For better understanding of history and to increase engagement of children with artefacts, National Museum will release four activity books next week that will introduce them to the museum world in a simple and fun way, an official said Friday.
"The museum has different plans for different visitors. We realised that children would get bored. So, we thought of reinterpreting our museum collection for children to encourage active interaction," Jayati Roy, the museum's outreach department official, told IANS.
Roy, along with another museum officer Rige Shiba, has penned these four fun-cum-educational books that will focus on different museum artefacts. The books will be introduced to children who are more than seven years old.
The first book "Birds and Animals in Indian Art" has images of different animals or birds that were vehicles of different gods. In this way, a child will learn about sculptures and deities.
"We all know Lord Shiva sits on a bull or Lord Kartikeya is on a peacock. Even elephants are vehicles of many gods. So, a child is introduced to these things through this book," said Roy.
"As our culture is plural in nature, this initiative is an effort to introduce them to our incredible diversity," she added.
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Keeping in mind the syllabus in history text books, the second book "Life in Harappan Civilisation" highlights agriculture, art and the lives of people of those times.
The third book "Finding Buddha" is designed to present different types of Buddha sculptures, whereas the fourth book "Nine Rasas" will help them learn about the nine essential art aesthetics.
"As various forms of art use these nine rasas, the book will help them identify the different forms of art and familiarise them with these words," she added.
"A child will take 40-45 minutes to complete the activity in each book. They are required to draw, fill in the blanks or identify sculptures. In a way, they will be completely engaged on their own," said Roy.
At the end of the book, there is a feedback form that will ask these young visitors some questions and based on that, the museum team will see how they can improve and make the book better to further engage with these young minds.
Each book is priced at Rs.25.