The Indus valley civilisation or Harappan civilisation originated during 2500 BC around the Indus valley, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, which now is eastern Pakistan. This civilisation is very well known in their advancement of technology and lifestyle. Facts about the...
Play is of utmost importance as it contributes to the physical, social, cognitive and emotional well being of a child as well as adults too. The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights have recognised play as a right of every child. Looking back at the blogs...
Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child’s soul. – Friedrich Froebel Friedrich Froebel, known as the ‘Father of Kindergarten’, was the first person to lay the foundation for modern...
We should not teach children the sciences; but give them a taste for them – Rousseau Jean Jack Rousseau’s philosophy was one among the first to talk about play and also in influencing the ideas of other philosophers about play and education. A peek into Rousseau’s...
‘Let all the lessons of young children take the form of doing rather than talking, let them learn nothing from books that they can learn from experience’ – Rousseau In the last blog I had mentioned that the attitudes of philosophers towards the concept of play...
Do not…keep children to their studies by compulsion but by play. PlatoGreek philosopher427–347 BC Reflect upon the above quote, Let its meaning sink in and at the same time, just ponder a bit. If the name of the person was not mentioned below the quote, does it look...
The remarkabe endurance of play and games across centuries, generations, cultures and countries is quite a story. Both natural and man-made playgrounds change with geograohy, time, and necessity. Technology, culture, and interest change children’s toy choices, but...
You can’t stop the future, You can’t rewind the past, The only way to learn the secret …is to press play.” ― Jay Asher After reading so much about this delightful, all-encompassing phenomenon called Play, I was intrigued to know the history...
Free play week is when the children are provided with one material in abundance, this week’s material was ‘Wool’. Describing her experience with the material, one of our interns shares, “I particularly loved each moment of this particular...
During Free play the children were given mud clay and were given the freedom to explore their creativity. One of our Interns shared how mud clay was used beautifully by the children at the Caravan. “Play with clay is one of the expressive art techniques,...
Talking about the power of interaction and play, one of the Interns said, “Prabhu, who was rather aggressive last week, showed a great change in his attitude today. Although he did hit me every now and then, he realised that i wasn’t comfortable with it...
Talking about the Community walk experience, one of the Interns said, “Since it was the community walk today…I walked with these two kids Ramesh and Suresh. I think I was wrong in one major thing….I was under this assumption that the kids if are...
Sharing about her Caravan experience one of the Interns said, “There was this boy called Shiva constantly asking me whether I had lunch or what…. and then when students were having lunch…they even asked us volunteers too join them…felt like...
On being introduced to a revised version of Hide and seek, which involved greater interaction among the play-mates, one of the Intern responded saying, “Hide and seek was a brilliant idea and I saw that many volunteers got a chance to get closer to the kids. I...
Tackle Caravan is a place where the children are allowed to express themselves in the context of unconditional acceptance and support, which in turn brings out the best in them. As one of our Interns said, “A small compliment and little encouragement can bring...
Expressing her understanding of Free play, one of the Interns said, “Each child has different needs and interests. We should be able to identify it and encourage them. Free play helps us learn more from the children and about the children. By these free play...
Talking about how the children are amazing teachers, one of the Interns said, “More than what the kids get to learn from us….it’s the other way round. We get to learn so much from them. Today was helping few kids at the arts and craft...
Expressing her joy of dancing for the first time, one of the Interns said, “To a person who has always shied away from activities like dancing or any sort of things which need you to express yourself a lot. I have always been just an audience! But today I...
One of the volunteers became nostalgic while expressing her thoughts, she said, “I learnt to be a child again. I learnt that you should do what you like with hesitation or be conscious of what other’s might think of you.”-Priyadarshini...
When one of the volunteers felt dizzy, the children took great care of her. She says, “I realized that the kids really care about us. When I felt dizzy after playing a game, they asked me whether I was okay or not. They seemed concerned.”-Medha...