Kids Club Committee
By Maulee Shah, Huntingdon Valley, PA Maulee Shah is a software engineer at one of the largest US law firms. She is a singer, dancer, choreographer, and mother of two beautiful children. She is a volunteer with many non-profit organizations including JAINA. Maulee has taught at pathshala and teaches sutras to the young generation. She enjoys making delish Jain and Vegan dishes and creates kids friendly Ayambil recipes. She loves to travel and hike.
Committee Members: Maulee Shah - Committee Chair, Dimple Shah - Co-Chair, Deesha Ajmera Like many unexpected journeys, the idea of an interactive virtual Kid’s Club for JAINA 2021 started out as a chat in the hallway of the South New Jersey Jain Sangh Derasar. We were all just so happy to see one another after a year-long quarantine! The excitement was in the air and the enthusiasm to spread the joy of Jainism was irresistible. Traditionally, the in-person JAINA Kid’s Club was for ages 6-12 and was mostly a “drop-off” area so parents could attend sessions while their children were entertained and cared for. The idea of a scheduled online curriculum with education tailored for different age groups was novel. After many email and phone conversations with JAINA leadership and prior Kid’s Club Chairs, I determined the right age groups to split the audience and found thematic elements that would be intriguing to each group. I had attended JAINA conventions in the past, but this was my first time participating in the planning process. I was a bit nervous and concerned about the output; but my experience as a Pathshala teacher and proud mother of 2 reminded me that I know what kids will respond to. In this global online forum, we needed to teach children with activities in addition to didactic lectures.
For our 6-8 year old audience, goal was to keep them occupied in a peaceful and introspective way. Their
activities were: Coloring and connect-the-dots of 14 dreams, Bhagwan’s Lanchhans, Daily Niyams game, Stories of Shalibhadra, Meghkumar, Hemchandracharya, Young Jain Minds magazine and games like I-spy, crossword puzzle, word scramble, word search, “know your Tirth” and many more. This would allow their parents to attend JAINA sessions without needing to provide regular I.T. support or worry about hours of screen time. There was also one live session for 6-8 year olds and they truly enjoyed learning Tirthankars’ names and Lanchhan with a rap song while dancing and singing.
For our 9-12 year old audience, I had a structured program with three to four sessions per day with an hour break in between sessions to help them recover from screen fatigue. For this age group, we took full advantage of the online platform and had a lot of assistance from YJA leadership. I asked myself, what would my kids want from this convention. My son, Rikin, loves stories and he is a foodie. My daughter, Jasmine, loves Harry Potter and exercise. I thought about all my nieces and nephews. While it is easy to come up with fun and creative ideas, the implementation for each session was the biggest achievement for Kid’s Club. Our final lineup consisted of live workshops like Sathiyo, Jain cooking, Ahimsa Art, Astaprakari Bhav Puja. One of the speaker’s was able to tie-in Harry Potter with Jain principles. ABCJ - American Born Confused Jain was among the best sessions which emphasized Jainism as a 19
