Summer camp for school children gets underway

April 7-12 ‘Kalapila’ at Arts and Crafts Village

Trivandrum / April 7, 2025

Thiruvananthapuram, April 07: The second edition of six-day ‘Kalapila Summer Camp 2025’ for school students, jointly organized by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), Kerala Academy of Skills Excellence (KASE) and the Kerala Arts and Crafts Village, commenced today at the Crafts Village at Vellar near Kovalam here.

About 89 children in the age group of five to 16 are attending the April 7-12 summer camp, which is filled with creativity, culture and fun.

‘Kalapila’ is an initiative designed to foster creativity, innovation, and an entrepreneurial mindset among children. Marking the inauguration of the camp, children symbolically stuck feathers on the replica of the ‘Crow’, the official mascot of State Suchitwa Mission, conveying the message of cleanliness. Popular artist Parag Pantheerankavu created the replica of the huge crow at the venue.  

KSUM PR Manager Mrs Ashitha Abdul Aziz; KASE COO Mr Vinod TV; and Kerala Arts and Crafts Village CEO Mr T U Sreeprasad were also present.

A theatre workshop, led by noted theatre artiste Bipin Das, was held on the inaugural day.

This camp will transcend conventional vacation activities by integrating art, craft, skill, creativity, and entrepreneurship, nurturing individuality and innovation in young minds. It will feature workshops and interactive activities by promoting problem-solving, creativity and entrepreneurial thinking.

Besides, ‘Kalapila 2025’ features startup exhibitions, showcasing innovative projects of KSUM startups to inspire and educate the participants, who will also get an opportunity to interact with startup founders and professionals. There will be around 20 workshops, including the robotics workshop, during the camp. 

The camp offers children opportunities to try their hands on a lot of creative and cultural activities like  painting, face painting, kalari, skating, music, zumba, theatre, mural craft, kite making, shadow puppetry, punned polika, giant puppetry, swimming, food making, paddy experience, community living, literature and cultural programmes.    

Mango tree magic that aims at spreading anti-drug message will also be held.  Visitors to the Kerala Arts and Crafts Village can watch the cultural programmes. 

KSUM, which was established in 2006 under the Kerala government, works for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state.

Ends