Vanasuma Makkala Mela
“Vanasuma Makkala Mela (Vanasuma Children’s Fest)” is a unique programme conceived by Achalabharathi with the intention of
In “Vanasuma Makkala Mela” we have:
Competitions to judge the English Skills of the children. The competitions are designed in such a way as to ensure that the children enjoy participating in them. This again is one of the ways of fulfilling our ambition, that is, to enable the children to learn the language through a fun-filled method.
“My Dream Shop” where we display items of interest to the children(fancy items like bindis, balls and stationery items like notebooks, crayons, sketch pens, pens, erasers, rulers etc). The children are given tokens worth Rs. 20 free of cost. A prize-tag (a namesake price-tag for denominations 1,2,5 and 10Rs) is attached to each of the above items and the children are asked to select items amounting to Rs.20. The children can thus experience shopping, learn to priorities their needs and also learn to spend their money wisely.
Food court where we keep eatables that children usually like (Popcorn etc). Here again the children use the provided tokens.
- gauging the English Skills of children and also
- providing a day of fun and frolic to the children.
In “Vanasuma Makkala Mela” we have:
Competitions to judge the English Skills of the children. The competitions are designed in such a way as to ensure that the children enjoy participating in them. This again is one of the ways of fulfilling our ambition, that is, to enable the children to learn the language through a fun-filled method.
“My Dream Shop” where we display items of interest to the children(fancy items like bindis, balls and stationery items like notebooks, crayons, sketch pens, pens, erasers, rulers etc). The children are given tokens worth Rs. 20 free of cost. A prize-tag (a namesake price-tag for denominations 1,2,5 and 10Rs) is attached to each of the above items and the children are asked to select items amounting to Rs.20. The children can thus experience shopping, learn to priorities their needs and also learn to spend their money wisely.
Food court where we keep eatables that children usually like (Popcorn etc). Here again the children use the provided tokens.
The first “Vanasuma Makkala Mela was held on the 25th of February, 2012. The following were the highlights of the mela:
Competitions: 12 competitions were conducted, 4 each for children of classes 5, 6 and 7. Other than that there were 2 competitions, Drawing and Model Making, where children from all the classes could participate. More than 800 students from 8 schools had participated in the event. About 400 children took part in the competitions and more than 120 children were declared winners and awarded prizes. Prizes awarded were: 1st Prize: School Bags, 2nd Prize: Geometry Box and Dictionary, 3rd Prize: 2 Story Books, Consolation Prize: 1 Story Book. In some of the competitions, we had planned for about 2-3 rounds. But the competition was so great that our volunteers had to complete 5-6 rounds to declare the winners. In one of the competitions, children were asked to name and spell 5 lettered words. To the astonishment of our volunteers, the children named 7-8 lettered words and also gave the spelling of the words with ease. Moreover, the children participated very boldly and we did not see any trace of stage fear or fear for the language.
“My Dream Shop”: Totally about 3000 and odd pieces of gifts were given away. The children enjoyed this novel shopping experience immensely. A few of our volunteers noticed a few boys picking up items like fancy chains and ear-rings. When questioned they replied, “I am taking this as a gift to my little sister”. One of the children gifted a bindi packet to one of our volunteers. Needless to say, the volunteer was moved to tears by this innocent gesture.
Food court: We had kept Popcorn, Sweet-corn, Badam Milk and Khara-bath, kesari bath. Our volunteers prepared about 8 kg of Khara Bath and 6 kg of Kesari Bath, 800 packets of popcorn, 800 cups of Badam Milk and 800 cups of sweet-corn.
About 120 volunteers took part in the event and were assigned duties ranging from handling food-court to conducting competitions and managing the dream-shop. Many of these volunteers were young college-goers. All the volunteers conveyed their heartfelt thanks to Achalabharathi for giving them an opportunity to take part in this unique event.
Competitions: 12 competitions were conducted, 4 each for children of classes 5, 6 and 7. Other than that there were 2 competitions, Drawing and Model Making, where children from all the classes could participate. More than 800 students from 8 schools had participated in the event. About 400 children took part in the competitions and more than 120 children were declared winners and awarded prizes. Prizes awarded were: 1st Prize: School Bags, 2nd Prize: Geometry Box and Dictionary, 3rd Prize: 2 Story Books, Consolation Prize: 1 Story Book. In some of the competitions, we had planned for about 2-3 rounds. But the competition was so great that our volunteers had to complete 5-6 rounds to declare the winners. In one of the competitions, children were asked to name and spell 5 lettered words. To the astonishment of our volunteers, the children named 7-8 lettered words and also gave the spelling of the words with ease. Moreover, the children participated very boldly and we did not see any trace of stage fear or fear for the language.
“My Dream Shop”: Totally about 3000 and odd pieces of gifts were given away. The children enjoyed this novel shopping experience immensely. A few of our volunteers noticed a few boys picking up items like fancy chains and ear-rings. When questioned they replied, “I am taking this as a gift to my little sister”. One of the children gifted a bindi packet to one of our volunteers. Needless to say, the volunteer was moved to tears by this innocent gesture.
Food court: We had kept Popcorn, Sweet-corn, Badam Milk and Khara-bath, kesari bath. Our volunteers prepared about 8 kg of Khara Bath and 6 kg of Kesari Bath, 800 packets of popcorn, 800 cups of Badam Milk and 800 cups of sweet-corn.
About 120 volunteers took part in the event and were assigned duties ranging from handling food-court to conducting competitions and managing the dream-shop. Many of these volunteers were young college-goers. All the volunteers conveyed their heartfelt thanks to Achalabharathi for giving them an opportunity to take part in this unique event.
- The event was aptly covered in leading Newspapers and News Channels.
Makkala Mela-2013
Makkala Mela at Chamarajanagar- 02.02.2013
A day of fun,love and laughter... Indeed it was a memorable day for everyone who attended the Chamarajanagar Makkala Mela. About a thousand children from 22 schools attended the event. The Dream Shop, the competitions, the Food Court...the children loved it all. The volunteers loved interacting with the children. There was good participation in all the competitions and the judges found it tough to declare the winners. The highlight of the day: A few children who participated in the story telling competition were very creative. They had drawn pictures to explain their story better. A child had wrapped some puppets made of cloth around her fingers and introduced the fingers as characters of her story. The judges and on-lookers were simply bowled over by this innovative idea. Another heart warming incident at the Dream Shop was that of a small boy who selected a hair clip at the dream shop. When the volunteer at the Dream Shop asked him why he had selected the hair-clip he replied with tears in his eyes, "This is for my mother. My father does not buy anything for her, so I want to present this to her". Needless to say, the volunteer himself was moved to tears hearing this.The pop-corn at the food stall was a huge hit. The children also loved the rose-milk and the mango drink.The Chief-Guests- Dr.Prabhushankar, Dr. Prabhu Prasad,our Chairman Prof.A.R.Mitra and Prof.G.S.Jayadev of Chamarajanagar were also delighted. Makkala Mela at Channarayapatna- 09.02.2013 The second Makkala Mela of the year was held at Channarayapatna. It was a huge hit. 14 competitions were conducted for the children. Children enjoyed shopping at the Dream Shop, where they were given a chance to pick items of their choice, free of cost. They also enjoyed the pop-corn, rose-milk, mango juice and biscuits(along with Pulao, raitha, kesari bath) at the Food Court. The event was graced by Sri.Ashok Harnahalli(Former Advocate-General of Karnataka) and officials from the Education Department, Channarayapatna. About 70 children were awarded prizes. Our friends from 1 step participated enthusiastically and helped in conducting the various competitions. It was indeed a happy day for the children, volunteers and Team Achalabharathi. Makkala Mela at Bengaluru- 16.02.2013 Achalabharathi conducted its 4th Makkala Mela on Saturday 16th February 2013 at Agrahara Layout, Bangalore. About 850 children from 7 Bangalore schools attended the event. Again, 14 competitions were conducted. Dream Shop where children could select items of their choice, free of cost, Food Court, where children could eat fancy eats of their choice were very popular. The children loved it all. Volunteers from Binox.me and 1 Step joined with enthusiasm and helped conduct games, dream shop and food courts. The event was graced by noted Film Director Sri.KSL Swamee, our Chairman Prof.A.R.Mitra, who gave away the prizes to the children. |
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