Games

Image courtsey:Internet

Hari has to study about games. What are the indoor games and outdoor games? He has to say about the chess, snake and ladder, cricket and football.
After the home works, I thought about the games I had participated in my childhood. I was very fond of 'Akku kali' and 'Chena kali'. Akku kali was with a small stone piece and we had to move that with legs to every box. Chena is elephant yam and we had to draw a chena with our legs. I feel so funny to recollect that days. Another play was 'Kuttiyum kolum' then 'Trunk kali' then comes the 'Thayam kali'. Kuttiyum kolum was the ancient form of Cricket, instead of ball we used two sticks one small and the other large. Thayam kali was like snake and ladder instead of the single dice we used small sticks made from the 'Ola madal' stem of the coconut leaves. According to their position we have to change our 'Karu'. This game was played by elders also. It may be an ethnic game of Kerala.
Valappottukali was another colourful game. There was a colourful collection of Valappottu that means pieces of bangles(kuppivala and plastic ones). It may be a girl's game.
Ittooli- no clues to the heading. Its a game with safety pin. One will throw the pin and others have to find out. Its the dearest game of my children.
There was a game with 'manjadikkuru' also. Its official name is pallankuzhi. It was a cool game and still remember the colourful combination of the red shining manjadikkurus in the back ground of wooden pallankuzhi board.
Pallankuzhi- A game passed through generations
A very nostalgic note on pallankuzhi
Researches on this Indian folk game
Another one was 'Kuzhi panthu'. Then 'Sat kali', 'kanjiyum karivekkal kali', 'pachila thodal kali' and 'Kannu ketti kali'. Any way its very interesting to remember about the nice things about the childhood because there is a child in every one of us.
There may be lot of other games. Please give your note on your favourite traditional plays.

Maram Kothi

Sree and Hari always alert to the creatures around them. I had bought a book which describes lot of small creatures around us. After that they watch every birds and small insects around us. The above picture is of 'Maram Kothi' or wood pecker. They had noticed four of them on a coconut tree in front of our house. But we didn't got the four because they are on the other side.

I became so happy that they are also loving birds and creatures around them. In my childhood we had a story related with maram kothi. Maram kothis wants to build his own home and he checks the wood with his beak. But he is not satisfied with anyone thus the search continues. I had told them that maram kothi is searching for the small creatures inside the wood for their food. Pappu then commented that it is amma, achan and children. He was sure that they are playing and also they are in a park!!!!!

Pappu always connects the real things with imagination. He is always hesitant to bath. Then I told him that there will be lot small creatures in your body with dirt. We can not see them. They will make you sick so we have to clean the body with soap and water then you will be in the pure form and you will smell good. After that he always tell soap is the king and water is his assistant who fight with their enemies: enemies are dirt, sweat and bacterias.

A very nice story in Malayalam about Maram kothi

Pictures of birds from a fellow blogger

Our Bapuji

Picture courtsey:http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/gandhi.htm

Hari has to present some words before the assembly. He can choose the topic and he can also read it before them. I suggested him to say about Mahatma Gandhi. Then I have to explain them about British rulers. He was also curious to know more about Gandhi appooppan. I told him about his attire. He was so firm to choose his dress as a layman in India. It was a nice evening with lot of discussions about some great men who gave up their luxuries for the freedom struggle of India. I told him about 'Ahimsa' non violence and 'Satya graha'. Then came 'salt satyagraha' and Swadeshi movement.

Its a great thing to tell about a topic. We have to be precise. It must be digestible to an 8 year old. It must be simple. This effort by the school is appreciable because its a window to the great ocean of knowledge.

At last we finished our task with these words

'Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi is the father of our nation. He was born in Gujarath.
He was the main leader of the freedom movement against British. He introduced different
methods of strikes against British in a peaceful way. 'Satyagraha' and and 'Nissahakarana' are
some of them. He introduced 'Swadeshi movement' and urged people to use our own products.
He was a true lover of humanity and spend almost all his life time for the freedom of India.'

More stories of Mahatma Gandhi for children

Nursery songs in Malayalam

In this post I had listed some malayalam rhymes for children its response made me to write this post. Its very great to be a part of your effort to make your child happy. These are from my children's collection. I say a great thanx to all of you and request you to list some of your favourite songs in detail.

Some clay efforts by Hari and Sree

It was very interesting to work with some clay. Its a nice way to bring your mind to the present moment. Some works by Hari and Sree. I am submitting these to Mindful Meanderer.

Pookkalam by kids

Creative Leaves

I liked these works from Smitha, I got it from this craft blog, mindful meandearings.
I think its an expression of love, creativity and a bliss of nature. I appreciate all the team behind this post.
I love leaves. When we observe nature we can see unique creations. Each leave is unique with smell, shape, texture , colour and shape. My son had a dry leaves collection project in last summer vacation. We enjoyed that project, my parents also collected leaves from our neighbourhood. From that I fell in love with the leaves and this post is the result of that. Leaves have an important role in our life. Please share your experience with leaves...