Creativity Corner at ADIBF 2015 encourages smart learning

Education

Creativity Corner at ADIBF 2015 encourages smart learning

The Creativity Corner at the 25th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF 2015) will focus on motivating smart learning with the aim of providing effective yet fun solutions for in-class activities.

Celebrating its Silver Jubilee, ADIBF 2015 will be organised by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) from 7 13 March, 2015, offering a diverse cultural programme that will attract intellectuals and artists from around the world.

The Creativity Corner is dedicated to children aged 6 12 and covers a wide variety of interests including smart education, painting, handicrafts and arts, reading and knowledge, with workshops and educational sessions being held in cooperation with several public and private educational institutions.

At the Smart Education section, youngsters will participate in educational activities using smartphones and tablets. Teachers can also gain insight into these new experiences that are widely considered as helping tools to create a smart and exciting educational gaming environment that engages and motivates students to innovate. The games will be suitable for 8-year old children up to 18-year old young adults and beyond.

The Knowledge section will offer theatre shows and workshops in drama, education and Yoga, as well as numerous competitions and interactive quizzes for children. The theatre shows include a play in English by artists Michaella Ritucci and Magnus Ljunggren, in addition to captivating puppeteer shows performed by Sesame Street characters. Asmaa Al Shamsi has prepared plays for the children with special needs, while author and artist Mai Kotrash will hold drama workshops in Arabic.

Education specialists will lead a series of workshops targeting both students and parents with Dr Najwa Al Hosni, Dr Ali Al Kaabi and Dr Najeeb Mahfouz from College of Education at UAE University and Dr Ahmed Al Imam from the Skills Development Centre organising seminars and awareness lectures throughout ADIBF. Childrens literature specialist Rania Zaghir will also deliver a lecture shedding light on the Reading with the Stars project and its role in motivating society and supporting its appetite for reading. Media personality Majid Sukkar will arrange daily educational competitions for children, giving valuable awards for the winners.

Yoga also has its place, with a group of masters running contemplation sessions for children and their parents, teaching relaxation techniques and explaining the benefits of proper nutrition and healthy lifestyles. Group readings of adventure stories will accompany the sessions with live classical music playing in the background.

The Arts section, prepared in cooperation with the London-based Art at Kite Studios, will focus on innovative and attractive ways of narrating stories using handicrafts, as well as the use of different materials such as cardboard, wood, plastic and cloth to manufacture the story characters and sooth childrens hyperactivity.

In addition to developing childrens aesthetic and artistic taste and reducing their inclination towards reclusiveness, artists Rauf Al Karai, Ahmed Abdulnaeem, Mona Yaqzan, Ivok Kobos and Arouj Hemin at the Painters section will administer several innovative activities that seek to promote painting as a way of discovering childrens personalities and identifying the factors affecting them in their surroundings.

At the Reading section, the Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan Future Generation Society, a national cultural institution, will organise a number of reading workshops featuring authors of childrens books such as Inas Abbasi, Rania Zaghir and Magnus Ljunggren. Furthermore, Quwa Company will carry out a two-day workshop on how to manufacture a digital story through writing, painting and finally sound recording. The story will then be viewed and shared with others. Typically, the Reading workshops aim to guide the children in how they select their books, highlight the available electronic reading options and discover their talents.

Last but not least, Naughty Scientist, a European company for entertainment services, will organise entertainment workshops in the Science section as per their internationally recognised educational methodology which is based on breaking the cycle of boredom for children aged 4 12 years old while learning science and encouraging them to protect the environment and take care of public health.