Summer Hobbies-Interesting Children’s Activities to Unwind

Vacation time is something children look forward to. These are the days when kids can unwind after a hectic schedule of studies followed by exams. School kids in India today have the privilege of usually 3 vacations in a given academic year. These are the Diwali vacation, winter or Christmas vacation and summer vacation. The summer vacation is the longest and except for some higher class students, who go to coaching classes or tuitions, to finish the next year’s portion, all of them are in a holiday mood. The question arises, with so much time on hand, what can be done to pass it. The best suggestion from parents and teachers is cultivating summer hobbies.
Most children have games on their mind, which may be common to all the other vacations. But there are certain summer specific games, too. The two boys spoken to listed cricket, foot ball, etc. as the games they played in vacation outside home. Prateik Shetty, 11, also mentioned carom, which can be played in the afternoon, when the sun is shining very bright and it is really hot outside.
Since the children are not bogged down by the burden of studies, the children can also join hobby classes, in earnest. Many hobby class teachers run all the way to their banks, during these vacations, since many students enroll for these classes. They teach many crafts like origami, aluminum foil work, nib work, doll-making, dance and drama classes.
Many children often find computer and games on it an interesting way of celebrating summer.
Prateik considers singing and listening to music an additional interesting method of unwinding. He also adds, “We often go to our native place Mangalore for summer holidays. Being a coastal city, we can play volley ball in the beaches. The cool air from the sea adds to the fun.”
Durgesh Jha, 13, insists, “My all time favourite game is cricket and only cricket.”
These children, unfortunately for the programs on TV, do not consider watching the idiot box as a part of summer holidays. Well, isn’t that good for them, since being cooped up at home, could be a strain on the young minds? Talking about older people, with all the responsibilities, this reality, just remains like A Mid-summer Night’s Dream. Wouldn’t we all like to go back to those carefree days again?
This article was first published in Eve’s Times and has been reproduced here with the permission of the editor, Swati Amar.