The power is yours – Green Planet’eers

Greetings from SPACES!

We are finally back on our blogs after taking a bit of a hiatus. We have a lot of exciting news and programs to share.

Green Planet’eers is one such topic which we are very enthusiastic about.

To elaborate, Green Planet’eers is a gardening exercise tailored for children so that they learn both to appreciate their natural surroundings and learn about the very rich history of natural herbs and indigenous varieties that is often quickly forgotten by us.

It is an elegant mixture where children start learning by literally getting their hands dirty and how to care for and treat their natural entities around them.

We have put this theory to test at a couple of locations in Chennai and we have been super happy with the results and the fervor shown by both the teachers and the students.

Here are a couple of snapshots taken at different locations where we have established such herbal and veggie patches.

herbal patch at AMM , kotturpuram – by SPACES

recycled terrace veggie garden – at shelter homes ,redhills

recycled terrace veggie garden – Red hills – by SPACES

a view of the creeper support at redhills – by spaces

herbal garden patch at jai gopal garodia – choolaimedu -by spaces

herbal patch – CTTE perambur – by spaces

herbal garden done at AMM matriculation, kotturpuram done by SPACES

herbs around the tree at Rosary Matriculation – by SPACES

herbal garden patch at Rosary matric – done by SPACES

pathway in the model garden at sreeniketan patasala in tiruvallur

model garden at tiruvallur

rock garden at the model garden in tiruvallur

The result of creating such a space is that it automatically becomes an extension to the learning environment and often indulges the students to not just stick to what they ‘have to’ learn but what they ‘want to’. This is the essence of learning.

Childhood is filled with natural wonder and curiosity. The learning environment must reflect a classroom and outdoor space that inspires a sense of wanting to investigate, to find out and to explore” – Kathy Walker

Mad camp by spaces -at ECR

Mad camp by spaces -at ECR

Mad camp by spaces -at ECR

at AMM matriculation school

AMM matriculation school

workshop conducted by spaces at jai gopal garodia , choolaimedu

Mad camp by spaces -at ECR

at shelter homes – Red hills

At vidhya school – Medavakkam

We also believe strongly that children being our future generation could do with a bit more of nature orientation instead of staring at a screen. and we need to encourage their relationship with the environment and the experiences will emerge by themselves. These are the moments to cherish.These environments often also personalize children and helps in not molding but unfolding them.

If your institution or school is also interested in creating such a space around your learning environment, please do contact us. This could also be taken up as a CSR activity conducted by your institution or corporate. We would be happy to present and share our ideas with you. Our office no is 9840830880 or you could drop in a mail at SPACES  or text us at our Facebook link- spaces.

Green notes – The Hindu

Green notes – The Hindu.

Article published on the Hindu – downtown edition March 23 , sunday !!

Green labs – define , design , sustain is a garden based curriculum designed for children and its poised to be more of a fun learning , entirely activity based! And we plan to include the community as much as possible, where we create a sense of ownership for the children by making them take care of the garden and observe and experience it. 

Very proud of the entire team who helped out .. still a long way to go. A great platform provided by BHUMI. Thankyou for the great article Liffy Thomas! 

A Peek into Green Labs!

Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.

-Nelson Mandela

We often want to attack a problem from the core, the root, the point of origin. But usually we find it difficult to get that opportunity. But universe always finds a way. 

Bhumi, when it came out with the ICUBED (B-plan competition) themed as ‘Environment’, our elation knew no bounds.We were sure we could contribute to it wisely.We knew at least the exposure of the competition would give us the confidence to pursue the idea if it was worth it. Of course what we didn’t realize is that we would actually win the whole thing. BHUMI has been materialistic in bringing the idea this far.

It was a rather significant moment when we were announced that we would be getting a one lakh rupee grant for the start-up along with bhumi volunteers to help us mobilize the idea off the ground. Our idea is basically to create a system where children and gardens go hand in hand.An activity based learning. A model garden to help children understand how nature works,and thereby applying their understanding into a garden of their own and grow out of their own hands. Where children own these gardens. So here we come to another important problem.How do we teach them the significance without having to ‘teach’ them? Since this is a habit you inculcate. This is where the community pitches in. We realized it’s not just the children who get affected, but the whole community.

It was definitely eye-opening and very liberating , the whole experience and the various stages of the competition. Starting from the very first ideation of the concept to the presentation to the budgetary constraints and finally the pilot project.I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the people involved with the project. SPACES only had a brief role in this. There were many more significant players involved with getting this idea up and running and without which we wouldn’t have reached so far. Suvasini,Uma.C, Anirudhra,Krithiga, Manigandan,Palani,Adi have all played a major role!! Thank you guys. You guys are the pillars of this project.  

So we are all geared up for the next more challenging stages of this project which has now taken a turn into real existence and ceased becoming just a project.Cheers!       

Vidhya School, Medavakkam – Environment Awareness Workshop

Our biggest take-away from the workshop – No matter how much you prepare, the kids shall outsmart you! 🙂 

 

So, there we were unassumingly getting ready for what was going be our best experience so far interacting with children, checking and double-checking all the things to be taken to the school for the Environment Awareness Program scheduled on the 30th of November.

When we arrived, the children had already been assembled in the long hall, easily accommodating around 150-200 students at a time. There was an atmosphere of anticipation, as we tried to get comfortable and get on stage and on with the show. This was also our first time with such a big audience. So, understandably, we went in with some butterflies,but once we found our groove, we were all able to connect with the students.

Here are some of the pot-shots from the day:

The children, clearly amused by what they were hearing! 🙂

Eager to volunteer to answer.

Uma, passionately explaining about gardening.

Time for the next batch.

Driving a point or two about chemical abuse in the form of pesticides.

Students, rapt with attention.

Shainika, having a bit of fun with the audience.

She had the toughest job, handling the older kids. 🙂 Looks like she did pretty well.

And then our most favorite section, the career possibilities.

We ventured opinions, aims, dreams and aspirations. No prize for guessing, more doctors ,engineers and scientists in the making. 🙂

But amongst all of them, remained only one soul who wanted to become an agriculturist. But it did turn out her relative was in the same field.But hey, she at least knew it was an option.

The correspondent later told us that he was approached by a student, who had asked him, sir, all this information is incredible, but seriously, how will a kid from a government school know of so many possibilities that he/she could pursue?? we were baffled at the depth of insight , that this kid had, barely out of his high school.

Below are our favorite moments. Totally unplanned and came up with it at the nick-of-the moment. We made all the kids stand up, raise their hands and take an oath.

“To save the planet. to protect  and to nurture it.”

Well, the day had just begun and we came bearing tree saplings , around 400 of them, to distribute it to the students. The school made it into a competition, an ingenious idea that, to make sure none of the tree saps were neglected.

And made all the students pose with their new-found treasure 🙂

I must stress at this point, the kids have a lot more pocket-money than we ever did, all of them flashing their high funda notes and asking for seeds worth 10 bucks. Our cashiers had a tough time sorting out the ‘change’-issues 🙂 Kudos to them though for handling all that pressure.

These two pretty ladies seemed to be deliberating for a long time, deciding which seeds to buy.

Us, getting ready for the next item on the agenda, the demo session, which included parents.And enough break time to take a few more group pics.

Uma, a force to reckon with during the demo session.

Parents , patiently hearing us out. A lot of them came and told us that they really enjoyed it and were eager to know more.

We made sure, they took a look at our posters explaining a lot of things, including, home composting, and essential herbal plants etc.

The stalls were a huge hit. We had throngs and throngs of kids and parents alike , wanting to buy us out. 🙂

Of course, at that point of time, i took over as the photographer, and it seemed, i was in demand too, of course scorned by my fellow mates, that i got the easier job. 😛 🙂 The boys and girls were more than happy to pose,proudly showing what they had bought.

And soon it was time for the bell to go off, and the school yard was absolutely teeming with children and their saps and their products. and I was in the middle of it all.

Hopefully, we had made some kind of impact on them. All we wanted them was to go home and do something worthwhile of the day spent getting so much of information and ideas.

But it seemed like , even after the last bell, the kids were still swarming the stalls. Some of our fast-moving products turned out to be the seeds and when we ran out, we got some extra packets and packed it on the spot and sold it to them. In fact it looked like, as one of our team member pointed out,  “a chef barking out orders and the cook preparing them and bringing it out to the customer”. Our well-oiled team did a fine job, under the intense crowd and satisfying most of them.

The spearheads, during the stalls. and it happened to be a Navin’s first stall experience too, and what an experience that 🙂

So after a pretty long and satisfying day, things came to an end, our seeds box were next to empty and the last of the batch of kids had just emptied the school yard. Heaps of thanks to Mrs.Kalarani and Mr.Vidhyasagar (Correspondent of Vidhya school) for all their support and encouragement.

What would make it more interesting is if each and every one of our readers too would take an oath that the students took, SPACES included, to protect,nurture and preserve the environment and decided to follow through. That would be our biggest achievement and success and nothing else, none of these workshops,demos,presentations or awareness programs. Simple mechanism. Be the change you want to be.