Creativity Adda Delhi, June-2019
Highlight Of the month
MastikiPathshala 3!! When parents are playing self-created games with their children and others, when there are songs and dance all around, and when there are so many things happening all at the same time and you see smiling faces all around, then you know it is another time for MastikiPatshala! This month’s special program also included an exhibition of the work and projects that the Adda children have explored during the 2019 Summer Camp. This was accompanied by many stunning performances such as drumming with waste buckets, skating dance with lots of exhilarating stunts as well as a variety of savoury food specially prepared by our junior chefs who this time served Raagipakodi, Raagi balls, and their own created GALauTI kabaab, Veg strips, Aam Panna, lemonade, and tea. It was an honor to have Sh Pankaj Pushkar MLA of Timarpur and Mr Dilip Pandey member of Delhi Sahitya Academy with us who commanded the efforts of the children.
COMMUNITY MEDIA LAB
Maayaajaal
Our Media Hub learners joined hands with two friends Aum and Ravi and produced a film on today’s generation. Through their film they portrayed earlier without technology such as cell phones and how life has changed with the advent of modern technology..
Self Designed Learning!!! Rohit,8th class one of our most avid photographers, had great fun in exploring bulb photography. Some of the pics are here.
Our good friend Darpan Majumdar paid another visit to the Adda this month and hosted a storytelling workshop where alternative learners from the Media Lab and other hubs participated. The workshop was based on exploring different storytelling techniques. Darpan fist gave some examples of good story-writing and then encouraged the children to pin down their own stories on paper. After some time brainstorming and putting together their ideas, the alternative learners started writing their own story and shared it with each other. This was followed by feedback from Darpan, telling the kids about their plus points as well as what they could improve. JatinSahu 12th and Ritesh Khanna,12th two of the workshop participants, wrote stories based on their own personal life which impressed everyone. They learnt a way of making a strong story very quickly whereby we get to know about their daily life as well as their struggles and willingness to change their lives and do things differently.
Film Making by Ines
The film-making workshop offered a great opportunity especially for the newcomers in the Media Lab to get a comprehensive and detailed introduction to all facets of film-making. After sharing essential theoretical and practical knowledge, facilitator Ines asked the kids to make their own film from scratch. After much discussion and brainstorming of ideas, they decided to produce a movie in the style of the classic Charlie Chaplin comedies, titled ‘FOOLS’.
Film Appreciation
Film Appreciation another workshop gave our alternative learners and aspiring film-makers the opportunity to become film critics themselves. Facilitated by Sakshi Gulati, the kids learned about the role and tasks of film critics and the techniques they are using to review a movie. Looking at film-making from a critics’ perspective will also help the Adda children in their upcoming film projects by looking at their stories and ideas from different perspectives.
SLOW FOOD JUNIOR CHEF’S ACADEMY
Food Time!! Some highlights of this month’s cooking included the baking of a yummy Chocolate Atta cake. Our junior chefs Sajid and Mandeep also took own initiative and created their own dish which is similar to Beguals. They used whole wheat and stuffed it with cheese, origami and other spices
Our Urban Farm!!
Our Urban Farm!! As the Summer Camp was up and running, we took the initiative to introduce Urban Gardening to the Adda kids, defying the almost unbearable heat of 48 degrees. The session started with children getting to know about soil making by mixing red soil, vermicompost and cocopeat followed by mixing vermicompost and cocopeat separately, to be used as a top-layer in the setup. The crates and baskets used for planting were then covered with sheets for the potting. Various factors affecting the planting and gardening were discussed such as the change of seasons, quality of the soil, and watering. We discussed planting with various methods of inter-cropping like night shed and ground cover, among other things. The combination of different crops for the maximum utilization of the soil was discussed as well, for instance, combing Brinjal with coriander and garlic. We sowed baby corn, spinach, gwarphali(cluster beans) and planted brinjal saplings in our crates. Once they grow, our junior chefs will be excited to use them in their organic food creations. Overall it was a collaborative effort to interestingly engage learners with urban gardening by Sakib, Shubham, Simran, Shashank, Sadat and other learners at the adda. Initiatives such as this one can only be a success if engaged with on a longer-term as people get more aware of their food and start growing crops in their own houses and neighborhood.
DESIGN STUDIO AND MAKER SPACE
Maker Space!! This month, our Maker Space worked on a variety of projects that challenged their skills and made them gain new ones. This included creating a birdhouse with stand which we hope will attract many interesting birds from the surroundings as well as making cemented pots, fire alarm, laser,solar-based mobile charger, automatic night light and much more.
DANCE MUSIC AND ART ACADEMY
Watch this exhilarating music video on Apna time Aayega, the song made famous in the Gully Boy movie. The dance video was shot by the community media lab participants of creativity adda and choreographed and practiced by Prakash and the Dance Hub children.
Dance and Movement are two different things, and this is what the kids at Creativity Adda experienced in the Dance Movement Therapy workshop. Our alternative learners have been dancing for so long but through this workshop they got connected with their bodies and made a deeper relationship with it. They learnt how their bodies can communicate so much — indeed, if we really listen to our bodies we actually don’t need words! The workshop focused on rapport building, team building, body awareness, empathy, communicating through body, storytelling, emotions and loving the SELF.
Music Hub
Song Writing and Composition workshop with Sunit Samal
Clowning !!!
Clowning is so much more than just ‘being funny’ and making others laugh, as the Adda children were able to experience and try out first-hand during a 3-days workshop held this month. The focus was on helping children become more self-aware and to learn to accept themselves for who they are and being comfortable in their own skin. Clowning helps in the acceptance of self and others around us without being judgmental. On the first day, the children experimented with various clowning techniques of playing, moving, and expressing. They were given the space to explore themselves, their walk, body movement and being aware of the expressions and how the body reacts to each emotion. On the second day, the workshop focused on refining the techniques of expression and improvisation. For this, participants were divided into pairs and had to do a performance using a prop. On the third day, the focus was on improvisation and the importance of exaggerated movements and expressions. Children were divided into groups of five and were given short acts of spontaneous performance. The alternative learners discovered parts of self that are hidden, spontaneous and authentic. Through the workshop, they understood the importance of clowning and to be more compassionate and empathetic. The focus was not on theatrical clowning but medical clowning. On 9th June, four children, Rahul, Aman, Sundaram, and Kanhaiya accompanied Sheetal Agarwal (clown facilitator) to Chacha Nehru Baal Chikitsalaya where they were exposed to hospital clowning and to put to practice what they learned during the workshop. All four of them tried to make some sick children happy and tried to do different acts with other volunteers.
Exposure Visit
Learning Trip
Learning Trip at Village Shemla, Tehri, Uttrakhand. Facilitators and children council members of Adda spent an amazing time together in the hills of Uttrakhand. It helped the team to learn more about each other and build more trust and confidence as well as to come up with new ideas and activities and discuss positive and negative experiences. We did all this while showering lot’s of love and care over each other, cooking on chullah for everyone, filling water from natural stream, walking with vessels in mountain, developing new perspectives in lives, interacting and making friends with locals, listening to their hurdles and challenges in life, and tracking and camping. This all was made possible through the lovely invite from Srishti Lakhera.Special thanks also to her mother for welcoming us with open hands and heart and healthy, delicious meals.
Sharing the skills with others!
Students from each hub of creativity adda visited to Govt. Sarvodya Bal Vidhalya, Timarpur. It was an opportunity to share the skills with the other school student.
Entrepreneurship!!!
Aampanna and Sikanji project!! Today our junior chefs took a project to learn and be an entrepreneur for a day. They learned about the budgeting and at what price to sell the products. They put the stall of Aampanna and Sikanji in community. Junior chefs were really excited about this. Junior chef Deepanshu and Somveer surprised us by their marketing skills. Junior chef Mandeep had a concern and feeling nervous how people react but at the end, with the support of team he did well