If fairies made the raibow

Working with a group of 8-12 year olds is an exhilarating experience. Their knowledge is sound, their vision is clear, their creativity is superlative.

I had one such group write a short story on fairies making a rainbow. This writing exercise was followed by designing of their own book cover and writing of a preface.

The outcome was beautiful! Thier very own cover, their very own story, their small summary and finally they had their first published/printed book in hand.

The story was then decorated with a poetry which was imagined and penned down on the same lines. We saw a combination of an inspirational revolting rhymes [Roald Dahl style] and some fairy tale inspired sweet poetry.

I'm quite sure, the readers of this blog may choose of the the rainbow stories to tell their toddlers.

Cinderella's Prince Harming

Cinderella an all time favourite....Rapt attention and dreamy eyes. Every child lives in the ballroom and dances in his/her mind every time the story is told.

What made the children scream and laugh was the Cinderella Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl!!! However much Cinderella is loved...children love the distorted version a LOT as it teases their brain, tickles their funny bone and they can't stop adding more and more gory elements to the story.

This Sunday saw one such moment!

Laughter over the the change in the plot, the Prince Charming who was named Prince Harming, the spooky devilish voice of the evil step sister and final the uproar on hearing that Cinderella marries a Jam maker in the end!!

Cinderella...the fairy tale or the distorted tale...loved happily forever.

Saree in a museum

My Mother's saree, the book  comes across as a simple no nonsense book. A book which many a time we as narrators and storytellers wonder what to do with!
Grade 1 children sit around listening to the story...lines are read one after another...but what fascinated them most was that, I, their regular storyteller has draped a saree. They are amused. Why? Well, for one, even their mothers don't wear sarees anymore.
They associated the saree with their grandmother and for some....their great grand mothers!
After browsing through the book and playing satisfactorily with my saree, they felt they were now ready to depict the saree.

The consensus was 'Saree in a museum'..One would wonder, why a museum?!! The children of this group believed and almost made me believe, that thats wear this attire belonged...Why? Rarely seen, is something special and difficult to wear!
I believe that there are reasons enough to categorise a material/thing as an antique special piece.

Well for them, the Saree surely belongs in a museum.

Who will be the egg

In a class filled with bubbling enthusiasm, role play and theatre blossoms. Children are waiting to enact the books we read together. The little egg was one such experience.

The book was a simple read for Grade 2 but what made the whole story interesting was, creating their own twist in the tale and enacting the tale and playing the character of an egg rolling down a bran, travelling all over the farm and finally cracking.

The stage was surrounded with 3 1/2 feet kids and one little girl tinier than the rest. She was made the egg.
One would have never come across a bubblier egg who fit her role so well.

Stories made alive through imagination are far far superior than rehearsed and written plays.