THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On realising that education alone is not enough for making the next generation better citizens of India, the seeds of creativity to have ‘4To40.com’, a free web portal, was sown. The idea of having such a web portal was to inculcate a sense of belonging to society, be it social political or cultural.
The ten-year-old web platform for children has helped not only children but also parents and teachers in imparting knowledge to the little ones. The website aims at imparting moral values and lessons to children. Parents who are tired of repeating the same old bedtime stories can also log on to this website to have a better collection of stories. The website doesn’t believe in just sharing stories like ‘Red Riding Hood’ and ‘Cinderella, but also folk tales and other stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Based on each child’s liking, there are different activities available on 4to40.com which they can access. It has jokes, poems and videos to entertain them.
Poems on every occasion make children aware of its significance also helps them to know its history and why it is celebrated. Images of places of worship, food, personalities, sports, travel and monuments can also be accessed by children.
On clicking ‘travel pictures’, the picture along with a write up, giving details about the place, where it is situated and the specialties of the place will be shown. This gives the children information about the place and factors relating to it which is better to be taught in a simpler way than on forcing them to mug up these information within the four walls of a classroom.Ongoing art and painting exhibitions, theatre and dance shows are also intimated to its users through this web portal. To keep the children updated with the recent entries in the Guinness Book of World Records, it talks of the heaviest and the highest. Online games are also made available.
For those children who are learning music, painting and other creative art, 4to40 offers a list of artists to whom queries on these art forms can be asked. During vacation, children who wish to go for a national or international tour with their family can look into 4to40’s travel packages to plan their holiday.
The web portal was named 4to40.com as people belonging to this age group have clubbed hands to make this concept a success.