Be Clean and Healthy
Children who are encouraged to engage in unstructured creative activities tend to work more enthusiastically. It helps them to speak their minds and express themselves freely which is beneficial for their overall development and wellness.
When children learn through the arts they end up having a better understanding of what they are studying, which aids in improved retention of chapters.
Learning about personal hygiene and the importance of cleanliness develops self-awareness and discipline among children. It also boosts their self confidence, instills social responsibility, and helps children to be considerate of others and the environment.
In the second set of Let's Start Art sessions in the month of August, we asked students to read a chapter named "Be Clean and Healthy" from their textbook and share their experiences and discuss their understanding of hygiene and cleanliness with us.
"After getting up in the morning, the first thing I do is to clean myself. My mother cleans the house. When I go out to play, I see an uncle sweeping the street and collecting the garbage in a van."
Ansh narrated this story to our art instructor, Kavita. Ansh is a student of class 3 at Government Primary School, Bhikaripur.
"I have drawn a cow eating garbage on a roadside. Cow gets sick due to this and we don't get milk. A cow should eat grass and vegetables to be healthy."
Sawan, a class 5 student at Government Primary School, Sankuldhara,Varanasi, shared this with our arts instructor Moni.
"There is a park near my house. On 15th August, people came to collect garbage early. They thoroughly cleaned the park. My sister woke me up early because we had to reach school early for flag hoisting. In the drawing, my sister is brushing her teeth, my mother is cleaning utensils, and I'm wearing a green dress. When we keep ourselves and our surroundings clean, we do not fall sick."
Mahima, a class 4 student at Government Primary School Durgakund, shared this with our art instructor Chandan
"I was not going to school because I was suffering from dengue. To avoid Dengue, we should not let rainwater accumulate near our house. I have drawn myself and the mosquitoes that breed in the water."
Sumit, a class 3 student at Government Primary School, Naria, Varanasi, shared this drawing with our art instructor Kavita.
"Whenever my mother comes from outside, she first washes her hand from a hand pump. Only after this, she does other work in the house in which I help her. An aunt cleans a drain near our house so that mosquitoes don't breed there and we remain healthy."
Manvi, a class 4 student at Government Primary School, Orderly Bazaar, Varanasi shared this with our art instructor Radha
"It's important to keep our surroundings clean, so that we don't catch any diseases due to insects. I have shown my mother and sister cooking in the kitchen, whereas I'm playing beneath a tree with my friend. We keep our surroundings clean. When the public cleaner doesn't show up, we do all the cleaning ourselves."
Sanya shared her story with our art instructor Chandan. She's a student of Chittupur Government Primary school and studies in grade 4.
"We clean our house twice everyday. My mother cleans in the morning, and in the evening it's my sister's turn to clean. My brother and I also help with the chores. Once my brother and I got sick after bathing in the rain and getting bitten by mosquitoes. Now when it rains we never leave our house without taking permission from our mother, so that she doesn't beat us".
Himanshu shared this story with our art instructor Chandan. Himanshu is from Sunderpur - 2 Govt primary school, and studies in grade 3.
Art allows children to use diverse skills and abilities. Let's Start Sessions are conducted for this purpose.
Through these art sessions, we aim to improve creative thinking of children.
The art sessions were conducted by Kavita Kumari, Harshita Gupta, Chandan kumar Sahu, Radha Gupta, and Moni Gupta in Government Primary Schools at Kabir Nagar, Aditya Nagar, Orderly Bazar, Durgakund-1, Sundarpur-1, Sundarpur-2, Kodai Chowki, Nayi Sadak, Chittupur, Lolark Kund, Nariya, Bhikharipur.