Did you meet dinosaurs at Sharjah Children's Reading Festival yet?

Encouraging reading is the main aim of the 7th Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival at Sharjah Expo Centre..

The event, which includes many activities for little ones, also teaches parents and children how to establish reading as a regular practice.

Forty publishing houses from the UAE participated in the festival, followed by Lebanon with 25 and Egypt with 17 publishing houses, alongside Australia, Canada, and India, among many other countries.

The festival is hosting for the first time, in collaboration with the Natural History Museum in the United Kingdom, the giant dinosaurs from the Jurassic period, which impressed the big and the little ones with  its amazing models.

Salema, mother of three, said “My children didn’t sleep last night as they were very excited to see the dinosaurs, beside this, I was impressed by the well organised  event”.

The children enjoyed looking at the moving dinosaurs, participating in the activaties held at a workshop, learning more about the giant monsters, and taking selfies with them.

“My son and I were interested as well in the Dinosaur Exhibition, to find out information and scientific facts about dinosaurs in through models developed by scientists and experts in this area,” added another mum.

 There event was themed with the slogan 'Discover Your City' which teaches children and adults the importance of them participating in  knowing more about their city.

Maryam, a teacher, said “I loved the theme of this edition  'Discover Your City’, as it will allow children to explore various events in order to help them discover the emirate of Sharjah and its beautiful monuments and landmarks, the theme will increase the children’s  interest to imagine what the city will look like in the future,”.

The event includes four main activities; Cultural Activities, Creative Youth Café, Cookery Corner Activities, Kids’ Activities.

• Cultural Activates

This includes workshops and lectures about the importance of reading, authors speaking about their experiences giving advice on different topics, and also competition with prizes are going to be given for the audience.

Fatima, a working mother with two children, said, “As a parent, I was keen to let my sons take part in the creative writing competition, a great learning experience for him as a student because students like to compete by exploring different ideas.’

• Creative Youth Café:

This will include everything related to writing, the role of reading, developing  children’s literature, theatre, and many other things that faces children in reading and writing.
 
• Cookery Corner Activities:

Watch many famous chefs as they cook many different recipes live, and give you a chance to taste their delicious cooking.

Chef Daad Abu Jabir, a famous Jordanian cook, with lots of recipe books published and Cooking TV programs, showed her amazement at the event and how they took care of all the details concerned with children.

“I love anything related to children, and this event brought it all. Seeing that many children who came to watch me cooking is touching, and watching them going through different workshops proved to me that this festival  hashad a good  effect on children,” she added.

Samera, a seventh grade student, said, ”I liked this opportunity because I watched with my mum the chef as she cooks, learnt about healthy cooking, and nice ways of garnishing and using kitchen tools safely,”.

• Kids’ Activities:

 Workshops made especially for young visitors, to learn about creative arts like paper quilling as part of the Applied Arts theme and how to make animated cartoons, and many other things.

His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, who always recommends that a child is nurtured with science, culture and knowledge, to ensure the creation of an educated generation for the future benefit of the UAE to provide the child to develop their talents and knowledge, because the child is the cornerstone of cultural development for the Emirate of Sharjah and the UAE at large.

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