The schools have been shut for weeks… it’s hard to keep count of how many exactly.
But kids across the UAE aren’t letting being off school and away from their friends get them down.
Instead they are coming up with new and creative ways to keep themselves entertained from writing stories to performing their own rock songs.
Here are three of our favourites.
Rocking the lockdown
Seven-year-old Adam and his South African dad, Sean, live in Sharjah and both share a passion for energetic rock music.
Adam is a big fan of the guitar and takes weekly lessons to hone his skills, which you can see in this upbeat medley of classic children’s songs that includes Yankee Doodle, Mary had a Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Old McDonald has a Farm.
The father and son team started the video just before lockdown, but didn’t let the movement restrictions finish them from completing it.
Sean admits that he is finding distance learning quite challenging (we can empathise). As well as Adam, Sean and his wife have a four-year-old daughter called Ella.
“They are both young and not able to, or disciplined enough to do tasks on their own, so I have to participate with all their lessons and activities to make sure a) they’re understood, b) the work gets done correctly and then c) each piece of work gets uploaded back to the teacher.”
“Apart from the schooling, it is very challenging to keep the kids entertained and not snapping at each others ankles all day. Working on this video has actually given us a lot of interesting things to do over the last few weeks.”
PUNK ROCK Kids Medley from Vibrant Sorcery on Vimeo.
Quarantine diaries
Mariyam is six years old and comes from Abu Dhabi. Here she shares this adorable video about how she is spending her days and even gives some top tips on staying safe.
A world of imagination
12-year-old Muhammad Shuja Saadat, who lives in Jumeirah, Dubai is writing a series of stories about an FBI agent named Sana who goes on various adventures to find and protect artifacts from the forces of evil.
Below is part one… enjoy!
“Hanging on by the tips of her fingers, Sana leapt on to the jeep, speeding a safe distance away from the wild beast. As the vehicle skid to a stop, she flung herself out of it, alert, adventurous, and ready for action.
Just a few days ago Sana had been assigned the mission of discovering the long lost Sword of Legend, which was said to be sealed inside a priceless sarcophagus surrounded with an impenetrable arsenal of defense. There were three challenges of strength and wit that she would have to master – first, a river infested with murderous crocodiles, leading to a chamber of terror rigged with booby traps, and finally, an unstoppable army of the undead, tasked to guard the Sword till eternity!
Her guide had dropped her off at the edge of the jungle, from where she had to find her own way to the river, at the exact spot that was said to be infested with huge crocodiles. This, legend had it, was the place where an adventurer would cross to find the secret chamber of Terror on the other bank of the river.
Venturing deep into the jungle, she reached the river bank and walking upstream, finally came to a bend, where true to form, she found the river swarming with huge, hungry reptiles, flashing their sharp, glinting teeth in the sunlight. “This must be it” she thought, her heart racing with excitement and apprehension in equal measure. Summoning all her courage, she bounded across the scaly reptile heads, using each as a stepping stone. Every time she stepped on an animal, it snapped it’s jaws and tried to shake her off, but Sana held on. Years of training as a gymnast came to her aid as she never lost her balance while nimbly and swiftly leaping across to the safety of dry land.
Unscathed, thrilled and ready for more, Sana uncovered a rusty old door, shrouded in vines. Heaving open the ornate, heavy door she peered cautiously into the damp darkness inside. Her very first step was greeted with a volley of arrows. She dodged it, only to face a thousand more – they kept coming at her from every direction. Realizing her perilous position, Sana sped through the room, jumping in every direction to avoid being hit midway through her adventure. While evading arrows she saw a trapdoor beneath her and realising it was her only option, quickly flung open the door and dived down into the darkness below.
She landed with a thud on to soft, dusty ground. Peering through the dim shade of distant torches, Sana found herself in what looked like a sunken, underground dungeon. When her eyes finally got used to the darkness, she realised that she was not alone…
hunched, deranged figures were slowly and menacingly coming her way. “This, must be the fabled Chamber of The Undead!” Sana thought out loud in awe and inspiration. Her heartbeat raced as she realized that this was the last leg of the challenge before she could get her hands on the prized Sword.
Unprepared but determined to get through, she charged into battle, ducking, dodging, and hitting everything in striking distance. When she emerged out of the fight, she was bruised, battered, and beat up, but she was still standing. She had found a way to outlast this grisly hordes of the undead, and now looked for her prize: The Sword of Legend. She was now at the spot no-one had ever been in before. Many had tried, but all were devoured by the crocodiles, beaten by the zombies, or run back before they had even started. “And now” thought Sana “My prize.”
Journeying forwards into a tunnel, she realised that the dungeon was in fact a catacomb, a scattering of tunnels and tombs, from which all the zombies had come forth. From the corner of her eye, she spotted a glint in the wall above her, and instinctively leapt away as a sharp, heavy object embedded itself in the ground where she had stood a split-second ago. “Hopefully, this is the last booby trap!” thought Sana. As she bent over to look at the object, she realised it was a sword. No. It was THE Sword. Sana pulled the Sword out of the ground with ease, and observed the Sword in detail for the first time. Despite all the years it had stayed in the dungeon, It hasn’t lost any of its luster. It’s hilt was encrusted with two bright red rubys, both flaming like fiery embers. It’s handle was made of pure gold and had an image of a Medusa, the ancient greek terror, emblazoned on it. The magical powers of the Sword were said to rival Excalibur itself.
Sana pulled it up onto her shoulder and set off to find a way out of the dungeon. As she passed by a torch, the sword pulled her towards the wall, and she leaned on the torch for support but nearly fell over with surprise when the torch seemed to spring forward with a click. It was actually a lever that, under her weight, had snapped, unveiling a flight of stairs out of the side of the wall. Climbing up the stairs, Sana saw the sun setting as the wind licked lightly at her face.
When Sana arrived back in the midst of the forest, the way back to her guide felt quick and easy. At the S.S headquarters, her success was celebrated far and wide, and the sword was put into a super-secure vault surrounded with guards. But little did they know that the sword was not the only thing they had to protect…”
