Recently, children of our Grade 6 had been on their study tour to Belagavi (North Karnataka). Belagavi was our chosen destination. Although Belagavi may not seem like a typical go-to destination for an excursion for 12~13-year-olds, it was carefully picked with many of their educational goals in mind. At different developmental stages, we expose the children to various places and experiences in order to compliment their needs and learning.
This trip was curated for 10 days. Apart from learning to live and cooperate as a group together away from home and parents, they learned to stay at a village home in a rural set up with bare minimum facilities. Starting from filling the drinking water from the one and only tap in the village, washing their own clothes, help cooking together and planning ahead for the next 5 days was a part of their experiences.
They got an opportunity to learn to make pots from the village potter.
They got to try their hand at harvesting sugarcane while taking a walk in the local farms.
Beautiful five petalled and four petalled cotton pods made into the collection in the pockets of most children.
Visit ancient rock cut temples and their architecture fascinated them and brought our recent 'Rocks and Minerals' block to life.
The beautiful sculptures in Badami and Pattadakal set the base for our upcoming Indian History block by planting in the children's minds endless questions about the Chalukyan dynasty.
Trekking together long distances and witness and experience the beauty of the western ghats
Experience caves and seeing stalactites (which they have studied about)
The children went through a range of emotions together and learned to support each other and to cope with many situations. It was heartening to see them bond with each other, find new companions in each other and to see them all lose their heart to a dog named 'Ladoo'. The trip was long and demanded the children to step up in their capacities but I am sure the memories of this trip and the learnings will be etched in their memories forever.
Below are some impressions of their experiences. They are many snaps (but still a very small portion to represent their overall experiences…)
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