Summer camps to showcase kids' talents

Visakhapatnam: Exhibiting the culinary art in the backyard by discreetly packing off cookware and edible stuff from mom's kitchen, playing hide and seek with cousins, paying rapt attention to grandma's animated tales and sneaking away some of her signature sweetmeats from the carefully-hidden container, showing prowess in board games, reading books or simply staring at the lush green fields that dot the nondescript village of grandparents are some of the memories that summer holidays bring to one's mind decades ago.

But a majority of these simple pleasures is little known to tech-savvy kids. With the growing concept of single-child centred nuclear families, the shift is now from real friends to virtual ones, playgrounds to laptops, homemade snacks to home-delivered pizzas, grandparents' place to summer camps.

More than children, moms and dads get busy during vacation time, figuring out the best options for their wards to engage them in a constructive manner. "This way, we can reduce the screen time for our daughter at home. It also makes up for the lost summer lessons as she can unfold creative chapters," reasons G Vidya Latha, a parent of an 8-year-old boy.

Adding a dash of 'edu-tainment' to the summer vacation, many have come up with a customised menu that caters to varied interests of children. Bringing out assorted classes under one roof, Book Magic Library is holding summer workshops from May. The list here includes oratory skills, robotics and animation, fun-do-science, therapeutic writing, Vedic Maths, chess classes, and cursive writing, among the list.

"The idea is to involve children in innovative and fun-filled sessions they are interested in. Apart from learning to work as a team, the place also introduces the little ones to a whole range of books. Parents too look forward to keeping their children occupied in a productive way," explains Hari Madala, founder of Book Magic Library.

Get crafty

For those who love dabbling in colours, wielding a ladle and getting crafty, artist Tanya Narayan's summer camp has it all. Her 11-day training chart, centred on 'a creative mess is better than tidy idleness,' continues from May 6 to 16. From making best out of waste to texture art, jute decors to paper craft, yarn craft to cartoon-sketched cards and trying out simple recipes, the camp includes a host of classes.

"Throughout the year, kids are tied up with academics. Vacation is the time they would like to unwind and relax. What could be a better option than connecting creativity with fun-filled exercises which the little ones don't get to do otherwise?" asks Tanya.

Combining sessions such as music, dance, yoga, theatre arts and karate, Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA) will commence its month-long summer camp from May 1 at Children's Arena, Siripuram. The annual summer coaching offered by the YMCA will continue from April 25 to May 31. Abacus, aerobics, calligraphy, cricket, yoga and swimming are some of the classes to be taught during the camp.