The Didactic Classroom, which the Mararía Association promotes every year, is now in its sixth edition and its success is visible due to the number of children who paint, run and laugh practically all day in the space delimited within the Ramírez Cerdá Park, next to the UNED.
"I brought my two daughters and a nephew for a couple of hours to take advantage and do some quiet shopping," says Felisa Pérez, who has come to bring her nephew a snack. Like Felisa, many parents benefit from the alternative of leaving their children in the Didactic Classroom during working hours. Open from Monday to Saturday, it has a schedule of 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and with a simple registration, children can stay as long as they want until the next fifth.
Five monitors in each of the two shifts take care of the children who are aged from four to twelve years old, although the organization also gives the opportunity for children under four years old to participate, always accompanied by an adult.
Among the activities, the children are designing with their own hands, a large nativity scene decorated with paper figures, plasticine and cotton. In addition, a drawing and painting contest with the theme of education in values decorates the walls of the tent where the workshops are held. On the last day, January 5, the winning drawing will be announced, which will be the poster for the Didactic Classroom for 2008. Musical and gymnastics performances will also have a place on the stage that day and the little ones will enjoy the visit of a royal page of Their Majesties the Three Wise Men.
