And at the End of the Day...

Fridays are half days here at Kopila Valley School, and today we did some really awesome crafts! Not only were they fun, but they are also super functional :) Since the desks in the classrooms are all slightly slanted toward the students, their pencils roll off very easily and they also always have their erasers and pencil sharpeners scattered around their tabletops. How ever will we fix this?! Well, we have found the answer to this, and most problems of the world - Paper Mache. (According to one paper mache fanatic's website, it can even be strong enough to build a house! haha) There will be no house building going on here, but we are having the kids make their own pencil holders made from used water and soda bottles which, after they are dry and painted, we will nail along the tops of the tables. We will also be having them make small containers for the ends of each row of desks to catch their pencil shavings in. This will help to keep all the kids at their desks instead of getting up to go to the dustbin every 5 seconds, and Lisa and I have found some cool crafts that use the pencil shavings to make feathers and scales on pictures of animals and petals on flowers. I think I smell a recycling movement in the making here at Kopila! We've been asking the teachers and kids to bring in their old newspapers, water bottles, cardboard containers, jars, anything, because we can use it all. We're kind of limited when it comes to art supply availability (I'm pretty sure we are the only school that even does arts and crafts at all) and there is no trash or recycling system in Surkhet so everything just gets burned or thrown into the sewer/on the ground. In the mean time, everyone thinks we're crazy for hoarding our trash the way we have been, but they'll see! So if anyone has any ideas for arts and crafts using minimal supplies and recycled materials please please share!

Project number two had the kids using balloons to make paper mache baskets. Some kids covered the whole balloon so they will have nice colorful paper mache balls, which is ok too. Project number 3 (and my personal favorite) was paper plate turtle making! Well they weren't actually paper plates. They have these cool little bowls here that are made from dried leaves, leaf mache if you will, that are used at many of the food carts on the street. We get this amazingly tasty sauteed corn concoction called chaat sometimes, which is how we discovered the bowls. They're super inexpensive, more environmentally friendly than paper, and I think they looked even better than paper plates would have. If you don't already know, turtles are my favorite and so I was thrilled to see all the kids in KG and 1st Class each making their own. They were soooooo so cute, and everyone was so proud of their creations. My favorite thing was watching them all carry their little turtles home with them after school to show their families. I thought of when I would make something cool in school and be so excited to show my Mom what I had done. I'm happy these kids get to feel that too :)

Since the whole school was doing crafts today, we were so lucky to have Cristina take a few classes while others got started. She taught them some Hindu chants and yoga poses that she learned in Pokhara. The sound of the chanting was so great, and the kids definitely loved it. She also busted out the parachute that we brought for them and they played some games with that for a little while before it was their turn to get their paper mache on.

Overall it was a wonderful, successful, and exhausting day. I hope you like the pictures!!

The kids just had dinner (Chow mein! YES!) and are downstairs watching TV, a special Friday treat. Tonight the plan is to watch Ratatoullie, one of my favorites, and tomorrow...Bul Bule!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!