The Manta Trust team in Laamu is always trying their best to inspire the next generation to have a love for marine life and environmental responsibility. While usually all of the kids club sessions are being held with guest’s children on island, the team is so excited that they now have an intern, Reesha, based in the Laamu community that enables them to communicate more regularly with different stakeholders in the atoll. In February, the team therefore had the incredible opportunity to trial two Kids Club sessions with 21 children from the Barru-preschool in Fonadhoo.
Together with the pre-school teachers, Reesha helped prepare and organize the sessions to allow the kids to get hands-on experience in making a difference. In one session the team organized a litter picking activity where we combined sensory play and gross motor skills to start learning about pollution and littering from a young age. In another session, we had fun pretending to be Mantas while some kids pretended to be boats that had to keep a check on their speed limit. Hit a manta and you’re out! It was a good exercise learning about how our speed and consideration affects each other, the kids absolutely loved it! Afterwards we also tried to recreate a sensory learning experience by transforming one classroom into a “submarine” with the help of the lovely preschool teachers. There we spent time learning about the manta rays and their “friends” that live in Maldives waters.
We are very grateful for Barru Preschool for their eagerness to work with us and we hope to have more fun activities in the future. Teaching compassion for marine animals and raising awareness about the impact of plastic pollution is key to building a sustainable future.