Category: Blogs

One child made a phone made with match boxes and thread. We began from there and together started pondering what all material can we use to make phone. What will happen with different thickness of thread and so on… He made mobile with tin boxes, old pet bottles. I insisted to use cloth pieces also.…

At campus we have three dogs and three cats. I am really puzzled by the relationship between dogs and cats. Usually I have seen dogs chasing cats; I have also studied that in life cycle. At campus also we have seen dogs chasing cats but is it a game for them? I have never seen…

I used to wonder what democratic environment is. One can always read about it and transfer knowledge of the same to others. How democratic environment can emerge? What type of environment can give every individual that space to speak? At Aarohi we have thought club, open house and expression time where whole group sits together…

These days one child is keen on finding out about dinosaurs. He draws them in detail, puts lot of effort in giving curves to each and every nails. He read about them in books. We had a small chat and he said there are no dinosaurs now in this world. This statement started a discussion…

At Aarohi, some kids have been playing with electronics circuits, some are curious… Rajesh joined as a mentor to ignite imagination and indulge into some more electronic world and madness. It began with “why we need to make something, why not buy from the market?” This was definitely not a trick question from rajesh, this…

Two kids expressed “we want to do painting”. I tried to understand what do they needed from me. They did not need anything, they only needed assistance in setting up material for their task. I as a bit tired and tried offering sheets to paint instead of painting on the floor – but they were…

Two kids came to me on Sunday morning “lets do some kitchen science”. Hmmmmm I had planned some rest day for me, but their enthusiasm excited me. We began with discussing ‘what is kitchen science’. One of them shared “its about chemicals”. Well, the next pondering question was “what is chemical”. One of then said,…

One of the learning resource at Aarohi is the environment itself. Kids in Karral Aarohi have been exploring solar system, water system, kitchen garden, swings, etc as learning tools in different session. Initially it begins with touching, asking, ‘what is this’? In next session we convert the curiosity in learning experience During one of the…

Kids expressed the need to learn computers. Well, first thought was to ‘teach’ them, second thought was something different. In Karral Sunday session we brought laptop as a learning tool – we used it for writing attendance, expressing feelings and recording songs…..We did not teach them yet they explored it. We did reflection using laptop.…

During a session in Karral Aarohi kids expressed that they want to play with ball at campus – We started with hoola hoop and stayed long with it. Later explored ball in different forms of games, we smelt the ball, felt the the ball…excitement in the environment to throw higher and higher and return faster…

Some asked us What is Aarohi? A space to learn Some asked us What is your philosophy? We said we had none Some asked us What are your methods? A thousand and one Some asked us How do children learn? All by themselves In that case What do you do? With them we also learn…

One child was working on making of her own dream house; where she can read books, sleep, play, have peaceful time. She started with the size of the house : “How big it should be?” Then she thought let me design (Draw) it to be clear. She started with drawing and lead towards thinking for…

Visit to a Machine component workshop We visited GG Industries in Rajajinagar, thanks to Selvi Aunty. We saw machines which could run on electricity and also machines which do the same work manually when there is no electricity. It was wonderful to see how a small unit can hold so many machines and can complete…

Waste plastic is one of material which keeps challenging us – we keep looking for ideas to reuse, reduce the plastic. We tried making – pillow, bed for our kittens, roof sheets for sona (cow at campus). Stitching plastic sheets was interesting experience – this gave exposure to sewing machine.

“A Welcome” is small little activity or resource – kept for each person to explore in their own way. One child kept two diff shape glass tumblers with water and spoon in it with a tag “observe 3 three things” One child kept a bucket of water with a inverted mug and a question “where…

We were exploring musical instrument with children from nearby village.After children used musical instruments, they explored about musical instruments – What is the material? How do they make sound? How else they can make sound? Then we all made sounds from parts of the body – some made from lips, nose, throat, hands, legs, mouth,…

We do not how motor works, do not know why things move forward – what all we do is just make and make the same thing in different forms. We are in the process of making our own ‘theories’ – not in a hurry to know what is the establish views about circular movements and…

Mr Rakesh is cycling across India to understand ‘gender equality’ in India. As he says “we have stringent laws to stop crime against women, but the crime still happens.’ He is trying to find what social dynamics leads to these crimes and how we look at gender in our society. His interaction at campus raised…

We began with labelling resources. We explored different aspect of visual composition – size, letter styling, dimensions, spacing, color combination. It took one day to make one label for the child who was involved in making of this label. He likes decorating, he copies pictures from the books – but to compose something on his…

Sona’s (Fatmia akka’s cow) new shelter is in progress. It began with visits to nearby villages and surveying different mud houses. Apaprt from this our training included talking to few people whohave worked with Mud (Cob) construction. We also saw some amazing design of cob houses on internet. All of us at campus spend one…

Maths course in progress at Aarohi – Some of us meet regularly in the afternoon. Everyone is at different level of maths skills. We start with understanding where I am in maths – do I know process, am I clear about concept and where all do I apply? We together test our skills and based…

What Edison is famous for is inventing the lgith bulb, but we think what he should be famous for is for failing in 3000 ways. In many ways he showed the world what not do. His failing or mistakes were the corner stone of his journey. Lets teach our kids to make mistakes, play around…

One child was searching on youtube “how to make robots”. I asked him to try without youtube, he expressed “I do not know”. I asked “If you are on an island and there is no internet then what? Will you not learn anything if youtube is not available? He looked at me puzzled and said…

Story of making of wall painting. Video tells you the whole story

Last few weeks the topic of sex is being handled in many different forms at campus – It began with complain against one child. As we went deeper into the issue we realized how each one of us are contributing in many different ways – some tease each other, some make pairs, some use foul…

Like any other place, Aarohi is also not free from some discipline issue – stealing, teasing, hurting, bullying, breaking codes… We have been trying many different things, but mostly when it comes to discipline, children would approach faculty and would seek support from adults, including parents.Current situation of self discipline at Aarohi was rated as…

Sona (Fatima Akka’s cow) – joined the campus few weeks back. Her presence at campus makes us realized, so much less we know about the life around us. It all began with some kids responding “I am scared”. But we did not do anything to make anybody comfortably – slowly some kids started to go…

Few weeks back we had flies at campus – few kids experimented with eucalyptus leaves. We plucked few leaves, grinded them in mixie, sieved, added water and mop the floor. Though we added loads of leaves – we did not get smell. But when we added few drops oil. we got very strong smell. Still…

New excitement at campus – just few swings made out of tyres, old shutters. One ladder made up of bamboo kept horizontally and few sticks tied horizontally to the trees. Every week we add some lids, boxes, and bottles in sand toys and kids scream with excitement “thank you”. Just few simple tools and we…

We began our journey at O-campus with hiring a small house in nearby village, hiring locals to help in construction…one of the vision of O-campus is have whole neighbourhood as a learning space for all. We met few parents from the villages to know how O-campus can be part of their children growing. Parents expressed…