By Madiha Siddiqui | Program Officer
COVID-19 may limit their movement but not their creativity
It has now been more than two full months since COVID-19 shut down our schools and put the whole world in lockdown. In early to-mid March, we conducted a household survey to gauge the needs of our students, asking their parents about the number of meals they were eating, whether they required food rations to survive the lockdown, and what kind of access to technology they had at home to be able to consume educational content. Based on the findings of the survey, care packs were put together containing food and hygiene essentials as well as learning materials including art and activity worksheets with colour pencils.
When we decided to send these care packages to the homes of our students, we knew we needed to nourish both their body and soul. To encourage them to turn to art and creativity in this time of isolation and uncertainty, we thought of some ideas for activities that would promote mindfulness, gratitude, reflection and fun and reached out to some incredible local artists and illustrators to design these learning packs. Two of our own brilliant Art teachers contributed to the learning packs. All the art sheets and activity sheets were designed especially for each age group; from pre-primary to primary and secondary level. Even our little kindergarteners were engaged creatively at home
These generous artists created though-provoking activities such as inviting students to draw what they are most grateful about in their gratitude jar, coloring (in their own style) in a portrait of Zeenat Haroon who was a founding member of the Women’s National Guard and is a symbol of women’s empowerment of Pakistan, and inviting students to customize a drawing of them enjoying with their friends. One of our favorite coloring sheets is the girl in the mask, reinforcing the concept of safety during this pandemic through a fun activity. Another one of our favorite activities is creating an origami butterfly.
These learning packs have been made available to download for free from our website.
Till date, almost 2300 students have continued learning and enjoying through art from home during the lockdown. Our students have really brought their learning packs to life! Our inboxes have been bursting with colour and creativity - the students are enjoying these activities so much that they are already demanding the next set of learning packs.
In addition to the learning packs, we asked our students to practice their creative muscles and create their own awareness posters about safety measures to follow during the epidemic, and were blown away by their submissions!
Donate!
Research shows that teaching children art at school leads to improvement of students' academic, social, and emotional outcomes. We need you to donate now more than ever to support arts for our students to ensure we can continue to support them creatively while they are in lockdown.
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By Madiha Siddiqui | Program Officer
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