Hobby camps go online for Lucknow kids

Come summer vacations and kids used to eagerly wait to participate in their favourite activities in the several summers camps held during vacations. But with the ongoing Coronavirus scare in the city, kids won’t be going to the summer camps. However, they don’t need to either as organisers of several such camps are making arrangements to go online.
DANCE WITH ME, BUT ONLINE!
For example, dancer Anuj Mishra has decided to conduct classes for Kathak online, this summer.“Owing to the current situation in the country, I am organising an online kathak workshop, charging them a very nominal amount. It is an hour long workshop where kids get to learn kathak. I try to keep a close eye on each one of them checking the steps, giving the workshop a personal touch,” he says.

Similarly for kathak dancer Surabhi Singh, who too has gone online with her dance workshop. “And what is great about this online workshop is that not only do students from India but also some from foreign countries are getting an opportunity to log into the classes,” says Surabhi.
MUSIC CLASSES GO ONLINE TOO
Percussionist Harshit Kumar from Lucknow is giving free online classes to kids and youngsters in music. He says, “I have an online summer camp wherein I am giving classes of an Afro-Peruvian drums which is called as Cajon. I have received a decent response from youngsters in the city who were bored because of the lockdown. Plus, I am also giving lessons on how to record one’s own song.”

CALL OF THE NATURE
Garima Malik, an astrophysicist, has been running a month-long programme online along with her teammates, teaching kids about the study of astronomy. She says, “We conduct a one-and-a-half hour long session which facilitates the study of stars, planets, celestial bodies, etc. The kids get a hands-on experience alongwith having fun. In all the sessions we conduct, we make the child participate in some or the other kind of creative experiment. Earlier we would have to instill a liking in kids about the study of astronomical science but since the lockdown people are getting more and more inclined towards getting to know about nature.”

A MIXED BAG OF ACTIVITIES
Educationist, Aakshi Mehta has been conducting online workshops for kids aged two to six years “Staying at home and not getting to play outside with friends can be quite saddening for little kids specially since it’s been so long since the lockdown. So, I decided to come up with workshops to educate children but in a fun way. In our workshops, we cover different topics, right from motion and music to story telling and drama,” informs Aakshi.
ONLINE GROOMING CLASSES FOR KIDS
Vidhi Jain along with husband Mohit, has been able to ride over the wave of the pandemic by successfully running creative English classes along with personality development for kids. The edupreneur says, “The English classes develop clarity and fluency in English writing, speaking and reading skills through various games, puzzles, riddles, video recorded debates, jam sessions etc. Online mode of classes has in fact, improved our reach.”

LEARNING ABOUT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Robotics and artificial intelligence trainer, Mohsina Mirza too has been conducting online summer courses for children. She states, “It’s amazing to see the kind of interest kids have in robotics and AI (artificial intelligence) these days. I keep getting questions from kids regarding a career in AI or the future of AI. Every time I start my sessions, which last about half an hour, there are a lot of check-ins to learn about it.”
— With inputs from Yashi Agarwal