National Book Trust Teams Up With Cartoon Network As Part Of Its 2024 Summer Camp For Children

NBT summer camp has planned activities that can allow children to have fun and get close to the concept of learning outside the walls of their classrooms.

NBT summer camp has planned activities that can allow children to have fun and get close to the concept of learning outside the walls of their classrooms.

Source : Mohan Sharma/NBT India

NBT Summer Camp 2024: The National Book Trust (NBT) has started a summer camp for the children of Delhi-NCR to keep them engaged in fun activities during their holidays. The 15-day summer camp organised by the  NBT, which works under the Government of India's Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Education), includes various activities such as art, craft, and story-telling, among others.

The activities are designed in a such a way that brings the children close to the concept of learning outside the walls of their classrooms. To add more flavour and zeal to this summer camp, the NBT collaborated with Cartoon Network to help children feel at home with their favourite cartoon characters like Chhota Bheem and Tom & Jerry.

The trust has its focus on getting together children from age groups of 5-8 years and 9–14 years. The minimum age of children taking part in the summer camp is 5 years, and the maximum is 14.

The children have been divided into two groups to ensure that learning and fun are imparted to them based on their mental capacity and understanding. The summer camp began on May 20 and will go on till June 3. It is a free initiative put together to foster creativity and enhance skills in children.

ABP Live spoke to Kanchan Wanchoo Sharma, Editor, Children's Wing, and Head, International Exhibitions & Public Relations, at NBT, to understand the objectives of the summer camp and the kind of response it has received. Sharma said NBT functions under the Union Ministry of Education, and are mandated to do activities for children to create a "book-minded society".

“We do activities in schools every time. This is our year-round thing, which we do. We do activities in schools, and a lot of schools come here and do such activities," Sharma said.

She added: “So we have storytelling, creative writing, meeting the author, a lot of sessions, even fun sessions like caricature drawing, even calligraphy, and such wonderful sessions for them, so children have lots of things for fun and learning. Last year, we did summer camp for about 5 days, and because we got a wonderful response last year, we have done it this year for 15 days. Based on the response, maybe we will do it for a month next time.” 

Over 400 Children Attending NBT Summer Camp

On Monday, the children appeared to have a great time with their favourite cartoon characters, Tom and Jerry. They could be seen jumping with joy, with excitement and smiles on their faces, after they saw these characters in front of them.

About NBT’s collaboration with Cartoon Network, Sharma said: “During the New Delhi World Book Fair, which is held at Bharat Mandapam Pragati Maidan, we have a store, we have a children's pavilion, a dedicated space where during those nine days we have lots of activities with children. So at that time, we approached Warner Brothers, Pogo, Cartoon Network, and all these channels. This time, they wanted to collaborate with us on summer camp. So we are having Tom and Jerry today, and we will be having Chotta Bheem and other fun characters that children like to look forward to."

Speaking on the kind of response that the camp received despite the heatwave, Sharma said the summer camp begins quite early in the morning, and the children stay indoors till evening, which prevents them from being exposed to sunlight and heat. She also highlighted that more than 400 students across both age groups registered for the camp, and many entries came from outside the national capital too.

“Yes, surprisingly, although it's summer and we were worried about Delhi getting so heated up and all, it is good that (so many students came)... Since we start quite early in the morning and leave children in the evening, parents sometimes accompany, and most of them just leave the children here,” she said. "The response has been amazing. A lot of registrations came from out of Delhi also,” Sharma added.

The summer camp also includes career counselling sessions for children seeking to spread awareness pertaining to their choice of career and make them understand that there are a plethora of options for them to choose from apart from the regular ones like doctor, engineer, etc.

The sessions allow the children, who are about to step into the world of choices and options regarding their careers, to think with an open mind and make an informed decision about what they want and are willing to dive deep into.