Origami workshop for children

With the summer vacations already in full swing, children can now indulge in creative arts and crafts at a new workshop here.
Organised by city-based artist Megha Madan, the workshop, 'Origami and Best out of Waste,' is scheduled to be held at Akshara Theatre here on June 23 for participants aged between the years of 8 and 12.
It seeks to help and inspire children to love what they do and make good art and inculcate a creative bent of mind among the children.
"We aim to bring out the creative best out of the child and teach them to be more productive by turning waste things into useful products, making their little minds more innovative and creative," says Madan.

According to her, encouraging the creative instincts in children at early stages in life increases the possibilities of them becoming skillful artists and also helps in their overall development.
"Fostering creativity won't just increase a child's chances of becoming the next Picasso but will also help him or her develop mentally, socially and emotionally," she says.

She also says that the ability to create new things instills in children a sense of liberation and offers her, as a teacher, immense satisfaction.
The three-hour-long workshop from 4 pm to 7 pm has been
divided into two parts. While one will focus on recycling different kinds of waste materials to create useful products, the other will teach them the art of origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.

"I feel the children will be able to connect instantly with this workshop. I have often seen children and even adults love the art of paper folding and creating things with less effort.
"Best out of waste is a good activity to get the kids' minds working in a productive way. It teaches them how to reuse and upcycle things which ideally one would throw away," she says.
Among the products that the children will learn at the workshop include boxes with lid made out of origami paper and bags out of old T-shirts.
While Madan has conducted creative classes previously, it is for the first time that she is trying her hands at holding a workshop and is hoping to make it a more frequent affair.

"Such a workshop is my first initiative. I aim to be regular with such workshops and come up with new concepts and ideas not only for children but also adults," she says.