June 1: Imagine: Travel Across Sri Lanka by Train!
Creative Focus: Storyboarding, movement, visual storytelling
Duration: 1 hour 15 min
Age Group: 5–16 years
Teachers: Suren, Vyshalini, Aarefa
You will need:
Paper with window templates drawn / traced like this (see below)
pencils, markers, crayons
colored paper, scissors, glue
optional natural materials (leaves, sand)
Tape for combining all the drawings together
Step 1: Introduction (10 minutes)
Goal:
Understand how to use imagination and storytelling to create a visual train journey through Sri Lanka’s diverse landscapes.
Story Kickoff:
“Imagine you’re on a train traveling across the whole of Sri Lanka. Out your window, the world keeps changing—tea hills in the highlands, monkeys in the jungle, fishermen on the coast. Each window has its own story. Today, you’ll draw your own view from that window and help build one big journey for everyone.”
Discussion Prompts:
What do you see when you ride a train?
How is traveling by train different from other ways of traveling?
What parts of Sri Lanka would you love to see (from a train window)?
Step 2: Icebreaker (5 minutes)
Game: “Train Ride Adventure”
Kids stand in a line like train carriages. Teacher calls out actions:
“Tunnel!” → Duck
“Hill!” → Lean back
“Rain!” → Hands over head
“Jungle!” → Arms out like trees
“Elephant crossing!” → Trumpet noise and freeze
End with everyone sitting in a “train seat,” ready to begin imagining their journey.
Step 3: Visualization and Group Planning (10 minutes)
Source: https://www.mmonthego.com/guide-train-sri-lanka/
Group Planning:
Each child gets a template shaped like a train window (landscape rectangle).
Brainstorm: What could your scene show?
→ A village? A herd of cows? A waterfall?Sketch ideas and lightly draw with a pencil first.
Label or write a sentence about what they’re drawing if time allows.
Step 4: Making and Problem-Solving (35 minutes)
Tasks:
Finalize and color in their “train window” view
Add motion details (clouds, tuk-tuks, birds, waving people).
Step 5: Community Building (10 minutes)
Assemble all finished windows into a continuous “train ride scroll” (in order of the journey: hill country → towns → jungle → coast, etc.).
Together, unroll the paper scroll with everyone’s windows attached.
Use a fan or walk along pretending the train is “moving.”
Optional Add-On (volunteer): Record a “train journey video” moving slowly along the scroll to playful background train sounds.
Presentations: Each child or group stands by their window. Explain why they chose this window and why it was a lasting memory.
“This is my view from the train. I saw…”
Reflection:
What was your favorite part of someone else’s journey?
How does each window show a different story of Sri Lanka?
What would you add if you had another window?