Ideapuram: City kids ideate for better tomorrow

BANGALORE: With many ‘purams’ spread across Bangalore’s geography, a set of socially active citizens, along with ideators from various fields have now created something called ‘Ideapuram’.
Children taking part in an ‘Ideapuram’ mobile workshop in Bangalore recently
Children taking part in an ‘Ideapuram’ mobile workshop in Bangalore recently

BANGALORE: With many ‘purams’ spread across Bangalore’s geography, a set of socially active citizens, along with ideators from various fields have now created something called ‘Ideapuram’.

With the basic concept being to educate children on the importance of asking questions, developing concepts and coming up with solutions to problems that the city is facing, this group takes their mobile ‘ideapuram’ across town, through six different workshops.

“This is a learning programme and we strongly believe that ideas are shaped through education. A child’s playing zone is a field full of creativity. The process we follow revolves around playing, asking, feeling an idea, creating that idea and then finally applying it. We are getting children aged between 4 and 18 years, to engage with their local neighbourhood by thinking out of the box,” said Kusum Thummalapalli, Programme Director.

The group has a band of creative practitioners from different fields, like architecture, advertising, theatre, toy making, storytelling, comic book creating and various other fields. “These people are already using their creative toolkits in their daily profession. They come to these workshops and educate children through fun activities, about using innovative ideas and coming up with various solutions. Not enough value is given to children’s play area and we are using their play area to teach them to think radically,” said another member of the group.

At their launch in the city recently, the participants not only got to be a part of creativity in the making, but also indulged in fun activities and finally pinned up their solutions on their mobile ‘ideapuram’. Priya Sankalia, a parent who had her eight-year-old son and ten-year-old daughter participating in the workshop said, “Some of the ideas that they have come up with in this workshop are amazing and it helps children learn a lot more as it goes one step above the theoretical education imparted at schools.” Her daughter, Revathy Vinayak, aged 10, said that not only did she make new friends but also learnt that each problem can be solved in many different ways, only if creativity is applied in the right way. “In my math workshop, we learnt balance and equality in a unique way, by designing cubes, pyramids and circles and used these three-dimensional designs to put together an entire structure,” she said.

With the organisers, Club Hatch, now looking at making these workshops an annual affair, the parents certainly are pleased with the ‘out of the box’ performance of their children.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com