Nyasa Summer Camp 2023

Nyasa concluded a successful summer camp for 100 kids from the nearby villages and IITGN construction worker colonies.

This summer camp was a 10 day event held from 25th May to 3rd June during the summer break, which included activities such as sports, music, dancing, arts & crafts, entrepreneurship, archaeology, site visits, awareness sessions, computer training sessions and many more.

Arts & Crafts

A brief craft session was conducted for 60 minutes and covered several interesting concepts on paper folding techniques to create beautiful origami products. By the end of the session, every participant was able to make an origami tulip flower.

A session by art@ iitgn was also conducted on collage making, whereby students made collages using magazine paper, cloth and waste newspaper, on the theme “underwater”.

The painting session was focused on exploring the concepts of basic artwork with mixed media. The children used various mediums/materials like paint, colored paper, buttons, and vegetable and used techniques like vegetable printing, painting, etc to create an artwork as a team. By engaging the children in this group activity, they participated in team-building exercises and leadership skills parallelly.

A hands-on session on soft toy making was also introduced where soft toys on heart and star shapes were made. This session allowed students to develop their stitching skills and unleash their creativity while creating personalised toys to cherish.

Sports

Nyasa concluded a successful summer camp for 95 kids from the nearby villages and IITGN construction worker colonies. A ten days program was scheduled, which included a variety of activities.

The day started off at 10 AM with a warm-up session conducted by coach Bharti Makwana. This was followed by a pep talk by coach Dinesh Parmar wherein he emphasised upon the significance of values such as team spirit, leadership and time management in our day to day lives.

Following the warm-up session, a yoga session was conducted by instructor Tulsa Pujari where the focus was on certain asanas such as paschimottanasana, vimanaasan, which aimed to improve the children's flexibility, strength, and overall well-being. This session introduced them to the practice of yoga and its benefits, promoting physical and mental health.

Archaeology

This day-long session gave the children and volunteers a glimpse of the life of an archaeologist through sandbox mock excavations. Further, the session also gave them an idea of how artifacts from the excavation sites are assembled and analysed through a simple exercise of pot painting, breaking, and joining. The participants were first shown pictures from different ancient cultures. They were then asked to recreate the same design (for those inclined to paint) or paint anything that they wanted to.

The learnings for these activities were limited to teaching the children:

The Archaeological experience: To recreate the archaeological expedition, the cartons were filled with sand and some broken historical artefacts were hidden in the sand. The children used brushes to remove the pieces in the carton and then glue them together.
Clay toys: To provide hands-on experience in making clay toys
Puzzle solving: teach children about historical monuments through jigsaw puzzles.

Visits

Library Visit

During the visit to the library, the library team explained the working of the IITGN library to the children. The children visited various sections of the library like the reading area, the books area, meeting area, the magazine section and the children’s section. The children had a fun time discussing various books and about the library with the library team.

WTP and STP Visit

The children had the opportunity to visit the water treatment plant and sewage treatment plant at the campus, where Ashok Wandhekar explained the working of these facilities in a clear and understandable manner. This practical experience allowed the children to witness the real-life application of the topics they had studied in their curriculum, enhancing their understanding and knowledge.

Computer Training

The computer session was conducted in four batches and in three steps:
1. An introduction to hardware, software, input device, output device, storage device, and different parts of the computer
2. A guide to switching the computer on and off.
3. Basic introduction about paint and how to use it to make colourful drawings.

Anand Mela

It was based on the theme of entrepreneurship, where the children were provided with the ingredients to make various chat dishes. There were five stalls comprising Sandwich, Panipuri, Fruit Chat, Bhel and Papdi Chaat. Each stall was run by a group of seven children who divided themselves into various roles and responsibility for better functioning of their stall.
The remaining children were provided coupons and could enjoy whichever dish they wanted to have. Each stall had two volunteers for the smooth running of the stall who assisted the students.

Awareness

Having open discussions about menstruation with girls is important. Addressing the biological aspects, menstrual hygiene, pain management, and debunking myths can help foster understanding and promote a positive attitude. Creating a safe space for questions and sharing experiences empowers girls to embrace this natural process confidently.

CCL

Nyasa collaborated with the Center for Creative Learning (CCL), IITGN to arrange various craft activities that the children could do on their own and learn science concepts. The sessions were by far the most exciting ones for the children and volunteers alike. The team introduced science and math topics through fun little activities and instruments such as:

Straw flute - To understand the generation and movement of sound by constructing a flute or whistle with straw.

Cartesian diver- A DIY lie detector that works on the gas laws and the relation between pressure and volume.

Graduation cap - Crafty and recycled activity to make origami caps from newspapers.

Machine syringe - A fun way to demonstrate machines.

Paper helicopter - An introduction to air resistance and torque with a fun paper toy.

Straw Spiner - To demonstrate Newton's laws of motion with a spinner.