‘Hot’ and happening Pune

Intelligence Plus,a city-based organisation that offers a year-long Prodigy Kid programme for children has ventured into summer camps this year. Their experience-based workshops for children between 7 and 15 years,include activities such as picnics in the form of visiting factories and manufacturing units in and around the city. Children will be taken on field trips to Mercedes Benz unit,Monginis factory,car racing design unit and bulb manufacturing unit where they will be given presentations by the staff about the work carried out in the factory and will participate in educational games.

Through another 10-day workshop,‘Budding Entrepreneurs’,that starts on May 6,kids will be taught how to become future entrepreneurs by working on new ideas,planning marketing strategies and developing proper communication skills. “The workshop inculcates the spirit of doing something new and innovative,thinking out of the box and being a leader. This is the need of the hour. Children are the future,and it is our responsibility to equip them with knowledge of ethical leadership at an early age,” said Pranjal Gundesha,founder of Intelligence Plus.

While some young minds are ready to be trained as future leaders,others are seeking training to touch the sky with their inventions. Rahul Hanumanta,10,is all set to join an aero modelling summer workshop at Anand Vidya Niketan near Joggers Park,Viman Nagar. The two-day workshop for children between 8 and 14 years,will offer hands-on training for making paper plans,constructing rubber powered planes,free flight electric planes and reference material for other aero-modelling constructions. “My son loves aeroplanes and helicopters. Everytime we take him to a toy shop,he picks up a model of either the two. He also loves to make things on his own. So we thought of enrolling him for something he is passionate about,” said Prajakta Hanumanta,Rahul’s mother.

Another series of workshops for children between 8 and 15 years,focuses on robotics. The workshops will be conducted by Arijit Mallick from May 4 to 9 at Bedrock Educare,Pashan and May 11 to 16 at Aksharnandan School,Senapati Bapat Road. The workshop will deal with the basics of robotics where children will be taught how to make robots. “Kids get really excited when they assemble parts and build a basic robot. But there is much more to robotics,which tender minds love to learn. I teach them what happens inside the robot,” says Mallick.

Children will make projects on rain detectors and light detectors and test them. Mallick said a few who perform well will be invited for advance workshops and those that pass thorough the advance levels will be teamed up to compete in international robotics competitions to be held at IIT,Powai later this year.