Each day of the giving week was filled with sharing of skills, planned and executed by the children. In the morning, there was football, folk dance and running on offer. The afternoon had activities like making ninja blades and nature art. On Friday, there was a treasure hunt activity that combined the game of treasure hunt with the skill of tree climbing. The clues were placed on nine different across the Shibumi campus. There were five teams and in each team every person had to take turns climbing a tree to fetch the clues. The whole experience was exhilarating.  The week was brought to a close with a music performance on the  keyboard and violin by the children. Watch some of the moves in the folk dance. There was time for some cool moves as well :) And this is how it is done...

The first task for the 'Find Out' group was to get out and find out ways in which we could give .  We got on to our faithful minivan and went looking for people, spaces, and animals around Somanahalli that needed help. Finally, we decided that we would clean up Thottikallu (TK) Falls and help out in a local farm. For the first four days, armed with gloves and garbage bags we set about cleaning TK Falls. The task, as we discovered, was not easy. The plastics had to be separated from the paper and the glass, visitors coming in had to be educated about littering, and discussions were needed with the lady assigned to pick up the garbage. This was clearly just the beginning! On the last day of giving week we visited a local farm and helped in plucking out weeds from the bean patches. As we were at it, there were many interesting questions coming up from the children - 'Why are we doing this?', 'How do the weeds harm the crops?' ' How ...

Engaging with the tiny tots at the Anganwadi centre opposite Shibumi during the week through some interactive activities was a delightful experience for everyone involved. Monday was spent on warming up to each other. Playing with clay in the Anganwadi centre was the activity. Tuesday saw them take baby steps into Shibumi. The sand pit was invaded and soon mountains, balls, and towers were springing up. Playing in the swing and running up and down the back verandah, touching the drawings on the  wall and shrieking with joy formed the rest of the day. Wednesday brought on more playing in the sandpit and more smiles all around. On Thursday, the tiny ones moved on to playing with the wooden blocks and making structures twice as tall as themselves.     After a monochromatic, predominantly brown, four days, it was time for an explosion of colours on Friday. Large sheets of paper were laid out in Bijitsu. Tentative brush strokes were soon replaced...

Today is the first day of Giving Week. This is also the last week of school. I think we are having Giving Week because we only care for Shibumi and we thought we could care for the space around Shibumi. Some of the things we are doing in Giving Week are: Santhe : The Santhe group have been asking people for things that are in good condition that they don't want. With these things they will set up a market in the village where anyone can come and take anything they want without having to pay for it. The last few weeks Shibumi was getting flooded by generous and interesting things.We didn't have enough space to store it at Shibumi. Anganwadi : The Anganwadi is a small school for really small children opposite Shibumi. Some of us will spend some time with the children and do some activities with them . We will bring the children to Shibumi to play in the sandpit.  Find out : The Find Out group didn't know what to do so they thought they would explore the area and...

The four of us, (Asba, Srishti, Suhaan and Usha) accompanied by Roohi aunty went to Auroville, Pondicherry for a dance/circus workshop. The workshop was held in our teacher, Calou’s circus dome. The dome was white and made of metal, with a blue and green fibreglass circle on the very top, to let the light in. The circular floor was red-oxide on the outside, cement inside, with tiles decoratively placed everywhere. There was a wooden seating along the edge of the floor. Around the fibreglass, there were metal rods, from which there hung pink and green aerial silks, and trapezes.         At one end of the dome, there were two sliding doors with mirrors, that out to a small storage room. It had a spongy mattress, yoga mats, magic chairs, juggling balls, hula hoops and unicycles. We started off with simple yoga stretches. This was followed by Calou demonstrating simple moves on the looped aerial silk. She also showed us some acro yoga. We then moved onto the...

In an attempt to bring music into Shibumi and deepen the learning space at Shibumi we had a Dhrupad retreat with Pelva Naik, It was a week long rigorous engagement with the artist. Plelva brought a new rhythm into the space. For our oldest children it was a residential retreat as they participated in the morning 'kharaj' practice with the artist. The younger ones had an hour long singing session and some activities that deepened our engagement with our learning. Another beautiful element that this week brought was the bringing together of Teachers and Students as learners. The vertical age groups in which we learnt the Dhrupad was from our littlest 5 year old to our oldest 68 year old. All children were struck by sound. Some were drawn to sound and vibrations of the tanpura. Some were humming the notes of the bandish. Some had their fingers busy keeping the jhaptaal. It was fascinating how Pelva's passion for this style of music was what touched each one of ...

The beginning of this academic year has been wonderful for us all. Interactions with our new campus have begun.  The Ketaki and Tulsi groups (our littlest ones) have been spending three mornings a week at the 'new land'. It was wonderful to watch and learn with the children. Being outdoors, participating in the construction process, mingling with the civil workers, cleaning the land, tractor rides, quiet observation activities, cooking and nature walks have all added a wonderful flavour to the learning for the last two months.  This frequent contact with nature has brought about sensitivity which is not measurable. It also naturally created lots space in our rhythm to be alone and quiet.   Helping with the brick making. Activity Time for all. The games field is almost ready :) Discovering some natural colours Half an hour of Shibumi care at the New Land. Walks on a hillock close to the New land During Quiet Observation,...

Last year, Inwoods Small School gifted us a box of Kapla sticks. They are small and flat blocks of wood around 4″ x 1″ x .25.” wide. The blocks are so basic they can be morphed into just about anything a child can imagine. What is amazing to watch is how the children hold the blocks, enjoy the feel of wood, smell them and start playing.Initially not knowing what they want to create but in the act of engaging with the blocks, something emerges .... and often crashes!   It is play without an obvious end, beginning, number of participants, rules, winning, loosing and free of the known. Also the conversations and learning is immense. From comparisons of heights , attention to breath while placing the blocks, speaking with care to ones peers and openness to the gust of wind that brings it all crashing to the floor in a moment!