TESTIMONIALS

 

Grameen Camp, a novel project developed by Ms. Kavita Lankesh, renowned filmmaker, with the idea of letting children enjoy a farm/village experience, was the destination for a one-day outing for our children from Std I to Std V on November 21, 2014. Our children enjoyed playing the traditional games like wheel and stick play, lagori, marbles, top, catapult etc. They were introduced to the village life through various activities like drawing water from the well, grind raagi in a pestle stone, churn butter milk, pound some millet, pottery, weaving etc. The children were thrilled and excited by the jungle gym, tractor ride the natural swing on the Banyan Tree branches and the farm animals in their natural habitat . The atmosphere was charged with excitement as the children also enjoyed the simple and wholesome food provided at the camp that tasted delicious in the natural environment. The Grameen Camp experience had both teachers and students bonding further more over games and activities, leaving them refreshed and rejuvenated at the end of the day.

NHVPS Banashankari

'India is built on its villages,' said Mahatma Gandhi. More than 75% of the Indian population lives in the villages practicing agriculture, which feeds our large country. Villages form the 'back bone' of the Indian economy and are the store houses of tradition and 'Indigenous Traditional Knowledge'. Clearly, 'urban and rural' links are important and is probably missing, especially amongst today's urban children. Keeping this in view, a visit to 'Grameen Camp' was arranged on 8th January 2013 for the students of grades 1 to 3, to give a glimpse into rural life and activities.

After a bus journey of an hour and a half, we were heartily welcomed by the staff of Grameen Camp. We were served hot and yummy breakfast and the students were quickly divided into groups of different colours. Each group was led through a cycle of different interesting activities.

The children took a tractor ride to a banyan tree. There were swings, but with an interesting twist at the tree. The children made merry using the naturally hanging roots of the great Banyan tree and swung from one end to another. They were extremely excited to do this, as it would have been the first experience of this kind for many. When one group was doing this activity the others were engaged in games. Again, unlike the modern days' computer games or video games, they enjoyed the traditional games such as lagori, gilli-danda, cycle tyre races etc., which are hard to find in the cities. They also got down and dirty with some gardening and planting.

A sumptuous, nourishing lunch served at 1:30pm added flavour to the event. The menu included traditional recipes fitting to the children's taste buds. After lunch, the children saw how pots are made and also happily tried to make their own. With clay smeared on happy faces, every child had the pleasure of also 'rotating the potter's wheel', a great thrill to many of them. Some of the kids' creations from the 'wheel' were really 'spilling with innocence'. The children then had fun in the jungle gym, enjoying themselves on the hammocks.

The event ended with fresh lemon juice and snacks and we're sure, a never-to-forget peep into the lives of villagers for our little learners who went home exhausted but with something worthy!!-

Presidency School North

The students of Grades 1 to 7 visited Grameen Camp located on Tumkur Road on Friday, 8th February 2013. The idea behind a day out in a farm is to introduce children to a farm life. The trip was planned in such a way that the children get enough time to enjoy the nature around them as well as have fun. The children were divided into groups as soon as we reached to facilitate the systematic planning of traditional village games. The traditional games act as learning aids to develop life skills, sensory skills, and motor skills while having lots of fun. Our students enjoyed playing wheel and stick play, lagori, marbles, top, catapult etc. They were introduced to the village life through various activities like drawing water from the well, grind raagi in a pestle stone, churn butter milk, pound some millet, pottery, weaving etc. They also enjoyed playing on the jungle gym. They enjoyed a tractor ride and swinging on Banyan Tree branches. The activities like gardening brought them very close to nature. They enjoyed the natural environment away from hustle bustle of the city where cows graze silently, goats wander leisurely, rabbits hop around, ducks quack, hens march with clucking and pecking, puppies play around and much more! The simple and wholesome food provided at the camp tasted delicious in this natural environment. All the teachers also had a good time with the students bonding further more over the games and activities. All of us came back refreshed and rejuvenated

Alpine had organized a picnic to the students of Std-III & IV on Friday the 12th of December, 2014 to "GRAMEENA CAMP" near Nelamangala. A perfect place for one to have fun and frolic and at the same time enjoy the traditional games.

We reached around 10 in the morning and thoroughly enjoyed the ride in the bus. The ambience was something worth watching. A typical village outlook made us feel we were in a village. Soon we were divided into groups and each group members were given different colour bands to distinguish ourselves from the other groups. After breakfast, we played lagori(lingocha), catapult and various other games.

Next we tried churning buttermilk, using pounding sticks and some of us made wooden dolls. We enjoyed sowing ragi seeds. Students also enjoyed pottery; tractor ride and swinging from branch of a tree to another almost like the monkeys. We relished sumptuous 'n' mouthwatering South Indian Food—— We realized only at 4 o' clock that the fun had ended and we had to return back …. It was truly a memorable picnic