Make Playtime Claytime
If you thought that letting your kids play with clay was all about fun and games Da Vinci Group (DVG) is here to inform you it’s a whole lot more. An innovation education enterprise, DVG offers engaging NeuroCeramics® courses and workshops to both kids and adults, young and old. A mish mash of science and art, NeuroCeramics® uses clay as a medium to help participants become completely engaged while enabling the sensory neurons in their brains to reach their utmost potential.
Life partners Saravanan and Amutha became business partners, when after attending and becoming completely hooked by a few pottery courses, they decided to combine their neurobiology and clinical psychology backgrounds to form Da Vinci Group. They began by offering classes from their home and delivering presentations to schools. In 2015, DVG won accounts with several prestigious institutions including Etonhouse, Julia Gabriel and Chiltern House. Realising its potential with adults as well, Saravanan decided to lead DVG into corporate building and Da Vinci Consultancy was born. Soon after Da Vinci Silverline followed, offering clay play at both day care and elderly centres. Due to its rapid expansion and increasing popularity DVG just recently opened up bigger and better premises on New Industrial Road.
Staying closer to town? During summer break, DVG in partnership with Trehaus, is offering several NeuroCeramics® and NeuroTheatre® workshops where kids will be exposed to embodied learning using stories, drama, movement, music and of course, CLAY! Choose from a range of themes including Disney & A World of Pure Imagination, Around the World & Young Entrepreneur and Seasons of Earth & Hello World. The DVG-Trehaus partnership brings several perks for parents as they can use Trehaus’ workspace to catch up on their deadlines while kids have fun in the classes.
If you’re not sure that your kids will be gung-ho about full on classes, why not give them a little teaser? From 16 May 23-June, DVG offers exciting and educational tours of one of the oldest surviving kilns in Singapore. Each session ($90) allows 1 parent and 1 child from ages 2 and up to be informed about the history of the dragon kiln, explained the pottery process, participate in a hands-on free-play session with clay and indulge in a littler ceramic coaster painting.
As DVG continues to expand, its founders are on a constant hunt to find newer and unique ways for children to enjoy clay. And here enters another one of their exciting new ventures: KlayKit®. Although they already had a successful soft launch in December, KlayKit® will be officially launched in early July where parents will be able to sign up for either the KlayKit® Back-to-Basics Series or themed KlayKit® called PlayBox™. The KlayKit® Back-to-Basics is your child’s starter kit to grasping the foundational knowledge of working with clay. It basically brings DVG’s popular NeuroCeramics® programme into your living room. Every box contains 4 activities, each intended to keep you and your child occupied on a weekly basis for a month. In each box kids will find the following items: 4 Packets of Air-Dried Clay from the UK, 1 KlayKit® Guide Book which will act as their knowledgeable instructor, 1 Wooden PlayBoard which will become their workspace, 1 Cutter & Round Edge Wooden Tool to help them cut and form, 1 Wooden Rolling Pin to assist them in moulding, 1 Sharp and Blunt Tip Wooden Tool to enable them to draw on clay, 1 Building Template that they can use as a stencil, 1 Forked and Scraper Tool to blend clay with, 1 Vial of Slip to treat as “glue,” and of course 1 Sponge to clean up the mess with! Videos on DVG’s Facebook page provide instructions and ideas on how to get the most out of your KlayKit® . Buy 1 KlayKit® Back-to-Basic at $180 or opt for a package deal where you can get 1 KlayKit® Back-to-Basics & 3 months of PlayBox™ sets at $741. KlayKits® are borderless and therefore have the potential to go international very fast.
So let’s reiterate. Clay is cold, wet, powdery, squishy and eventually becomes brittle, but when you add just a litter water it can take on a whole different life form all over again. A 3D medium that acts like fireworks in the brain, clay not only is a functional element but it is limitless. NeuroCeramics® at its best!
Get a 10% discount when you sign up (discount code: KIDSLAH) for a workshop at this link!
