Armed with a map that they can easily read and navigate, with stickers to mark places they have visited, children sure will be excited to learn about M.G. Road and its surrounding areas the way it was back in time.
The Craft Caravan, a resource for art-based learning in the city started Little City Trails this April, a “history and heritage learning programme” to build awareness in children aged over six, and a sense of belonging to the city they live in.
Over summer vacations, children took a tour of Bengaluru’s heritage spots and palaces.
“The idea took shape in 2015 when I was in Kochi looking at how they are preserving heritage. Everything in Bengaluru gets knocked down over time, so what will we have to show our kids? I found a number of walks targeted at adults but none for children,” says Aparna Vinod, founder of The Craft Caravan.
“Children need to be made curious about history, it needs to be more interactive. Most schools take children on historical tours but nothing is internalised. We don’t allow them time to stop and observe, sit down and sketch. Experiential learning is not given importance.”
Once she got started on the idea, she figured there were no child-friendly maps available. She started with developing those. She also put together a do-it-yourself kit that included badges and stickers, journals with in-depth information about the places visited during the trail, complete with old photographs, to make the walk more exciting. Her next walk, “Exploring the Old Cantonment” is slated for later this month, and will be exploring the relics of South Parade.
“It includes a visit to an elusive museum that most people in the city don’t know about – the Kempe Gowda Museum in Mayo Hall that is full of old maps of the city. Mayo Hall itself holds many stories and is a wonderful example of architecture. Bengaluru has seen vast influences ranging from the British, and Tipu Sultan, the Wodeyars and more.
We will explore the 200-year-old St Mark’s Cathedral where the Reverend will tell the children the story of the famed bell and the rare stained-glass paintings and windows.”
The walk then moves on to Koshy’s to get a feel of an old Bengaluru café, and the building that used to be a tea club where Hard Rock Café now stands. Children will then be led to one of Bengaluru’s oldest functioning post boxes where they could post something to their grandparents, and wind down at Queen Victoria’s statue. “As I am not an artist, I had to think about the kits from the perspective of what would excite my child (a little over five years) and her friends and eventually ended up designing it with my limited skills. My programmes are not about creating great art, it is about how to make education more interesting. The Bangalore Badge is hand-drawn by my husband who is a furniture designer, so in that way this became an exciting family project too with each of us adding our bits of nostalgia.”
She plans to have one trail every month – covering areas such as Pete, Cooke Town, Richmond Town, Whitefield, Kolar Gold Fields.
The walks are targeted at children six and above. Starting a bit too early?
“Children that age do understand and recognise what they see. The earlier you start introducing them to the history of a city, the better.”
With a career in corporate communication behind her, Aparna quit when she had her daughter and says ever since her passion for art and craft got heightened exponentially and The Craft Caravan was born. Since 2014 she has been conducting out-of-the-box workshops that build a sense of enquiry and creative thinking in children.
The Old Cantonment Walk will be held on August 27. For pricing and other details check facebook/thecraftcaravan.
