Real Active

Have feet and not dance? No sweat,for your kid can make someone else shake a leg. Eurokids is bringing in fun puppets,along with workshops on appreciation for art,fun with junk and papyrus craft. Segregated for toddlers,junior and seniors,their camp is spread over the age group of 2.5 to 10 years and brings in art,craft,stories,poems,aerobics and yoga with a splash of humour. The camp is planned for 22 days and is packed with a daily two hours of infotainment. Meanwhile,Anurupa Roy,managing trustee of Katkatha,has puppet workshops for the age group 4-14 lined up in Delhi. These begin in May and continue in June,and the focus is on shadow puppetry,rod-and-glove puppetry and mask puppetry. The puppetry workshops come for Rs 1,500-3,000. You can mail at royanurupa@gmail.com for details.

If your kids have play-acted their way out of school assignments,here’s a chance to hone their skills through the vacation,starting May 13 and for Rs 2,000 onwards. Alumni of the National School of Drama and other theatre experts will be hosting month-long workshops in various places in Delhi and Gurgaon. “The stress is on confidence-building skills like speech clarity,voice modulation,role play,scripting,et al. Each group has a maximum of 25 kids,so each of them is individually attended to,” says Imran Khan of iEntertainment,the organisation which will conduct the workshops.

To work on your kid’s social communication skills,a workshop at Pause,starting May 15 is game for it. At Rs 4,400 onwards,Shalini and her team will be hosting comprehensive workshops comprising dance and movements (including ballet),music therapy,story telling and more. “We’re taking in six kids in a group,and work on their inter-personal skills et al,” Shalini adds that classes will be held from 3 to 6 pm,four times a week.

If indoors seem suffocating,then pack your kids off to a great escape and let them experience the outdoors at a camp in Churdhar peak in May or Solang in June. Beginning this June,CATS,an adventure club,has a five-day-long camp,which takes in all age groups and helps them learn the basics of rock-climbing,rafting,paragliding,river crossing and camping among the 13 different activities. “We ensure that each one has a good time and is able to participate in the activities,” says Supreet Dhiman,of CATS. The package is tagged at Rs 5,500,inclusive of travel and accommodation. For those wanting to conquer virgin terrains,Club Footloose brings in a 15-day camp to Uttaranchal. “This one’s restricted to those who hold a good ‘trek’ record,” Soli Sethi of the club (www.clubfootloose.com) prices his camp at about Rs 25,000. At Negi Sports Wilderness Summer Camps,students in the age group of eight to 17 will be helped to gain new skills at adventure camps. “The six day course in the wilderness will include rope and rock courses,mountain biking among others,” Vipul Negi informs that camps will be held in Mashobra and Manali and cost Rs 5,200 and Rs 6,200 respectively. You can view more on http://www.negisports.com.

For those looking to make a lifestyle statement,there’s help at hand from Les Elfes (www.leselfes.com). The 22-year-old organisation based out of Switzerland hosts summer and winter camps every year on the snow-capped slopes in Verbier. Open for 8-18-year-olds,the two-week-long camps are held from April to June and have a wide variety of activities to keep kids engaged. “We have a cross-section of events like paragliding lessons,hiking programmes,language classes,” says Rachna Chawla,manager,India operations. June is apparently the best month to go,with kids from other countries too joining the camps. The damages? Rs 1.6 lakh,inclusive of airfare.

Finally,camps are on at Rishikesh or Chamba in Uttarakhand. Beginning from May 10,Snow Leopard Adventures has a six-day-long camp called Leaders 2009,which takes a maximum of 30 children in a group and helps them learn the basics of rock-climbing,rappelling,rafting and camping. “The age group we cater to is 10 to 16 and we ensure that each child gets enough exposure,” says Kanika Singh,marketing manager,Snow Leopard Adventures (www.snowleopard.com). The package is pegged at Rs 10,800,which includes everything from train tickets to accommodation. Wanna pitch in?

(With inputs from Paromita Chakrabarti)