Learn while you play

Learn while you play (Staff Reporter) / 27 April 2013 SHARJAH – Making comic books, creating their own dream city with simple cardboard cutouts and finding art in language are a few of the skills children learn at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival. Art and creative workshops for children are in full swing at the festival and children get hands-on experience on all aspects of art at the various stalls in the Mamzar Hall of Expo Centre, Sharjah. Various art workshops are taking place both in the mornings and the evenings through the course of the twelve days of the festival. ‘Let’s Make a Book’ is an interactive workshop conducted by Joelle Esso, an actress, song-writer and illustrator from Cameroon. From illustrations to cutouts, from scripting the text to laying it out in the best possible way, children are taken step by step through the process of creating a picture book out of a story that is carefully chosen. Each child leaves the hall as the proud creator of a story book. A total of nine sessions of ‘Let’s Make a Book’ is taking place in the first week of the festival. ‘Build Your Own City’ is another very popular workshop conducted by Ahmad Dawi and Ahmad Mahdi, Egyptian artists and miniaturists, who teach children to create their own dream home and city. Using simple, easy-to-make cutouts that can easily be adapted to produce a 3D effect, these artists not only ignite the creative spark in children, but also teach them the skill of efficiently cutting out pleasing images from sheets of thick paper or board. Nine sessions of ‘Build Your Own City’ are being conducted till today. Arabic script is not just a written form of communication – it is also a work of art. In order for children to understand the beauty of Arabic language, the Ministry of Education is conducting ‘Tafaneen’, a specialised workshop that looks at the various aspects of the language. ‘A Child’s Fear of a Big Painting’ is one such workshop that uses mixed media on canvas to create works of art using cutouts of Arabic letters. Teachers of language and art can also benefit from the seven workshops that are being conducted in the Mamzar Hall of Expo Centre till Tuesday.  news@khaleejtimes.com Taylor Scott International