Children enjoy, learn new skills at Muscat book fair

Muscat: The Children’s Corner at the Muscat International Book Fair, where close to 500,000 books are currently on display, has generated quite a buzz among children, who are flocking to enjoy various scientific, recreational, and educational activities, besides books.
The Children’s Corner has five sections: Book Friends, I Can, Colours Village, Theatre, and Science Village.
The Book Friends section has a workshop on creative short story writing, a storytelling session for traditional Omani stories, participatory readings with children, a workshop on how to build a home library, and a series of workshops on developmental exercises for memory, attention, and cognition.
The I Can section, organised especially for disabled people, has teaching sessions for sign language and braille syntax, a down syndrome educational workshop, and activities in the field of reading difficulties.
Similarly, the Village Colours section has a number of workshops and recreational activities for children. An official from
Mayzon Al Amri, an official of the Village Colours said: “Everyday, we receive over 200 children in the Colour Village section and organise three different workshops. Besides drawing, we teach children handicrafts using recycled materials.”
“Till now, we have organised more than 20 different art workshops in the Colour Village. The children were so happy and excited to work and finish a project. They worked in a very creative way,” Naser Al Amri, another official said. A number of competitions and plays were organised in the Children’s Theatre daily, in addition to workshops on first aid and children’s rights, and different talent shows.
Badr Al Habsi, Supervisor of the Science Village activities, said: “The Scientific Village section at the Muscat International Book Fair includes the integrated robot training laboratory, where visitors can engage in robotics and programming, electronic training workshops, and scientific competitions for school students.”
“Daily, we receive nearly 800 children in the Science Village. Visitors can also try the space experience through a space costume, Zhou, a three-dimensional device that allows a child to identify objects, living things, and other components in a fun and interactive way. Then, there is the participation of university students in various scientific experiments,” Al Habsi added