Shadow Puppets

Last week, Miss E and the kids started off by exploring maps of India and the globe. They felt the Himalayas on the globe. They noted how many cities they saw in India and talked about how many people must live there. They studied Sri Lanka and recalled what they knew about Sita's kidnapping - that Ravanna stole her away to an island. 

The kids recalled how, during her abduction, the clever Sita dropped her jewels to leave a trail for Rama. 

Miss E asked them about how Rama got to the island to save Sita. Among other speculation, some remembered that Rama and Lakshman, with the help of the an army of monkeys and bears, built a bridge to the island by dropping stones into the water. The kids pointed out where they thought the bridge to Lanka would have been. 

Then Miss E read the story of Sita's abduction and the beginning of the quest to find her. She read about Ravanna's trick golden deer and the death of the trusted eagle, Jatayu. Followed by the the meeting of Hanuman and the king of the monkeys. 

Like in many great narratives, the unexpected happens. The smallest monkey, who does not seem fit to be a great warrior, grows and grows into the superhero Hanuman. The rescue team is joined by Hanuman's army. Together they enlist a clan of bears and set off on their journey to find and rescue Sita. 

The kids did a few quick performances of the story. Then they stretched a sun salutation before getting into the art project. 

Miss E brought out some pictures of shadow puppets and without much delay, the kids went to town. R and J used hole punches and fancy scissors to cut decorative shapes. L and B worked diligently on versions of the 10 headed demon, Ravanna. C wielded her scissors very carefully. O used a skewer to poke small holes in the puppet. 

They hung a sheet, turned out the lights and took turns working the lightbulb and puppets. They played with distances between the puppets and sheet and bulb to find the clearest balance. The results were mesmerizing. Well done!

Holi deer

Everyone arrived eager to read and discuss the next section of the Ramayana with Ms. E.

This week, the story resumes in the forest where despite their banishment Rama, Sita and Lakshman are living happily.  Trouble lurks when they encounter a woman who tries unsuccessfully to seduce Rama.  We find out that the woman is Princess Surpanakha, the sister of Ravana (the demon king).  She tells Ravana, who decides to punish Rama by taking Sita from him.  Ravana magically changes Maricha, his uncle (or was it servant?), into a golden deer which he sends into the forest to allure Sita and distract the men. Before hunting the deer at Sita's urging, Rama draws a magic circle around Sita to protect her in his absence and asks Lakshman to stay with her.  Rama kills the deer, but before it dies, the deer (the evil Maricha) imitates Rama's voice, which lures Lakshman away from Sita. While Lakshman and Rama are away, Ravana transforms himself into an old man and offers fruit to Sita, luring her from the protection of the magic circle.  The old man reverts back into the demonic Ravana and captures Sita.  He summons his golden chariot, which takes them away to Ravana's kingdom. During their ascent, Sita tears off her golden necklace, drops it to the ground hoping Rama will find it and rescue her.

Most of the crew thinks Rama or someone will rescue Sita from the evil Ravana; some speculate this will happen "at the last minute" which happens commonly in stories with heroes and villains.

It didn't take long for the kids to decide which characters they wanted to portray in the "30-seconds" role-play game.  They took turns acting out the scene as Ms. E loosely directed and prompted them.

Next, Ms. E shared a short video about the Indian festival Holi, which is the colorful celebration that marks the beginning of Spring/renewal and the triumph of good over evil.  Just like the people in the video, the kids were eager to participate in a colorful Holi festival of their own!  They examined the dried, vibrantly-colored dough that they made last week.  The kids loved using a blender and coffee grinder to pulverize the dough into dust -- but the best part was getting to use the dust on one another.  Handfuls of the colored powder were tossed and dodged, and they even managed to get Ms. E in on the action!

After the dusty fun, the group gathered again to learn more about Holi and other Indian festivals, then used sidewalk chalk to draw pictures from the scene in the story.

 

 

 

 

The Impossible Challenge

Last week, E and the children read about the marriage of Rama and Sita. It all started with an impossible challenge: whoever could lift Shiva's golden bow would win the right to marry Sita. It took hundreds of men just to drag the bow to the competition.

Over and over again, the strongest and bravest challengers failed.  Of course, not only did Rama succeed in lifting the bow - he broke it! 

The children recognized this narrative and remembered where they'd heard it before: Odysseus as an old man, Gilgamesh, Atalanta, the sword on the stone in King Arthur's story. 

They also talked about the characteristics of the hero who defies the norm. Are they really the strongest or fastest? Or perhaps they have something special in them that allows them to complete the task. 

Next in the story, Rama's father decrees Rama king, only to have one of his jealous wives hold him to an early promise. Rama and Sita are banished from Ayodiah for 14 years. And so the epic journey begins. 

In our first session together, the children spent time going over images from India - crafts, jewelry, markets, fabrics, art, people, recipes, animals, etc. Each child had their own favorites with one in common: scenes from the festival of Holi, where people throw colored powder on each other. They were all completely enthralled by images of people covered in vivid blues, greens, pinks, oranges and reds. How exciting to imagine a place that celebrates throwing colored powder! 

After the story telling, we went outside to make our own Holi powder. 

The children mixed flour and water and drops of food coloring. After mixing and kneading, this beautifully colored dough is flattened into pancakes to dry. Then it is ground up ready to throw or sprinkle into designs on a doorstep. Can't wait to see what happens next...I think someone suggested goggles. 

The Ramayana voyage begins

Our new crew delves into scores of books from our Ramayana library.

Everyone selected a volume to bring home, whether a re-telling of Indian mythology, or beautiful images of Indian crafts: kite-making, painting, fabric-dying.

Reading these books at home not only sustains the crew's interest between sessions; it also helps family members engage with the story on a more regular basis.