When indoors is as much fun as outdoors
Our beloved city has been in the grips of this unabating heatwave. While most people have dropped any daytime leisure plan, DI stayed true to its word made to our DI Kids– it conducted a day long camp.
The initial plans had outdoor fun activities, which are always a great favourite followed by some indoor fun games, rounding up with cooling off with games in the pool. The sweltering heat forced us to drop the outdoor activities plan, we hoped to be able to still run the pool games.
Several ‘new’ faces were seen for whom this was their first experience at a DI camp. Unsure of what to expect, parents had braved the heat and dropped off their children. A concerned mother shared that her child had never been a part of a day long camp like this.
Indoors@DI was our cool haven for the day. Sunday, 28 April started with four teams being formed from the 33 participants. Twix, Skittles, Chaos and Stop were the four teams. Each team had its captain, selected from the older kids of the camp.
Some warm-up activities were followed by sone fun races like throwing the ball to the wall and catching it, transferring garlands without hands.
As the races progressed, the stage was set for the next round of activities- two bases were set up and teams had to complete with each other.
Blow-football had all the excitement of a football game, with the two teams huffing and puffing as they vied to score goals against each other.
While our little footballers fought hard to hold secure their goal posts, at the other end of the Indoors@DI, another exciting game was on. The Key Punch needed each team to navigate from 1 to 30, while the other team confused the player. Enthusiastic shouts could be heard as the two teams competed with each other.
Kids tried building human pyramids which brought back memories of our childhood when such activities were common. Diya, Aarvi, Aria and Sierra scaled the human pyramids and took top spots. Gleeful cheek to cheek smiles adorned their faces.
As part of useful First Aid learning, the Fireman’s Chair Lift was demonstrated. Two children joined hands to form a seat for a third “injured” child. The youngest (and lightest) children were carried by the older ones. Not to be left behind, soon the youngest kids wanted to carry older and bigger children. It was great to see that children were not intimidated at the prospect of carrying weight, rather they wanted to do more.
All the activity called for the much-needed break where children slurped on apple juice and munched on biscuits.
The next set of games tested the numerical basics of all participants. The ask of forming numbers called out had the teams running to form the numbers. We learnt that 10 lakhs make a million and a hundred thousand made a lakh.
The next game required the teams to use as many math operations as they could to arrive at a given number. The teams started with using one or two functions initially but by the end we had all teams using three or four functions.
Armed with numerical skills they now had to use their brains for the next game- A memory hunt. A list of specific stationery items was shared and taken away after a minute, the children had to identify the items in the list from a whole range of items put on display. Here colour played an important factor in scoring points. A creative team wrote ‘Pink’ on their yellow paper plane since the list had mentioned pink.
By the time lunch was served, all kids had worked up an appetite. Tables and chairs were laid out for our kids. They lined up, collected their food and went and sat with friends. Children whose parents had warned us about them being fussy eaters, went for seconds and thirds. The Chinese food from Wok This Way was a definite hit with the kids as was the ice cream that followed.
Children wanted to go to the pool and kept coming and asking Uncle Les. After considering the soaring temperatures, remaining indoors was the decision taken much to the despair of the children.
Post lunch activities required the children to put on their creative hats. Each team was split into two – juniors below 10 years of age and seniors who were 11 years and above. While the juniors had to compose poems from a set of rhyming words, the seniors had to write slam poetry on themes given. Creative juices flowed and we had some inspired writing. Judges were challenged to select the winners.
Mathematicians, Poets and now Artists. The teams were asked to draw as many animals as they could on a chart paper given – the only caveat was that the animals had to be recognisable, and no repeats were allowed. It was a fun relaxing activity and the winning team came up with 36 animals! Enterprising teams used the front and the back of the chart paper.
Raju Raman led the team in building public speaking skills. Each team was given a set of words and they had to make a speech using each word at least once. We moved the activity to Dining@DI to make space for the badminton camp. Helium Hoops, in which teams had to lower a hula hoop to the ground proved to be a lot of fun as the hoops insisted on rising. Walk This Way – the kids had to cross the floor walking in any strange manner without repeating any style. This was a laugh riot and they wanted additional rounds. Threading the hoops over the entire team in Chains was also a lot of fun.
But all good things come to an end. The eventful day ended with the scores being read out and the winning team ‘Chaos’ cut the traditional camp cake. Children were given another round of drinks along with delicious snack boxes from Saldanha Bakery. It had been a day where no child felt the need to be on their gadgets, where new friendships and bonds were formed, new skills were learnt and a day of plain simple fun. Children that came as strangers, went back with a whole bunch of new friends, new experiences.
While the outdoor activities had not been possible, the variety of the fun indoor games made up for the missed opportunity. Perhaps when the weather gets better, we will have another day long camp.
The Library and Food committees came together to make this day possible for our DI kids. Uncle Les, our Raju Raman, Beatrix, Debjani, Leonardo, Lorenzo, Christabel and Roshan along with great support from Craig and Terence put together the events for the kids camp. Sourav efficiently managed the continuous supply of food, drinks, snacks staying back all day and double hatted as our official photographer.
