The trip to Belur started with loooooong breakfast. At the temple different children were busy in exploring different things – some were looking at the shape while some wanted to climb the pillars, some were exploring the soap stone, some were looking at design while some were tracing the designs. One child began with “what is soap stone – and what is the proof that these pillars and design are made in soap stone?” Some said it is stone made with soap, some said it is soft, some said it is like marble, some checked with water if soap will come out of the pillars. One was wondering “what came first, cement or temple?” One said temple came first and cement came later, government put the cement later. The child was still not satisfied “then how did the ground hold the floor?” At the end of the kids we shared in the reflection “if the day come again in our life, what is that we would like to do?
Experience temple for a long time
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Make designs
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Carve the stone at the temple
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Spend whole day at the temple and explore designs
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Listen to story of the temple and kingdom sitting inside the temple
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Swim in the pond
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Bathe like queen
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Be one of the fish
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Worship in the temple
We finished the day with recording our day in our KAA booklet – observed, felt, listened … Next day began with excitement to go to Helibedu. Breakfast took two hours – team was new and they were understanding the logistics of the responsibility. We started with a silent walk in and around the temple followed by an informative tour with the guide and trip to museum.
So whole day we spent – some time inside the temple, some time outside, sometime with the guide, sometime with 19 bowls of curd, sometime with selecting what to do, sometime with reflection what we did, sometime opening sleeping bag, lot of time packing sleeping bag back…
One place, one group but all responded in different ways – some with shapes, some with sculpture, some in measuring, some in estimating, some exploring sculptures, some tracing the footprints, some finishing the stories with the sculptures and finally some with the guide to unfold the mysteries of the temple. One group but different responsibilities – some in accounting, some in planning, some in packing, some in scheduling, some in arranging and all in the fun and masti.
The theme is about Kings and Queens but every trip bring many different dimensions of learning. We did mathematics in the temple, we explored visual intelligence through observation and observing with angles, lines, sizes and textures. Word intelligence was part of documenting our observation. People genie was part of all team work and responsibilities – understanding, needs and wants of different people. The analysis of time management and accounting of the trip a lot of math genie in our working. At the end of the reflecting and sharing our feelings for each other brought the element of self genie. Music genie was part of our singing with plate and spoons over dinner table. Our stamina and strength were explored with unlimited walks, and managing our own luggage – take out, and keep back was enough to work on our motor skills.