Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 20 (IANS) The cooperation between India and the US in education, environment and space programmes spilled over to touch the lives of children in the capital at a four-day summer camp, “Summer Kydzone,” at the American Center, which began Monday.

The camp was flagged off with the screening of movies, “Clifford, the Big Red Dog” featuring Clifford, one of America’s best loved characters among primary school children, and “How to Eat Fried Worms”, a 2006 movie based on a 1973 eponymous children’s book written by Thomas Rockwell.

The movies were followed by workshops on environment and education - which included recycling of waste material to make utility goods and comic strips.

“A total of 70 children, who turned up on the first day of the camp, were divided into two groups, New York and Chicago for the workshops. Three local non-profit groups, the Advit Foundation, Happy Hands Foundation and SPACE Foundation conducted the workshops,” said Anne Sheshadri, director of the American Center.

“The idea is to highlight the three areas of cooperation between India and US - environment, education and space,” she said.

The American Center has teamed up with the Motion Picture Distribution Association of India and Disney Pixar for an exclusive screening of “Cars 2″ on Thursday - a day before it hits screens nationally.

“Cars 2″ follows the blockbuster original “Cars”, featuring lovable characters like Lightning McQueen and Mater the Tow Truck. The line-up of the movies includes “How to Eat Fried Worms,” Disney’s “Oceans” and “Earth,” “Music of the Heart” and “Wall-E.”

The participants will build a “Tree of Life”, an art installation using only recycled materials, in the last leg of the workshop as their final environment project.

The Advit Foundation will teach children puppet making from waste materials; while the SPACE Foundation will take students on a journey through space, including launching a rocket, operating a Mars Rover and being an astronaut.

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