Sharanya Vairam

HAPPY SCHOOLS PROJECT SUMMER CAMP APRIL 2017 REPORT TTNA SCHOOL: 4-Day Summer Camp No. of Participants: 45 Classes: II-V Date: April 18-21, 2017 OBJECTIVE The key objective of the summer camp was to teach the participating students new forms of arts, crafts, dance and other extra-curricular activities as well as to bring out the latent aptitudes. Some of the activities were also structured to lay stress on recycling especially paper. STRUCTURE The participants were divided into 15 teams of 3 each and were asked to remain in those teams till the end of the camp. One of the team members served as the team leader on each of the days. The attending Project staff was made responsible for two teams each. This enabled easier coordination of participants, handling of materials and conduct of activities. This also ensured individualised attention to all participants. DESIGN All four days of the summer camp started with games for the children and was followed by arts, crafts and dance. Fun games were conducted at regular intervals to ensure that the children’s energy levels do not dip. Team games and races were organised to enable team building and trust formation among the students. Refreshments were given twice to keep the energy levels up in the face of the summer heat. On the concluding day, all the participants were given a gift as token of appreciation for having attended the camp. All the artwork and craftwork has been collected and stored for display at the Exhibition to be held in July 2017. ARTS & CRAFTS ACTIVITIES Arts and crafts activities were planned in a way to extend some of the items taught in earlier camps and to expose the participants to new, innovative forms. SHEEP NOTE HOLDER These sheep note-holders were made using heads of ear buds, wooden clips and snow white board. The participants were required to cut the heads of ear buds and paste them onto a cut piece of board in a sequence. Then, the sheep’s head is stuck onto this body piece. The wooden clips serve as legs and help to hold notes and reminders. The sheep was decorated with satin ribbon and bells. MAGAZINE PAPER FOLDI NG BUTTERFLIES Butterflies were made by folding magazine sheets. The participants were taught variants of the same in terms of paper size, paper variety and folding size. COFFEE FILTER FLOWER S The participants were asked to cut given white kite paper (instead of coffee filter paper) into circles. Then, they were asked to split the pieces into two lots and scribble on the corners using felt pens of two different colours for the two sets. They dipped their fingers in water and dabbed it on the scribbled corners. The colour bleeds onto the dry areas of the paper. While this dried, they wrapped strings in green tape (used in artificial flower making). The dried circles were assembled onto the wrapped string to look like carnation flowers. DANCING DOLL The participants were taught to make dancing dolls using string, newspaper and tissue paper. After bending the string into desirable shape, the participants assemble the cut newspaper and tissue paper as a dress for the doll. A piece of satin ribbon is tied onto the hip portion to give it structure. ROLLED PAPER PHOTOFRAME Magazine sheets are cut into strips and rolled using a pencil. These rolled tubes are then pasted onto a piece of board to make a photo frame. This craft is a very good fine motor exercise for the children, and they as well as our staff were suggested to practice this for better handwriting. THUMB PRINTING COLLAGE HAND STITCHED PENCIL POUCH The participants were taught to make a pencil pouch from scratch using felt cloth. Two colours of felt cloth were handed to the participants, and they chose which colour they wish to have on the inside and which on the outside. They were taught hemming stitch to tailor the pieces into a pouch. The participants were then taught to stitch the button and satin ribbon onto the pouch. COLOUR BLEEDING SCENERY FOUR SEASONS PAINTIN G PENCIL DECORATION The participants were taught three ways to decorate pencils. One involved making a newspaper flower top, one was a crepe paper flower and third was a smiley top made from gift wrapping paper. NAME PLATE The participants made a name plate on cut plywood sheets. It was covered with tissue paper for the base. After it dried overnight, the participants pasted rolled art m-seal onto their name. It was decorated using the same m-seal and painted. DANCE The participants were taught two dances: tribal dance from the Nilgiris and Kummi attam. KUMMI ATTAM Kummi Attam is a folk dance from Tamil Nadu. NILGIRIS TRIBAL DANC E GAMES • • • Dancing game: The participants dance when the music is playing and become a statue when it stops. If not, they are out. Scavenger Hunt: The team scout around and collect all the items on the list given to them. The first two teams to complete this correctly win. Form the longest line: The teams must form the longest line using a single party streamer provided to them. • • • • • • • • Balloon bursting game: The three teams that first blow and burst all the balloons given to them, win. Balloon passing games Water passing team game Food hurdle race: one team member is blindfolded and is guided by another team mate to reach a point and eat murukku hanging from a string. After this, the instructor runs and eats biscuits hanging at the second line. The third team mate then eats a raw tomato. The team to finish in the first two positions were awarded. Watermelon eating team game Team eat-o-mania race Follow the leader dancing games Paper dance: solo and duo OBSERVATIONS The participants showed energy, enthusiasm and zeal during the summer camp. Despite asking them to come for a fourth day (even though this was sudden and unplanned for them), all of them came and participated with the same level of energy and enthusiasm. The participants stayed back till 5pm everyday despite the summer heat. The students quickly picked up the new arts and crafts items taught. They were excited to learn new things and to know that they could try these at home with the materials at their disposal. The students also picked up the new dance forms introduced to them pretty quickly. There were 3 class II students who participated and these were the only students who found it difficult to do some of the craftwork. Nonetheless, they tried and completed it with the help of the staff in-charge and the senior students. FEEDBACK The students confessed that the art, craft and dance items were all new to them and that this was the first time they are exposed to these forms. They said they immensely enjoyed the four days and would have been willing to come back for more. The school teachers and administration were also very appreciative of the efforts and requested us to keep the summer camp going every year, and include more students in the coming years.