Read Aloud Session -1 : Our Incredible Cow

I couldn't find a Book club for my LO who loves reading. Some were too far and others were too structured. 'Start one of your own' - some mothers told me. And I did! 

It has been well proven that Reading Aloud to Children has innumerable benefits for the intellectual growth of the child.Increased concentration and vocabulary, imagination and mindfulness & love for books (my favorite) are some of the many. No known demerits yet.

So, here we were with our first ever Reading Aloud Session. Neighboring children of our area were invited to attend. Mothers were also welcome to see or participate. We also chose to do some craft activities related to the book reading session as that will make it an attractive proposition for the children and the parents alike. Invites were designed and printed and distributed in the play area. Some others were invited through phone. We chose the book "the Incredible Cow' by Mahasweta Devi. our reasons to chose this book were that this was our newest book that we read many times. Our review of the book can be read here.
The other reason was that Mahasweta Devi as an author is known to many (especially in Bengal) and is incredible. The times when this book was written was when Mahasweta Devi was a budding writer. The Satyajit Ray connection was also a great convincing point for the parents to send their kids. To be honest, I had several concerns - Have i chosen the right book? Would i be able to manage many children? Would they listen to the story? Would they get the humour in it? and many many more...but of all the things, I was happy that we were starting.  And when it did , it was a roller coaster of Fun. I must add, children are so wise. They listened quietly but their minds were working loudly. They had questions and answers as well. Wild imaginations and so many facts to share. Some decided to lie down and some closed their eyes. Discussions continued over the craft sessions as well. No one was keen on going home even after 1.5 hours. 

I was able to make a paper puppet of a cow, and more than the children, the parents like it. I guess, for the children it was just a hindrance in the flight of their imagination. My cow head band was well taken by the children. 

We all made a children friendly cow puppet... a Cow that will go home and have Fish. All the giggles and laughter in the entire session were infectious. Some children who could not attend can to know of all the fun that we had. 

The Session was enriching for both of us the reader and the listener. Some lessons learnt (by me) are that too many props are a hindrance. and an important question...why did I not start earlier? 

All you need is a good book! 

Added Later : Its a Tulika Publication! And we are so glad (grinning ear to ear) that Tulika Publishers find our session "Nice". Its a Good luck Charm!!