Muscat: A variety of programmes and events continue to attract children at the Children’s Corner of the 27th Muscat International Book Fair at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Dr. Wafa bint Salem Al Shamsiyah, from the Organising Committee for the Children’s Corner, said: “The Children’s Corner at the Muscat International Book Fair attracted a number of institutions. With the aim of creating diversity in the activities and programmes that the child longs to know, focus has been placed on some activities inspired by the Omani heritage in order to enhance the identity and consolidate the connection with the Omani environment and its various characteristics for the child.”

She explained: “The work of the Children’s Corner is accompanied by the signing of a number of children-related publications, especially with regard to stories and the promotion of their multiple concepts and messages, presented by official bodies and initiatives addressing the child.”

She added: “This year, we saw a very large attendance by visitors and families going to the Children’s Corner. With the aim of identifying its pillars and the work it includes, in addition to the participation in it by the different ages of children, we focused on the skills that stimulate their imagination to keep pace with their aspirations in the cognitive, technical and creative fields. We saw there is a great awareness among the present family about their children, and they choose what suits their age and imagination.”

The number of activities reached 166, with the participation of 51 writers and artists from the Sultanate of Oman, and 7 writers and artists from the Arab world.

The events and programmes come with the involvement of a number of government and private institutions and civil society initiatives in cooperation with the exhibition management, including the International Children’s Centre, the Children First Association, the Governorate of South Al Batinah, the guest of honour of the exhibition, the National Institute for Childhood, the Omani Commission for Human Rights, the children’s public library, and the learning centre in the National Museum, Child Culture Department of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, and the Children’s Museum. The event will continue till 4 March.

Among the activities and programmes offered by the institutions are practical workshops for the young inventor, presentations of the green schools project, a mental arithmetic circle, another artistic workshop inspired by the Omani heritage, readings of stories in the Omani dialects, and a presentation of the first experience in the Sultanate of Oman and the Gulf represented in the interactive stories programme in the Omani dialect.

It also included reading the collection of stories about the investment and insurance culture, and practical applications of the exhibits of the Children’s Museum, with synthetic workshops for traditional handicrafts, pottery and colouring, programming, innovation, sign language for children, and the art of speaking (toastmasters), in addition to educational entertainment competitions, with a qualitative paragraph entitled/the storyteller presenting a dialogue paragraph on the rights of the child.

Many of the participating institutions also presented workshops on scientific innovations, and a workshop on 3D printing for young people using Toy Box printers, with presentations of reading initiatives from school experiences, and a session related to creative writing development strategies, in addition to discovering musical talents and the psychological rights of the child.

Source: Times of Oman