5,4,3,2,1 – Let’s PLAY - Children chose to play over gadget time!
Parents were looking for options that can keep children engaged. The market had several options – a range of summer camps, activities etc. But parents wanted something different! Something that gave their children an opportunity to learn, have fun and be part of a community….And that’s what Upturn provided – a community-based curation that helped children think beyond gadgets.
The Upturn Solution:
Digital Detox as a concept was evangelized by Upturn Learning Community through our model 5,4,3,2,1 – Let’s PLAY! Beginning from the summer of 2018, Upturn’s unique curation of experiences like animal feeding, farm visits, recreating Malgudi Days with the best theatre activists in town, star gazing, baking, astronomy and so much more, our community of children and parents experienced gadget-free quality time.
The Outcome:
Today, the Digital Detox Community has parents and children who believe in living responsibly and practicing screen free time more consciously and follows Upturn’s Digital Detox model called 5,4,3,2,1 – Let’s PLAY! – a well-received virtual and face-to-face program for corporates, schools and communities across cities.
When Upturn brought an animal farm to the city!
A leading space in the city had just opened doors for community-based initiatives and turned to Upturn for a curation that would be innovative, educational and highly engaging. With less than 3 weeks to inaugurate, Upturn had to present a solution that would bring the entire neighborhood to this new space.
The Upturn Solution:
At Upturn, we are always very proud of the partners we collaborate with. This curation was one such experience. We managed to collaborate with a pet sanctuary and recreated an animal farm with 200+ animals. These animals were transported with legal licenses, the space followed highest safety standards for parents and children to walk around, use their senses, feel and learn through this experience. Some of the animals we had – emus, an iguana, sheep, ponies, terrapins, gerbils, hamsters, turkeys, snails, dogs, mealworms, frogs and so much more.
The outcome:
When a farm is recreated in the city, what do you expect? CROWD! – The animals were greeted by 100’s of parents and children through the day. This experience was curated with multiple other kiosks for art, pottery, music, food and much more. What started as a novel, simple, small idea became a carnival for the client and led to a great branding opportunity, site tour and space occupancy.
Upturn collaborates with UNICEF Pop Up Festival
Upturn Learning is a registered partner with UNICEF for the World Children’s Day Pop Up Festivals. This became a platform for Upturn to innovate on a range of priorities from an SDG angle. As a socially responsible organization Upturn rallied on all sides and brought the best partners in town onboard. What started as a small pop up soon became a massive, meaningful confab for 30+ schools, 200+ children.
The Upturn Solution:
Upturn conceptualized masterclasses on SDGs for children to attend through the day with the best mentors in town. Children had play zones based on UN standards and got to experience a showcase put up by children of a school on global perspectives in terms of SDGs. Each master class led to ideation zones and this further led to the inception of a community called HOME2.0 which is intended for children to meet regularly and take small steps locally towards SDGs. This community is still in the making and is evolving each day.
The outcome:
The World Children’s Day pop up fest in collaboration with UNICEF was an amalgamation of 10+ brands and collaborations, it brought together like-minded people, it went over and above an “event” and soon became a “community”. This is work in progress and gives hope for many in the city about the magic children can create when given the right platform with the right mentors.
“PARENTING initiatives” as a big part of “employee engagement” in Corporates!
With a majority of employees in corporates today being “parents”, MNCs are constantly looking for newer ways to stay engaged with them in more meaningful ways. With the pandemic (Covid-19), parents were grappling with multiple roles through the day. Being a cook, teacher, hairstylist, housekeeper, alongside their work responsibilities required new skills. Corporates required a partner who could understand the fun and games of parenting for professionals.
The Upturn Solution:
Upturn started building customized solutions that helped parents play multiple roles. Solutions were designed innovatively in the form of panel discussions, expert talks, curation of experiences online etc. Our programs like the “VUCA Ready Leader” and “Home schooling with school guidance” have been well-received by corporates across the country.
The outcome:
Top organizations have recognized “parenting” as a need under their D&I calendars today and Upturn has played a role in this movement.
200+ children! 20 days! 2 cities! 50+ Digital Detox experiences
Play spaces around the city were looking for partners who could curate exciting experiences for children during the summer. Parents were looking for ways to keep kids away from screens all summer! Upturn was the clear choice!
Upturn’s Solution:
Upturn collaborated with 5 learning spaces and over 25 mentors in Bangalore and Chennai to conduct Digital Detox experiences for over 200 children. Our experiences were curated to suit various age groups and multi-cultures. Children between the age group of 3 to 15 years spent the summer learning new hobbies, reconnected with the outdoors at our field experiences, spent time away from devices and made new friends at our Digital Detox Festivals. Upturn was responsible for the ideas, collaborating with mentors, managing the entire implementation and ensuring the kids had fun.
The outcome:
These learning spaces are now our clients who call us for any kind of collaboration that involves experiences for children. And rest assured our experiences will have minimal screen time and lots of outdoor time…
So if you are a learning space, a school, a play area or a community looking for a summer camp or an afterschool activity, call us and we will take care of the rest!
A Social Experiment!
What started as a social experiment to see the choices children make when they are not forced with parameters like attendance, participation, rules, became a platform for children chose to show up every Sunday and create some magic together.
The Upturn Solution:
Upturn brought 20 children to work and learn together in a cohort for 12 weeks. We created a judgement-free platform every Sunday where they met new mentors each week to learn new skills right from theatre, kalarippayattu, DIY art, laughter circle, cook out sessions and more.
NO SCREENTIME was the key ingredient in these meet ups. And the children did not miss their gadgets. They exchanged thoughts and ideas, worked together, learnt from each other and laughed together. By week 8, they were wanted to showcase their talent at a production that was to be directed, produced and implemented end to end BY the children FOR the parents! With help with Upturn’s mentors, the children presented an evening that was a beautiful blend of drama, dance and entertainment themed around DIGITAL DETOX. This experience brought meaning to community building for us at Upturn.
The outcome:
This became a drama that got the attention of THE HINDU for its novel concept and implementation. The 12 week experiment saw young children mentor each other across age groups, taking initiative, organizing, managing and hosting the event. An intimate auditorium filled with parents cheering for their children! Children can do magic!
2-day Conference on Digital Responsibility!
A leading International school in Chennai was looking to organize a conference for children on “School Culture in the Digital Age” where educators, parents and children could come together and take time to discuss the changing culture caused by the internet and its impact on human experiences.
Upturn’s Solution:
As educators, we believe it is crucial to set guidelines and expectations for children to ensure they are safe in the changing digital environment. With the increase in time spent online, Upturn collaborated with the school to curate the 2-day conference for children, parents and educators to better understand Digital Responsibility and Ethics to be displayed when using tools and resources online. We invited educationalists, psychiatrists, parenting specialists to be speakers at a panel discussion and break-out sessions across various topics including Social media for Teenagers, Digital Detox, Storytelling’ in the age of Smartphone Cameras, Wearables and DIY tools.
The Outcome:
The Internet is a global meeting place, a global workspace, and a global marketplace that provides a vast array of opportunities to not only learn but interact with the world. At Upturn, we believe in building awareness around the tools and practices that inculcate digital responsibility that will make it simpler for children to stay safe online.