Today was the final day of the week at Kirelawela.  We all feel very anxious to return again as it is quite clear that the children have become very confident around us and have lost their initial timidity.Many of the children were copying our accents and expressions when we were helping them with their work, making us laugh all day.  This morning there were only six kids at the pre-school, far fewer than at the beginning of the week.  This allowed us, however, to put up some wall displays which the teacher helped us with and encouraged us to learn the names of the planets in Sinhala. 

We brought in play-dough which the kids loved and used the cutters to make different shapes and animals; snails were very popular.  The teacher had brought in a basket of potatoes and beans, along with a vegetable we couldn’t place in England but seems popular in Sri Lanka.  The children coloured in pictures of potatoes and beans and the group taught them the names in English of the vegetables as we helped them colour in. 

The afternoon session was very successful today and we had the biggest turn out so far, running three different activities. On one table we made Chinese lanterns, which the kids loved.  The final results were very beautiful and all the children got really stuck in using different materials and colours.  Another table was used for a return to the play-dough and again snails, butterflies and flowers were very popular.  All the children help each other and it is very clear that the community feeling extends to the younger generation too; we managed to interpret what we wanted to do with the lanterns and play-dough and once one or two children understood, they communicated it to the rest of the group and ensured everyone understood.  Outside we had some sports including tennis and general games of catching and throwing with some added twists.  The best part of this was the diversity in age range; everyone enjoyed the games and played for such a long time all together.  Today was a really great day and a brilliant end to the week!