bhubaneswar cashing in on the trend of helicopter parenting with parents trying to squeeze in a range of activities into their childrens schedule right from their kindergarten days city schools have come forward to offer a wide variety of hobby classes for kids from cooking dancing music painting salsa hiphop jazz calligraphy foreign languages storytelling scripturereading sculpting you name it the formative years are very important for children as they learn very quickly and their muscles flex more normal preschool education involves structured classes but in hobby classes they get exposure to a lot of things and pick up what they like and express themselves this helps them in developing a creative knack said ruchika preschool principal vimaljit dua the more you keep your childs mind engaged in activities the more interesting and interested they will grow to be dua added the preschool offers classes in dance music painting cooking and several crafts in this age of cutthroat competition along with academics children must excel in cocurricular activities or they will lag behind others performing well in other activities also gives moral boost and increases confidence among kids i allow my child to learn everything he wants to but finally he has to choose a particular field he would continue said manaswini das mother of a sixyearold mahua maharana who conducts storytelling sessions at bakul library said i believe a story can enrich a childs imagination and creativity like no other device by weaving stories around daily happenings we can pique the childs curiosity in a constructive manner every story can be led to interesting activities such as painting and cooking the library has turned into an edutainment hub for children with many innovative activities including storytelling foreign language classes painting music and cooking we have started italian fridays hobby classes by six volunteers from italy who are giving classes on cooking italian language dance and storytelling said sujit mahapatra of bakul foundation activities help in exposing the kids to a whole new world which will help hone their talents and skills we also encourage creative writing among kids from different points of view while puzzles board games and building blocks stimulate the mind developing writing as a habit from an early age will do wonders for their creativity he said takshila school in the city organized a unique programme recently where parents along with their children engaged in various interesting activities since small children trust their parents the most we thought of including parents in the activities to ease the learning process we tried innovative activities like skits chanting shlokas and making pictures out of shapes besides we also run hobby classes including rollerskating sports aerobics western dance keyboard chess quiz club green club and so on said principal of the school lipsita mohanty sai international school is another place offering stimulating activities like radio jockeying photography adventure classes theatre and mathematics students are swept away by bollywood music and tv programmes that nurture dancers and singers which is