Tata Sherwood- concluding session

 

SESSION 10

 

Today was the concluding session of the programme and parents too were invited to join us in the later half of   the session.  The kids were looking forward to the parents coming in and were very exited to make a welcome board for them. They got together to paint one on the paper stuck on the wall and took good care that they did not spoil the wall in the room. They were also talking about what we could do in the next session and when I said that we wont have any more sessions, they were very disappointed. They kept asking when the next programme would begin.

After decorating the welcome board, we took a break and then decided to clean up the room. But, we did not have brooms and we also did not want to clean up with our hands. So, I took out some newspaper sheets and we cleaned up the place . when I rolled one sheet to make a broom for myself , they were very surprised that even a newspaper could become a broom and they too went ahead to make one for themselves.

When the parents came in, we greeted them and explained to them how we do meditation, why we do it, which kind of music is played for it, and so on. Then, I told the whole group to make two groups for playing a game. The parents preferred to be in one group and the kids in the other. Then, they made tallest towers using wooden blocks. It was fun. Even a two year old kid, brother of one of the kids, too made quite tall towers for himself. It was nice to see parents participate with full enthusiasm.

Then, we went ahead with the activity "bade miyan- chote miyan" where the thinking skill was composition and they had to make puppets which would be big and small and also come up with a story and present it.

Parents too got involved in the activity and finally the kids put up a small puppet show. During reflection, parents said that the kids did a good job and they enjoyed it even if it was not a perfect product. Some parents also mentioned that they were wanting to have a perfect looking puppet with a perfect story but they were quite happy with whatever stories the kids came up with . some parents even participated in the story telling in one group. Parents even said that the next workshop could be planned for parents and kids together. One parent said that she would continue this kind of activities   with her kids where simple material could be put to creative use. One parent said she felt like asking me all the time how much time they had for the puppet making and was surprised I never mentioned anything about it. They even said this was a better way of doing something with the kids rather than telling them to hurry up while doing something creative. Some parents said that their kids don't open up in front of so many people in any other setting but they were surprised to see the same kids expressing themselves here.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable session . I have learned a lot from the kids during the ten sessions of smart genie and enjoyed every moment of it.

Trupti