Lockdown is the reality and no one has the option of skipping social distancing in the country right now. This means that schools, libraries and playgrounds are all closed down. Now, there is a huge chance that this will push the young ones to spend more time in front of the TV, computer or other gadgets and hence extending their usual allotted screentime, much to the worry of many parents.
Ruchira Das was one such parent. Apart from that, she is an Arts Manager who runs ThinkArts, a group that encourages children's interaction with arts and organises art workshops in Kolkata. So on March 19, she kickstarted an initiative called Get Creative, asking children to engage in creative exercises offline, while being quarantined.
Here's how it works. Every morning, Ruchira, on ThinkArts' page posts three different prompts for different age groups, which are mostly lines from famous books. Now, children can create a painting, a drawing or a written piece based on this and submit it. All the entries will be published on the group's Facebook page. "We are always used to having children reading books or creating art here, which is not possible in this situation. So, I thought of putting up this challenge every morning. This not only gets the child thinking creatively but also invokes interest in reading books," says Ruchira.
The challenge was quick to earn a lot of attention from parents, book clubs, authors and book fest organisers across India. Ruchira tells us that ThinkArts has received prompts from the organisers of Bookaroo Children's Literature Festival, Bookworm Goa, a library in Panaji and author Bijal Vachharajani. "Initially, I thought only children from Kolkata would participate in this. But, I was wrong. I have received entries and messages from people all across India. There were days where I was late in uploading the prompts and was bombarded with messages from parents saying that their children are waiting. This is such a nice feeling," says Ruchira.
