After a week full of arts, a rich series of workshops and activities awaits children and adolescents related to literature in the second week of the summer camp programme ‘Our Summer is Culture and Creativity’ launched by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) taking place from 1 – 28 August with the aim of supporting talents and inspiring the younger generations to be creative and innovative.

Reading, acting and illustrated stories

Dubai Culture invites the youth to continue their cognitive and creative journey of exploration with literature through the activities of the second week of the summer camp programme in its public libraries running from 8 – 14 August. The Hatta Public Library invites children from aged 6 – 12 to participate in physical and virtual reading workshops in Arabic throughout the week, during which they will develop their skills in expressive reading and recounting stories as well as enjoy entertaining stories that will be told and discussed in an interesting manner to enhance the importance of dialogue and listening to opinions other than their own. They will also unleash their imaginations to form an illustrated story using the art of collage, and then narrate it. Through the Arabic calligraphy workshop, they will learn about the aesthetics of Arabic calligraphy and its forms, and they will conclude their week with writer Ghaida Osailan, who will read them the story ‘Adults are not allowed to enter’ (book is only available in Arabic).

Clay well making

At Umm Suqeim Library, in addition to the interesting reading workshops, students aged 6 – 12 years old will experience the clay industry and learn about the postman profession through a short video and ‘Postage Stamps’ workshop. Participants will also enter the world of bees and learn how to make a bee anthropomorphic, in addition to learning about the animal world, exploring the importance of cooperation and helping others, and making glasses with simple tools. They will also enjoy the story ‘My Friend, the Lion’ by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, told by the writer Nadia Al Najjar.

Poetry, digital stories and competitions

At Al Mankhool Library, children aged 6 – 12 years can look forward to creatively engaging workshops, the activities of which include writing and acting stories, each in their own style, making book breaks, learning the art of reciting poetry and its importance in Emirati culture, and reading interesting stories accompanied by a motivational competition from the content of the story.

Al Safa Art and Design Library has also prepared for children aged 6 – 12 physical and virtual workshops in Arabic and English, providing enjoyable times while reading stories and learning how to create an animated story and turn it into a digital story through an interactive app, Plotagon. They will also write letters to their mothers, make up stories and drawings, and write about the characteristics of predators and scorpions. Through ‘The Story of Wadeema Law,’ children will learn about their rights through an interactive workshop accompanied by educational competitions. Adolescents aged 18 and under will also enjoy a workshop on 14 August through which they will explore a new world of imagination, adventure and creativity through role-playing.

The art of summarising stories

Through a series of physical and virtual workshops in Arabic at Al Twar Public Library, children aged 6 – 12 years old will have the opportunity to develop their skills in summarising stories and expressive writing, and gain access to the environmental books available in the library and read a group of stories about the Earth and the solar system, in addition to enjoying the story ‘The Little Vendor’ read by the writer Moza Muhammad as well as watching a screening of the silent film ‘FLOAT,’ accompanied by a creative writing session during which they learn the art of expressing visual stories and transforming them into a written story.

Brain storming

Al Rashidiya Public Library prepared two physical workshops in Arabic for children aged 6 – 12, including storytelling and a brainstorming session to discuss how to turn stories into drawings, and a dialogue session with children to motivate them to imagine and display pictures of some events to help them write the events of a short story from their imagination.

Time management and printing

The activities prepared by Hor Al Anz Public Library for children aged 6 – 12 include a series of physical workshops in Arabic, during which they will enjoy reading stories from the series ‘My Little World’ by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, including ‘My Friend, the Lion,’ ‘My Cave of Treasures,’ and My Mother, Like No Other.’ They will also learn to manage and use time in the best way, and will enjoy a printing workshop, during which children will learn the primitive method of printing by drawing shapes on the plate and printing it on paper, to acquire the skill of coordinating shapes and merging colors.

To register, please visit the libraries’ Instagram account @dubaipubliclibraries.