THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ice creams, games and celebrations may not exactly be things that one associate with a library. But, ‘Summer School 2018’ conducted by the Kerala State Central Library has all the three and more, providing the participants a summer to remember.
The annual camp, the first season of which was conducted in 1984, is one of the oldest in the city. Professionals are invited every day to the camp to present seminars and to conduct sessions like craft-making, art workshops, quizzes, stage play-making and screenplay writing. Health and road safety sessions were also conducted.
“Seminars are very informative but can get boring too,” says Vishnu R, a participant. He confesses how much he loves interactive sessions, that include vegetable carving and Origami. “Naadan Paattu session was our favourite. They taught us folk songs and even let us perform on stage with chenda. We loved it,” he adds.
Apart from seminars and workshops, the kids are taken out to recreational spots and on educational tours. “Last Saturday, we were taken to Happy Land. We stuck together and had loads of fun”, says Athul G S, a 12-year-old, who is a part of a ‘gang’ of five kids who met for the first time in this camp. “We try to do all the activities together. I am happy that I met them”, he adds.
“The food is really good here. We get snacks every day, and on most days we have ice cream”, says Arman Shihab, who is participating in this camp for the second time now. The participants are also treated with fried rice on selected days. Fun games are conducted frequently in the camp. Musical chairs, ‘pop the balloon’ and ‘pass the cap’ are the favourites here. Child-friendly movies are also screened in the camp. “They played Spiderman: Homecoming. It was nice to see it with friends here”, said Pranav, another participant.
This year, the camp is segregated into four age groups so that the camp provides activities that are appropriate for every particular age group in a way that no participant gets left out. As many as 530 children of grades VI to X participated in this year’s camp.
The camp’s classes are held within the auditorium inside the children’s block of the library. The kids are also allowed to chill in the play park located inside the library premises. “We go to the kids’ library and read comics there. We are allowed to borrow some of them too”, says Arjun G S.
Starting at 10:30 every morning, the camp proceeds till 3:00 in the evening. “We have 15 active staff members at all times in the summer camp”, said Ganga Prasad, the chairman of the camp. At present, the camp is exclusively for the children of people holding membership in the State Central Library. The one-month summer camp will end on Friday.