Hari Om Parents,
Below is a recap of what we did during Sunday's class.
It was a delightful Sunday morning as the Zoom screen filled with cute little faces ready for Shishu Vihar! Once we had most of our friends join our session, we began our first class with 3 OMs.
Shlokas:
1. "Om Saha Navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
2. "Vakrathunda Mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)
Activities:
Please have the kids make it a habit to chant the above shlokas every morning, after their bath/shower. This will help them learn, memorize as well as develop a lifelong habit of morning prayer and daily prayer.
We made brief introductions and let everyone know our general class structure.
We felt like we were sitting in one place for quite a while, so we decided to do some Yoga stretches. We began with the Tree pose with some swaying, went into a Tiger pose and had everyone roar like a Tiger or a Lion (we had to prompt them to be louder!). Then we sat on the floor and turned into little butterflies, fluttering in the breeze. One of our little kiddos (Aarav) brought up the fact that all of actions that we were doing in yoga was Nature! So we sort of went off topic for a bit, discussing nature :)
We played the Concentration Game. After the chanting of 3 Om's kids keep their eyes closed. They count the number of stones being dropped into a box during the quiet time. Later they give the count of the stones dropped. The game quiets the mind and improves concentration. We muted everyone so that the kids wouldn't have any potential distractions from each other. Several students got the count correct! The rest of them were very close. They all were visibly thrilled!
Bhajan time - We sang Ganesha Saram twice. (page 31 in My Prayers Book)
Story time.
The last activity of the day was an interactive one. We shared a link to a puzzle in the zoom's chat window. The kids enthusiastically put the puzzle together (in record time!) and were excited to say that it was Ganesha!
Story Time:
Ganesha Goes To A Party
When we asked the kids if they were ready to listen to a story, most of them responded "yes"! We began the story by making some character intros. Most of the kids were able to describe Ganesha, we got answers like elephant, big belly, elephant head! When asked if they knew who his parents were, there were a few of them who responded to that as well! Super Impressive! Then Kubera was introduced as the God of Wealth. Then we asked the kids, 'Who likes to go to a party?" We had some hands go up.
Then we got into the story. Kubera decided to throw a party to show off his vast wealth. He invited all the Devas. Everyone had sent their RSVP and had agreed to attend. But he had not heard back from the Divine couple of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi. So Kubera decided to go in person and find out. On seeing Kubera approaching, Lord Shiva decided to teach him a lesson. Lord Shiva's family led a simple lifestyle, on asked by Kubera to join his party, Lord Shiva said that He and Goddess Parvathi had prior commitments but will send their son Ganesha to represent the family. Kubera though disappointed, was fine with that and he thought to himself, "how hard could it be to satisfy a child".
Ganesha went to Kubera's place for the party, he had his sight on the laddus! He took one, we asked the kids to start taking laddus, then one of our kids said he doesn't like laddus! He wanted something "healthy", he said oatmeal:) As the laddus were getting consumed (with sounds & actions) we asked the rest of the kids what they liked to eat...mmmm we had a yummy virtual feast together. But Ganesha was still hungry (like that hungry caterpillar). So Kubera's chefs made more and more food, but it was still not enough! With Ganesha's hunger mounting, he began to eat the furniture and other things around the house. We asked the kids to tell us what else they thought Ganesha was gonna eat. We got multiple answers.
Then Kubera got scared that Ganesha might even eat him up! He sort of got an inclination that Lord Shiva had set him up. So he ran to Lord Shiva for help. Lord Shiva gave Kubera a fist full of puffed rice and told him to give up his pride and to give the puffed rice to Ganesha with love and humility. On doing so, Ganesha's big belly got filled up and he was satisfied. Kubera was taught a life lesson that day, that wealth can disappear in an instant just like the food in his kitchen, no one can take away the love in one's heart, if anything even something as simple as a fist full of puffed rice is served with love, it will satisfy one's hunger. Kubera learnt his lesson.
We concluded class with Om Purnamadah (page 15 in My Prayers book)
We are off to a great start, looking forward to a wonderful year ahead.
Pranaam,
