We began another delightful Sunday morning of Shishu Vihar, with our cute kids' faces popping up on our screens. Once we had most of our friends join our session, we began our class with 3 OMs.
Shlokas:
1. "Om Saha Navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)
2. "Vakrathunda Mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)
3. "Saraswathi Namasthubhyam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
4. "Karagre Vasate" (page 11 in My Prayers book)
5. "Samudhra Vasane" (page 11 in My Prayers book)
6. "Shubam Karoti" (page 12 in My Prayers book)
7. "Krishnayan Vasudevaya" (page 105 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 rolled right in to some Yoga stretches. We began with the Tree pose with some swaying, then 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. We then went into the Flower Pose, the kids are slowly getting a hang of this relatively new pose.
Bhajan time - we introduced the class to a new Lord Krishna bhajan
He Murali Sridhara, Radhe Krishna Radhe Shyam
Keshava Madhava Yadava Nandana, Radhe Krishna Radhe Shyam
Nanda Nandana Radheshayam, Navaneeta Chora Radheshyam
Keshava Madhava Yadava Nandana, Radhe Krishna Radhe Shyam
Bhakta Vatsala Radheshyam, Bhagavatapriya Radhheshyam
Keshava Madhava Yadava Nandana, Radhe Krishna Radhe Shyam
We played the Concentration Game. After the chanting of 3 Om's kids tried to keep their eyes closed. They counted 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! Impressive how most of the kids are able to keep their eyes closed and concentrate.
After some meditation and calming down, we repeated numbers 1-10 in Sanskrit. We showed images of the numbers in Sanskrit and in English on the screen as well as a a visual of circles with the corresponding number. We had the kids put up their fingers as we counted together.
Geetha Chanting, we practiced shlokas 1, 2 and 3 from chapter 2 of the Geetha. We repeated them once. We repeated the 4th shloka twice. It was such a wonderful feeling to see and hear several kids chanting shlokas 1, 2 and 3:)yay!!
Story Time.
Craft Time, we had a trifecta of craft projects lined up for the kids this class. The first one was a crown with a peacock feather. We had the kids cut out tear drop shaped pieces of colored paper (suggested yellow, green and blue) in three sizes and a circle in the center, to make it look like a peacock feather. Then a strip of paper to fit the circumference of their head was cut out. The peacock feather was then stuck to the crown. The second craft was a flute. The parents/grandparents were requested to have some newspaper rolled up and stuck together. The kids then used decorative paper to cover the thin cylinder and draw black circles to represent the holes on a flute. Of course, the kids had their own creative versions of how they wanted their flutes to look :)!! The third craft was to make a garland. The parents/grandparents were requested to cut out and keep small strips of construction paper ready. The kids then glued each strip to form a link and added links together to make a mala. A flower was suggested for the bottom center. The kids enjoyed making the various crafts and were thrilled to share them with us. Thank you parents and grandparents for enthusiastically helping our Shishu kids participate in our weekly craft projects. Below are a few of our class Krishnas, modelling their craft projects. 
9. After completing our craft projects, we joined the main group to watch our 5th grade bhiyas, didhis, akkas and annas, share with us details about the Saints of India. The 5th grade team put on an amazing performance!
Story of Krishna and Arjuna
Character intros:
We began our story by introducing the Pandavas. A puppet of the five brothers along with Draupathi was shown on the screen. The kids were asked if they have ever been scared of lightening/thunder when it was pouring outside. Most of them said that they were not:)!! As a child growing up, I told the kids that my parents/grandparents used to tell us to close our ears and call out to, "Dharma (Yudhishtra), Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadevaaaa in a manner to request for their protection from the thunder and lightning. Most of the class thought that was hilarious:):)
The kids were asked who Krishna's close friend was, most of them said, "Sudhama", remembering last week's story! Then the kids were told that Krishna is everyone's friend. But he particularly was close to Arjuna, one of the pancha Pandavas. Arjuna was introduced as a highly skilled archer (the kids were asked if they knew who an archer was, they were not too sure, so we discussed the art of archery), among other admirable qualities. The class was then asked if they remember who Krishna's siblings were. They were given a hint and were asked if they remember the Puri Jaganatha story. Then a few said his brother was Balarama. Then they remembered that Subadhra was Krishna's sister. Arjuna always considered Krishna as his friend and Krishna always had a soft corner for him. Not only were they friends, Krishna instigated the wedding of Subadhra and Arjuna as well. So both of them were brother-in-laws and became related too:)
We went on to discuss that the Pandavas had a dispute with their cousins the Kauravas (one hundred of them) over who should rule Hastinapura. Unable to come to a peaceful resolve, the Kurukshetra war was set in motion. One day, Krishna was asleep on His bed, Druyodhana (one of the prominent Kauravas) made his way into Krishna's room and sat himself in a chair next to the bed's headboard. Arjuna had a similar plan to request Krishna's help to fight this war, so he too approached Krishna. He was shocked to see his cousin already there. But unlike his cousin, Arjuna stayed at Krishna's feet with folded hands and his bowed down. A puppet of this scene was shown on the screen.
When Krishna woke up, He saw Arjuna first. Both cousins had come for the same purpose. The puppet was shown on the screen again and we discussed the way Druyodhana was sitting in a "Demanding" fashion and the way Arjuna was standing in a humble, devoted and "Requesting" fashion. The kids were then asked, "Would your mommy like it if you said, " I want a piece of cake, give it to me and I want it now" or "Mommy, may I please have a piece of cake"??? A few of the kids did want the cake in a demanding fashion, but then realized as we discussed it again that the requesting way is what mommy would prefer!
Krishna gave the cousins a choice between picking the entire Narayana sena or Lord Krishna as the charioteer, and there was a condition if Lord Krishna was chosen, that He would not pick up any weapons or fight in the war. Arjuna was given the first choice, which made Druyodhana very nervous. Arjuna picked Krishna that stunned Druyodhana as he felt like the Narayana sena and the win was just handed to him on a silver platter! Little did Duryodhan realize that while he got the physical powers, the mental and spiritual power was with Arjuna. There was a reason why Arjuna choose Krishna, he was the person who provided the intelligence, the guidance, and He knew the weakness of every warrior in the Kaurava camp.
The Pandavas and Kauravas were ready for battle, Krishna was Arjuna's charioteer, a puppet of that scene was shown on the screen. Arjuna was in mental agony as he saw his family, cousins and teachers on the opposite side of the battle field. He was unable to proceed. A puppet of Arjuna questioning himself was shown on the screen. When Arjuna could not proceed, Lord Krishna presents Arjuna with His Vishwaroopam. A puppet of that scene was shown on the screen. Then the kids were then told that this was when Lord Krishna preached The Bhagavath Geetha to Arjuna, answering his questions and making him aware of his purpose. Hearing that, Arjuna became mentally prepared to lead the Pandavas to victory. A puppet of a victorious Arjuna with Lord Krishna was shown on the screen.
We concluded class along with the rest of our Sunday morning session friends in the main group, with our Chinmaya Mission Pledge.
