Two new literature platforms have created activity boxes to help children engage with stories as well as develop their reading skills
Themes of boxes
A crate experience
To remind children that people may forget facts but remember stories, founder Sonika D established Junior Crate, a book subscription platform, which helps expose young minds to new ideas through an immersive reading experience. “The idea is to create a spark of recognition and inspire purposeful conversations, while strengthening a child’s vocabulary, comprehension, empathy and other skills,” she says.
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A kid plays with the box
Based in Goa and launched in August, the platform offers four age-based categories of boxes — from Sprout for ages zero to two, to Bloom for ages six to eight. Each month presents a new theme with tales and activities that are curated around it to help young readers relate to stories and closely examine their themes, characters and other literary elements.
Titles like Sudha Murty’s How The Mango Got Its Magic, Janaki Sabesh and Dhwani Sabesh’s Paati’s Rasam, and Pankaja Srinivasan’s The Chase Of The Stolen Smells have made it to the curation so far. November’s theme is about all things food. The activities include material for making pretend food, worksheets, a cloth cutlery pouch and other goodies.
What started with helping parents with age-appropriate book recommendations and bookish activities to keep young readers entertained, led to the concept of Junior Crate which cuts out the process of having to research classic tales and new releases, and create ways to engage children in reading.
Sonika D
One of the aims behind the subscription approach is to offer children something curated especially for them, to have something to look forward to every month, and in the process, build a home library. The platform is in the midst of curating holiday-themed boxes for December, which will release soon.
Log on to: juniorcrate.in
Cost: Rs 1,349 onwards
Once upon a time
Reading as a child is an adventure in creating cherished memories. For Reshma Poojary, having books bought by her father and reading them together with her mother was a tradition that she wanted to carry on with her son. “When you sit with a child to tell them stories, it stays with them; the purpose of parental bonding is the reason I founded Lotus Flute in June 2022,” she shares.
A child tries his hand at the activities
The Mumbai-based platform creates craft boxes to go with story cards, building a world of tales and activities where children from the age of two onwards and their parents can play with stories to help young ones engage with them. The cards can be read by parents or grandparents, who can infuse personal stories, songs and experiences in their own mother language.
The Punyakoti-themed box
The boxes include painting and craft activities that interweave elements from the story to help children connect with characters, reinforce lessons and understand new perspectives. For instance, The Lion and Mouse box includes material to recreate the characters stimulating one’s imagination, a wooden frame and thread to make a net and help develop fine motor skills. A special addition is the set of affirmation cards that read ‘I am brave’ or ‘I am safe’, which can be painted and kept on a mini easel.
The boxes are categorised as moral tales, folk tales and untold epics. The Punyakoti box comprises the story of the honest cow based on a folk song from Karnataka, wooden cutouts of the character with stickers and paint.
Reshma Poojary
Poojary shares that with the folk boxes, she aims to bring stories from across India to children in an easy manner so that they can develop better associations with different Indian cultures. Untold epic boxes highlight various smaller stories rich with insight from the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Look out for their upcoming December box.
Log on to: lotusflute.com
Cost: Rs 750 onwards
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