Sarvam Krishnarpanamastu

हरिः ॐ
If you see Krishna in everything around you, you will feel content.

This was the concept of our class today.
After our opening slokas and bhajans we learned a new bhajan

Vrindavan mein, kunja galina mein, radhe radhe! gayenge, syama syama! gayenge! 

Jai Radhe Sri Syam! Jai Radhe Sri Syam! 

.. In Vrindavan, in the forest, Radhe Radhe! We will sing, Syama Syama! We will sing! 

Jai Radhe Sri Syam! Jai Radhe Sri Syam! 

... In Vrindavan, by the Yamuna, Radhe Radhe! We will sing, Syama Syama! We will sing! 

Jai Radhe Sri Syam! Jai Radhe Sri Syam! 

.. In Vrindavan, with the children, Radhe Radhe! We will sing, Syama Syama! We will sing! 

Jai Radhe Sri Syam! Jai Radhe Sri Syam! 

We sang the song with actions. The children sing and dance so well. They all looked like little Krishnas dancing in the forest with their friends. What a beautiful sight to behold.

For our arts and craft activity we made a Crown (मोरमुकुट) for all the Krishnas. 

We told the story of how Krishna loved butter and how he broke the pots to steal it all. What a fascinating story it was for our  little ones.

We colored q picture of Lord Krishna stealing butter and reenacted the story while doing the activity.

A day with Krishna is a day full of joy and love.

Attitude of Gratitude -Thanksgiving

हरिः ॐ
Attitude of Gratitude

If one can teach the children only one thing in life, it should be the attitude of gratitude.

The day began as usual. We revised all our bhajans after we did our morning routines.

Thanksgiving holidays are coming up, so we asked each and every child in the class what or who they are thankful for. It was a difficult concept to make them understand. We spoke about how our parents are always there for us, how our teachers are always helping us etc. Children told us about who they are thankful for.

Each child made a thank you card for the person they love the most. Most of them chose their siblings and parents, but we had the unique opportunity to listen to a child say that he is thankful for himself. When asked why, he said, he loves himself because he makes everyone smile. What a beautiful thing to say. (Btw, he made a card for himself) :*

For our coloring activity we found this beautiful picture for them to color. We spoke about all the things mentioned in the small poem in the page that we are thankful for.

We concluded the day with the thought of being kind to one another, always. 

Diwali Aayi

Hari ॐ
As Diwali, the festival of lights, is approaching, who better to celebrate than our dear Amrutham children.

Our day began with our threeॐ‌ followed by the opening shloka. By now all the children in our class are able to chant it very clearly. Following this we sang our bhajans and reinforced the newest one
Jaya Dura Lakshmi Saraswati.

The children were told the story of Diwali. Why the lamps are lighted. The ramayana was also touched upon while explaining the importance of lightning the lamps on Diwali day.  Each child eagerly elaborated on his/her Diwali experiences.

We then did our art activity for the day. Since we are celebrating Diwali, we decided to make 3D paper diyas.

We then continued with our Likhita Japa while Deepa aunty told them the story of the Honest Woodcutter. We spoke about Maa Lakshmi. We also told the story of how Lakshmi chose Mahavishnu to be her life partner. We explained to the children that Maa Lakshmi does not just represent the physical wealth, it also means prosperity and well-being.

The class concluded with our closing prayers. 

Back to Balavihar

Hari Om
Back to Balavihar, a day for parents.
Today the parents got a taste of what it's like to be an Amrutham student.

We began our classes with our three ॐ, opening slokas and our stretches. Then we moved on to the bhajans. We learned a new bhajan;

Jaya Durga Lakshmi Saraswati
Devi Jaganmata
Devi Jaganmata maam paahi Jaganmata
Jaya Durga Lakshmi Saraswati
Devi Jaganmata

The children then did some coloring activities followed by snack time.

For the parents we had a session of cutting and pasting the Ma Saraswati puzzle and coloring it. The parents enjoyed the activity while we explained what we do in Balavihar, the curriculum we follow and the bhajans we sing.

The children did their Likhita Japa while the teachers discussed with the parents.
The session ended with all of us chanting the closing prayers.

Jai Ma Saraswati

Hari ॐ

Goddess Saraswati graced our class with her beautiful Veena,riding her beautiful swan, wearing her beautiful white saree and holding a book.

We spoke about why we pray to Saraswati maa before we start the process of learning anything new. Maa Saraawati was invoked by chanting

Saraswati Namastubhyam
Varade Kaamaroopini ।।
Vidyarambham Karishyami
Siddhir bhavatume sada ।।

While doing our Likhita Japa we chanted ॐ 11 times and then we moved on to our art project for the day.

Since Maa Sarawati is seated on a white lotus we made beautiful white lotus with paper. We kept in front of the diety and offered our humble 🙏.

Nacho re Nacho

Hari ॐ

As we enter the beautiful 9 days of navratri we welcome Goddess Durga into our class. We said all our induction prayers and sang our beautiful bhajans welcoming the Gods into our class and hearts.

Do you know why we keep dolls on steps during navaratri? Since the Gods gave up their powers to Durga they had to rest so they sat down on the steps waiting for her to come back on Vijaydasami day after defeating Mahishasura.

We made beautiful dandiya sticks and then danced to a beautiful Krishna bhajan.

Our Likhita Japa and coloring activities have been helping us focus more in the class.

I would like you all to talk to your children about the songs and stories they learn in the class.

Jai Mata Di🙏

Hari om

Our wonderful Amrutham began with the invocation prayers and 3 ॐ.

We started off with our Ganesha bhajans. Since Navratri is coming soon we have decided to move on from Ganesha to Maa Durga.

We learned a new bhajan on Maa Durga

Ambaparameshwari Akhilandeshwari
Aadiparashakti palayamaam
Sribhuvaneshwari Raajarajeshwari
Aandaroopini Palayamaam

This small bhajan tells us the various names of Durga.

Do you all know how Durga came into being?
 Lord Shiva was the most benevolent. He was pleased with the tapas of Mahisha the rakshasa and gave him the boon that  " no man could ever destroy him". But now Mahisha, being the bull that he is, started troubling everyone. This worried the devas. They went running to Shiva and asked for his help.

Now ask your children how Siva helped them by creating Durga.

You can also ask your children about Durga's ride,the lion.

After our short snack break we moved on to our Likhita Japa. We have started making the children write ॐ in our erasable sheets.
We played Mahishasuramardini Stotram in the background. They enjoyed the "ai giri nandini" song while doing the activities.

Our take home art and craft gift for the day was a thoranam. Each child had the opportunity to make it with me while Deepa aunty told them the wonderful story of the "Honest Woodcutter". Now they all know that honesty is the best policy and they also have a beautiful thoranam to hang over their door.

We concluded the day with our closing prayers and 3 ॐ 🙏. 

Picnic time

Hari om

Although it started off as a wet rainy day, nothing could dampen our spirits. Seeing the wonderful beaming smiles of the little ones in the Amrutham Madhuram class even Surya Deva decided to show up.

We went back to our roots following the gurukulam system. Under the big blue sky on the green grassy meadow.

We started off as usual with our invocation prayers. This was followed by our bhajanavali. We revised the Ganesha bhajans.

Do you all know how the River Kauveri came into existence? Talk to your lil ones. They will tell you the beautiful story of how naughty lil Ganesha was the reason Kauveri flows from Coorg.  They got to see how the pot fell on the ground and all the water spilled on the floor. Oh what fun!

Children love funny stories. They wanted to listen to the Ganesha Kubera story and all of them enacted it.

We had a short snack break.

Then we had a small game of passing the Ganesha. It was based on Ganesha trivia. And let me tell you they all had me floored with their enthusiasm.

This was followed by exercises. Reaching up to the sky with our jazz hands and dropping down to the beautiful mother Earth. And we sang the butterfly song while doing our butterfly exercises.

We concluded the class with our 3 ॐ and  prayers.

When Ganesha came visiting

Hari 🕉

Today was the first official Balvihar after the open house last week.
We began our class with 3 🕉 followed by our starting prayers. This was followed by small stretching exercises.

We welcomed Lord Ganesha into our class by singing songs.

Today we sang
1. Single tusk Ganapati ekadanta
   Big belly Ganapati lambodhara
   Remover of obstacles vignanashaka
   Supreme Lord my Vinayaka
   Lord of all spirits gananayaka
   Elephant faced God gajanana
   Bent trunk Ganapati vakratunda
   Son of Parvati umasuta

We sang with lots of actions. Please ask your children to teach you how to sing the song with actions.

2. Mooshikavahana modakahasta
   Chamarakarna vilambitasootra
   Vaamanaroopa maheshwaraputra
   Vighnavinashaka paata namaste

This also was recited with actions which the children enjoyed doing.

3. Vakratunda mahakaya
   Suryakoti samaprabha
   Nirvighnam kurumedeva
   Sarvakaryeshu sarvada

We shared the story of how Ganapati tricked Kubera. It was such a fun story. You should ask your children how Ganapati cried for food, because he was hungry. They loved the story and participated by enacting some of the parts.

We took a short snack break followed by our arts and crafts activity for the day. We made a Ganesha mask using paper cup and color paper. The children were very proud of their Ganeshas.

For today's Likhitajapa we colored 🕉 . The children were very focused and quiet during the activity. The teachers sang today's bhajans while they were busy with their Likhitajapa. It was a unique experience for all of us.

We concluded the day by chanting the closing prayers.