, but I really wanted to do it So off went a mail to folks at Pratham and got an enthusiastic response from Maya, one of their team members. Soon, I had in my hands an envelope that had the book they had picked for this years reading (Susheela's Kolam), a couple of more books and a banner saying "Pratham Books Champion". Need I say, I was super excited.
the story telling starts! :)
M and me thought it would be best to do the reading in colony itself which is full of kids around Cub's age. We shot out a mail and kept it open for kids ideally aged between 4 - 7 years. Of course younger and older children were welcome. Around a dozen parents responded that they would send their kids over and we were set.
Kids also getting warmed up!
The D-day arrived and I would be kidding if I say, there were no butterflies! :) The kids arrived on time and some mothers stayed around too. I decided to start with one of our favourite Pratham Stories - The Annual haircut Day - a hilarious story about Sringeri Srinivas who cuts his hair only once a year. The kids responded to the narration and fun elements in the story and by now I was quite comfortable with this whole story telling business! :)
The picture always makes me smile! :)
I am also lot more at ease now! :)
Once the kids were in the groove, I started with Susheela's Kolam - a story about a little girl who loves drawing Kolams everywhere and how she gets them in sky! It was a short story and the kids were mighty excited answering questions about where else could she draw kolams. Since Kolam means rangoli and it also involved aerial acrobatics done by the Air Force, after the story was done, we showed the kids a video of an Aero-show - coloured smoke and all! :)
Watching the aerobatics video!
Once that was done, two of the mothers did a Rangoli demo for the kids - one with stencil and another the join the dots variety. The kids filled colour in those and tried their hand at using stencils. The messing around done, kids got in and coloured printed rangoli designs with crayons. I loved seeing how beautifully they all coloured and with so much enthusiasm.
The talented l.adies! I cannot draw three dots in a line even. So, these women were my lifesavers! :)
The kids adding colour!
Cub looking at his stencil Rangoli!
Before we knew it, the time was up. Kids took their coloured sheets back home (some asked for extras to go home and colour). The mothers thanked us for an hour plus well spent. And me, I was happy to do something new and different from the usual. It was so much fun seeing kids have a good time and participating enthusiastically in every activity.
Sincerely colouring their paper rangolis! :)
Showing off finished work!
Here are a couple of video links of the story telling;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2yUuHXlWwU&feature=context-gfa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9hTiU286yY&feature=relmfu
Thank you Pratham Books for giving me this opportunity! May your tribe grow! :)
Ps: there are a whole lot of interesting things happening in Bangalore this Saturday, 13th Oct.
A story telling by Geeta Ramanujam with Tulika (An evening with your Myths) at Aata Galata, Koramangala. 4pm onwards. See this https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=362220400529068&set=a.279171128833996.66834.274368322647610&type=1&theater
Our very own Arthi Anand is doing story telling at Orion Mall at the same time. The picks are ever popular The Mixed-up Chameleon by Eric Carle and few other stories. Art is an awesome story teller, so go! https://www.facebook.com/events/119266278224920/
The Flea Market arranged by the Second to None group on Facebook called Shanivara Santhe happens till 7pm at Fraser Town this time. You can find all the details here - https://www.facebook.com/events/108467272642070/
And there there is the Gourmet Bazaar at Olive Beach which has some of cities best bakers and chefs selling best of their wares between 11am - 4pm. You can find the details here https://www.facebook.com/events/283053198471079/
I seriously wish I could make copies of myself and go everywhere! Sigh!
Last year, a couple of friends had done book reading for them on World Literacy Day and it sounded like a fun thing to do. So, when the chance came up again this year, I jumped at it... okay I was little hesitant, but I really wanted to do it So off went a mail to folks at Pratham and got an enthusiastic response from Maya, one of their team members. Soon, I had in my hands an envelope that had the book they had picked for this years reading (Susheela's Kolam), a couple of more books and a banner saying "Pratham Books Champion". Need I say, I was super excited.
M and me thought it would be best to do the reading in colony itself which is full of kids around Cub's age. We shot out a mail and kept it open for kids ideally aged between 4 - 7 years. Of course younger and older children were welcome. Around a dozen parents responded that they would send their kids over and we were set.
The D-day arrived and I would be kidding if I say, there were no butterflies! :) The kids arrived on time and some mothers stayed around too. I decided to start with one of our favourite Pratham Stories - The Annual haircut Day - a hilarious story about Sringeri Srinivas who cuts his hair only once a year. The kids responded to the narration and fun elements in the story and by now I was quite comfortable with this whole story telling business! :)
Once the kids were in the groove, I started with Susheela's Kolam - a story about a little girl who loves drawing Kolams everywhere and how she gets them in sky! It was a short story and the kids were mighty excited answering questions about where else could she draw kolams. Since Kolam means rangoli and it also involved aerial acrobatics done by the Air Force, after the story was done, we showed the kids a video of an Aero-show - coloured smoke and all! :)
Once that was done, two of the mothers did a Rangoli demo for the kids - one with stencil and another the join the dots variety. The kids filled colour in those and tried their hand at using stencils. The messing around done, kids got in and coloured printed rangoli designs with crayons. I loved seeing how beautifully they all coloured and with so much enthusiasm.
Before we knew it, the time was up. Kids took their coloured sheets back home (some asked for extras to go home and colour). The mothers thanked us for an hour plus well spent. And me, I was happy to do something new and different from the usual. It was so much fun seeing kids have a good time and participating enthusiastically in every activity.
Sincerely colouring their paper rangolis! :)
Here are a couple of video links of the story telling;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2yUuHXlWwU&feature=context-gfa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9hTiU286yY&feature=relmfu
Thank you Pratham Books for giving me this opportunity! May your tribe grow! :)
A story telling by Geeta Ramanujam with Tulika (An evening with your Myths) at Aata Galata, Koramangala. 4pm onwards. See this https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=362220400529068&set=a.279171128833996.66834.274368322647610&type=1&theater
Our very own Arthi Anand is doing story telling at Orion Mall at the same time. The picks are ever popular The Mixed-up Chameleon by Eric Carle and few other stories. Art is an awesome story teller, so go! https://www.facebook.com/events/119266278224920/
The Flea Market arranged by the Second to None group on Facebook called Shanivara Santhe happens till 7pm at Fraser Town this time. You can find all the details here - https://www.facebook.com/events/108467272642070/
And there there is the Gourmet Bazaar at Olive Beach which has some of cities best bakers and chefs selling best of their wares between 11am - 4pm. You can find the details here https://www.facebook.com/events/283053198471079/
I seriously wish I could make copies of myself and go everywhere! Sigh!
1 comment:
Awesome awesome awesome!:)
That smiling pic made me smile too.
And err Bub steals the show in all the pics that she is a part of ;)
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