Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival to begin with great fanfare

SHARJAH: The highly anticipated 13th edition of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF), organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), will be home to 72 diverse and interactive workshops to enhance children’s knowledge and expand their creative horizons. The 12-day cultural extravaganza for children and young adults will be held at Expo Centre Sharjah from May 11 - 22 under the theme ‘Create Creativity’.

The Kids in Action section, makes an SCRF debut and is open to children aged 3-5 years, has 264 creative and interactive activities that will try to stimulate the five senses and unleash creativity in a fun-filled atmosphere.

This corner will take children on a journey to the world of robots, programming, and 3D printing through amazing interactive workshops. They will build and programme a robot using motors and integrated elements that will control the robot while it tries to solve a maze. The litle ones will also be introduced to flight mechanics, elastic cars, and a robotic musical through hands-on workshops.

Young visitors will sweat a litle as they participate in a fun HIIT workout and learn to throw a few jabs in a boxing activity. That’s not all. Interval and Balance Yoga and choreography activities are available in addition to Strength & Conditioning and Plyometric sessions. For those who like to compete, there is a general fitness challenge. Creativity will be on a high at the crats section of SCRF as children try out their skills and imagination in diverse, fun-filled activities including fashion workshops. They will learn to make perfumes, puppet, sky lanterns, as well as embroidered clocks and canvas art.

Nurturing the younger generations and ensuring their well-being is at the core of SCRF’S goals and vision. The 13th edition will organise workshops to help children realise their potential, become independent, overcome everyday challenges, and also identify bullies and ways to deal with them.

The workshops will also unearth and hone leadership skills in children in order to build their personalities and be focused and composed to complete their objectives under stress.

With the rise of digital media and citizen journalism, SCRF will be introducing children to news making, scriptwriting, photography and film direction; they will learn to concentrate on film set details including lighting, cameras, and props. The workshops will also introduce children to the world of podcasts and audio-visuals and how to create rich content.

SCRF 2021 will be open to visitors from 10 am to 8 pm on Monday to Thursday; Fridays 4-9 pm; and Saturdays and Sundays 10 am to 9 pm.