After a brief break, the Kids Educamp was back in action on the 16th of March, 2024. With thirty eight  kids registered, the evening was full of fun activities. Held at the  Neil O'Brien PlayZone and Dining@DI, the children spanning the ages of six to fourteen were enthusiastic participants in all the games planned. The dedication of the Sadhan Ray library also took place. It was named after past President Sadhan Ray in the presence of his family.

 

The Kids Educamp began with a series of warm up games where the kids could get the ball rolling (quite literally) and get to know their teammates. Two teams were engaged in a competitive game of dodgeball, each player committed to dodging the ball or getting the opponents out. Soon after, the children were divided into four teams- A,B,C and D. Four older kids were made captains and given the responsibility of leading their cohort. Team A was led by Devaansh Duggal, Team B by Harshita Dhanuka, Team C by Dylan Tims and Team D by Neveah Wynne-Peters. The next sporty activity involved two relay races including tennis balls, the first being relatively simple where each player had to run with the ball in their hands. The next race was challenging when everyone had to balance the ball on the back of their hands and walk confidently. The younger kids adapted well and ended up beating most of the older kids. The last game at the Playzone was an all time favourite- “Talking Hat”. Similar to the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter series, except for being sorted into houses each kid continues a story from the prompt they heard when the hat is placed on their heads. The stories ranged from purified giraffe souls to dogs eating their homework and gave an opportunity to every kid to run wild with their imagination. 

After lots of running around, the kids deserved a break. We moved on to the dedication of the library where the President of the club and other dignitaries were present. Three of our kids - Devyansh K, Sierra and Ashwin - got a chance to express their views on how they use the library. 

 

Once we moved to Dining@DI, the games became more literature oriented. Since we had an equal number of older and younger kids, there were two rounds catered to their age group. Every team was handed out a 4x4 grid of words, their task was to make 4 groups of 4 words. Similar to The New York Times game Connections, every group had a common factor. All participants were very swift with this game and ended up doing two rounds. Once the younger kids finished their two rounds, they went on to interact with members of the club and try to figure out their membership numbers. The next task was to take pictures of the licence plates of cars where all digits would be a sum of more than 25. While the kids were running around, the older kids finished two word searches on the themes of literature and spring. 

After a few hours of competition and frolic, it was time to announce the results. All teams scored high and it ended up being a very close call. Team D, led by Neveah, ended up winning the camp with 27 points. The traditional cake cutting topped off the evening with each child getting a slice, a scrumptious snack box and a tetrapak of Maaza. Then, with their new found friends, they ran down to play some more. 

The event would not have been successful without the unending and continuous support of Christabel and Lorenzo D’Gama, Shreya Datta, Roshan Choudhury, Debjani Basak, Kirti Veigas, Rajashree Kundalia, Tanya Robinson, ‘Uncle Les’ and the support of the staff. A special shout out to the parents who always trust their kids with the club activities. 

Here's some immediate written feedback from the parents:

Thank you team library for the lovely evening. As usual Devyansh had a super time and looks forward to many more of such events. Thank you for all the hard work you guys put in. - Devanshi Kothari

Thanks so much to Leslie & Team. Kids loved the camp. The membership number game, dodgeball and the match the following puzzle were some of the most enjoyed . Thanks again  - Caro Souza

Thank you Uncle Leslie & and your superb team. My kids had a great time! - Gulnar Mehta

Thank you everyone. Diya had a wonderful time. - Vidhi Singhvi

Thanks Leslie & team for giving the kids a great time. Much appreciated. - Tanya Robinson

Thank u Leslie and all who take time out from their busy schedules … your commitment and creativity has helped all our children develop and build great bonds of friendship - Roshan Choudhury

Beautiful pictures. Thank you so much to all.  Urvish had a great evening - Rashmi Misra

Thank you for a lovely time for the kids. Really appreciate all your commitment to give these children new skills - Praveena Ireland

Yes. I loved the fact that my son interacted and befriended a whole bunch from DI. Can easily see this turning into a second home soon - Parita Vora