Gokulam - Re-Lived

We celebrated Pratyay's second birthday by re-living the gokulam experience with the Kids in The Eternal Apts, Hyd... Where we live now...

We had chanting of Bhagavad gita Sloka's....Jana-Gana-Mana...Lots of Quiz questions, songs and others stuff...

We had a great time with cakes, ice cream, baloons and loads of fun...

This time it had no technology aids in the mix...no DLP projector or Audio system....

It was still fun.... In some ways...it was more effective than before...

The more I think about it...It is all about the Quality of time that we spend with our kids that matters most... Anitha always emphasised this....On this I stand corrected....

Let's all find more avenues to spend quality time with ours kids...and enjoy the gokulam way of pray, play and learn......

Transforming Gokulam....

It has been a year since physical execution of Gokulam - Pray - Play - Learn theme was attempted...now we have 20 - 40 kids watching the weekend movie nights... with a prayer and learning activities...

Next phase of Gokulam is to create vibrant online community by presenting kids and thier activities to further the theme of G O K U L AM - Pray - Play - Learn ....and enrich the early
childhood experiences....

You will see:
1. Picture albums
2. Song/Prayer Albums
3. Short movies of kids having fun...


Instead Kids coming to G O K U L AM ---This time Gokulam Goes to Kids....

gokulam

gokulam has a home....checkout www.gokulam.net/news.aspx ...By Lord Krishna's Grace... Lots of Hardwork, Unwavering Attitude and Unstinted moral support from Damodar Byreddy the Registration of Plot no: 59-60, Prathamesh Park, Baner-Balewadi Rd, Pune was completed on April 15, 2006 at 11:30 AM

gokulam -- How to Sustain Gokulam

Pratyay's(my son) Cradle ceremony was nice pre-cursor on how to engage kids...

With a budget of <$50/-....It was fun for >25 kids....

Materials Used:
==========

Cool Nametags
Felt Drawing board
Two-Sided Photo Stick Sheets
Borders for the Drawing board
Permanent Marker
Two sided Sticky tape
Large size Letter Cutouts

Activities
===========

We had everyone create their own name tags...This was lot of fun...the older kids helped younger kids with their name tags...finally two of them were designated as nametag police...to find and fix nametags for kids without nametags....


Then We had on marker to create graphiti board for Pratyay... This was cool exercise in inculcating team spirit and encourage sharing resources as well as ideas...



once the graphiti board was made, We used 2 sided tape to stick the border for the board...

In Parallel, we had the some the team working on cutting out letters and and sticking on 2 sided photo sheet...

They made a nice cutouts for letters in PRATYAY and stuck them on 2 sided photo sheets...

At the end All kids were happy with a sense of accomplishment...they all sang happy cradle day and took pictures with Pratyay and their ART Master Pieces....


Conclusion
==========

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pratyaygopal -- here are the results

One of the creative ways to sustain gokulam is to market simple custom designed kids products like:

1. Name tags
2. Goody bags
3. Designer Art-boards
4. Party Activity Kits
5. Coloring books

More ideas could be to create Multi-media(audio and Video) content for kids based fast disappearing music and traditional customs/games from our older generations.


Gokulam brand needs to symbolize simple, safe, affordable and effective products to stimulate ideas, encourage sharing and team interaction based deep rooted understanding of ethnic and cultural roots.

The goal is to be a non-profit organaization and generate revenues sustain and grow the organization.

gokulam - Update

gokulam

The Demolition is complete...

There is still some work on breaking up the debris into small pieces...

The Multimedia DLP Projector is Procured...

Ani(My Wife) is on the look out for swinsets and Slides...

Progress on Gokulam -- Plan for April

G O K U L AM

Tasks
====
Complete the Demolition

Finalise the landscape contract

Cleanup and Level it with Sand & Mud

Architect and Site survey

Procure Metal Stairs to go upstairs

Source the Swings and Slide

gokulam

gokulam

Create Platform for wellness...

1. Temple -- What's gokulam without KRISHNA
2. Play Place -- Swings and Slide
3. Multimedia -- Theatre & Karaoke

G O K U L A M

In this age of high rises and apartments....

We seldom find a backyard for kids to play....

The goal is to improve the Early Childhood experiences for kids...

G o k u l a m is THE backyard....An environment to inspire kids to PRAY, PLAY and LEARN