Weekly Activities

Shishukunj, meaning “Garden of Children” in Sanskrit, is an organisation focused on the long-term development of children in all aspects of their life. We aim to be holistic in our approach – essentially we work to develop children in all aspects of life, be it spiritual, physical, mental, emotional or cultural. Our aim is to develop children to become a wholesome part of the community whilst also helping them to understand our cultures and traditions.

Shishukunj comes to life every Sunday morning at 9am. At our three centres (Brent, Finchley and South London) that operate every Sunday from 9.00am to 1.00pm, we offer our children a range of activities depending on their age and individual requirements.

All children are involved in both Guajarati classes and Prarthna. Guajarati classes are compulsory up to a GSCE academic standard, with all our children sitting GCSE Gujarati by around the age of 14. The length and teaching styles of these classes varies by age with the youngest children being taught through music, drama and play rather than written word.

Prarthna is a vital activity for all our children where the recitation of universal prayers and simple bhajans evokes calm in children, helping them to explore their spiritual well-being and find their focus.

With the remainder of the day the children are involved in a variety of activities to inspire development in any number of areas. Whilst the overall direction for the development of individual age groups comes from the Kendra management team, it is our oldest children (15 to 18 years old) that are in charge of both generating ideas for the individual activities as well as effectively managing and executing them.

Children typically spend some of the day with their own age group, in activities focused specifically on that age group’s development needs. Every week, some activities involve all the children, to ensure there is a sense of family and community which is at the core of the Shishukunj philosophy.

Below is a selection of the activities that children would participate in through the year:

·         Traditional Indian (and some Western) games providing physical and mental development, self-discipline and develop a team spirit whilst having fun.

·         Moral talks that aim to teach children the qualities of honesty, loyalty, fairness and justice, through a story with a moral.

·         Spiritual sessions that range from religious story telling (for example, the Ramayan or MahaBharat) for the youngest children to debates on spirituality for the oldest children

·         Music and dance sessions that aim to expose all our children to the wonders of music, rhythm, singing, and dance. We aim to inspire a love of Indian cultural music, but also expose our children to music and dance from across the globe. Many of these musical and dance workshops will culminate in a performance.

·         Drama sessions that aim to boost the children’s self-confidence and give a platform to seek out their hidden talents

·         Day trips to places of inspiration that allow our children  to experience something new, as well as bond and make friends. Recent trips have been to the Roald Dahl museum, Chocolate factory, Natural history museum, and a nursing home.

Find out more about our annual activities