This photo essay documents Kalpakta’s pop-up libraries, where stories, crafts, and conversations sustain children’s reading journeys during extreme summer heat. It shows how learning spaces can creatively adapt beyond formal settings.
In Nagpur, summer heat has started becoming too intense during the day, making it difficult for children to come to Kalpakta’s learning center regularly. Because of this, we changed our library timings. To ensure children continue getting access to books and joyful learning spaces, we have started evening pop-up libraries in three different localities. Kalpakta Education Foundation empowers rural children with education, fostering imagination and transformation.
We carefully selected books that connected with children’s lives and interests during the summer holidays. We used the book ‘Majahi sutti Rajasthan’ (‘My holiday in Rajasthan’) and travelled together through its pages, learning about different places, culture, and experiences in Rajasthan.
We also explored books on home, food, play, friendship, and everyday life. After reading books on the theme of home, children wanted to build their own miniature home using cardboard boxes. Children created a list of items they felt were important and then began planning and building together with the support of the facilitator.
We opened the book ‘Ammu ki botal nauka’ (‘Ammu’s bottle boat’) with children. Through the story, children explored the idea of being responsible users of plastic and learned about the 3Rs—Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Instead of throwing plastic away, children transformed it into useful items.
We opened another wonderful book, ‘Cut-piece Kumar,’ in which the protagonist lovingly stitches a mat for his upcoming sibling. The story led to a discussion about how we can express care and affection through things we make with our own hands and follow our interests. The children decided to create something for their loved ones by learning simple stitching techniques.
The activities and processes that we have just shared are part of the sessions that take place in the pop-up libraries. Every session begins with a story. Around these stories, children engage in art and craft, drawing, painting, games, conversations, and plays. These activities help children connect deeply with books. Our purpose is simple and clear that every child should continue their reading journey, even during the hottest months of the year.
Children eagerly wait for the evening sessions and often carry their drawings, writings, and unfinished work home to complete later.
These outreach sessions remind us that a library is not just a building. Wherever children gather around stories, a library can come alive.
