How we Celebrated Children's Day

ILM Montessori celebrated the joy of childhood, by organizing an exciting day that was filled with little surprises instead of just declaring a holiday on Children's Day.It was their special day and it was all about making them happy, so we decked the school with balloons and streamers so that they begin their day with a big smile across their face. :)The notice board was brought alive with a "Happy Children's Day" message surrounded by a few striking pictures of the kids taken at school.This attracted a lot of attention from both the parents and kids,who were just thrilled to see pictures of themselves and their friends.After a an hour of regular work with Montessori Materials, our kids were given a generous amount of outdoor play-time. This time there were no rules, the kids were allowed to run-around as much as they liked and play whatever with whoever they wanted.Meanwhile inside the environment, arrangements for their next surprise were being made. A small puppet show, based on Ruskin Bond's The Blue Umbrella was performed by a member of Kathalaya.The kids were all asked to sit around the yellow circle while Nisha from Kathalaya started her act. The two main characters of Binya and Nandkishore were enacted and brought to life as puppets by Nisha.The puppet show was interactive as the kids were asked to repeat some lines and ask questions if they didn't follow. Our older kids ages between 3-4 years were engrossed in the story, while the younger ones aged between 2-3 years seemed to be fascinated by the puppets handled by Nisha.The story was altered and narrated to suit our young kids just like the moral of the story was also explained in a very simplistic manner.This was followed by a short art activity that involved making tiny blue and red umbrellas. All the kids enjoyed this activity as they were each given an a set of materials to work with and assemble the pretty little umbrellas with the help of Lubna our Teacher and Nisha from Kathalaya.It was soon hometime, but we were not going to allow the kids to go back home empty handed. Every child was given their little umbrella, a balloon of his/her own choice and a little goodie box that had a muffin and a few chocolates for them to enjoy at home.