Weaving a new tale

Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum

This weekend, why not take the kids to the museum for a fun activity? In a workshop titled Weaving Tales, author Snehal Vadher will show young participants how to tell a story using some fascinating historical objects at Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum.

The museum's collection includes several artefacts, which are made of wood, soapstone and silver. Elaborating on the workshop, Vadher says, "We'll ask children to observe these objects and pick out patterns and motifs that appeal to them. It could be a simple object like a leaf or a flower. Once they've done this, they will etch out the design on paper, and create stamps of these on foam sheets."

The collection includes artefacts in wood, silver (below) and soapstone

In the second half of the workshop, he says, the kids will be encouraged to come up with an alternative storyline for the artefacts. "Each of these objects depicts intricate scenes. The kids are free to interpret these and come up with their own fictionalised account of what they think is transpiring in the scenes," says Vadher.

silver and soapstone

At the end of it, the sheet of paper containing the fictional story will be embellished with the stamps made earlier in the day to create a fun new ‘fact sheet', not unlike the ones that accompany the artefacts at the museum.

Snehal Vadher

Weaving Tales at the Museum is an endeavour by The Writers Bug and Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum to create experiential storylines based on the wide history curated at the museum. This is the first time Vadher, whose fiction and poetry can be found online, is conducting this workshop.

The workshop is open to kids aged nine to 14.