The Sharma Children's Museum was established on 19^th of February 1999, and at present  is housed at the Ellen Sharma Memorial Matriculation School. This is a rural school situated at Sholinganallore, 30 km outside Chennai, which provides free and subsidised education to children from the neighbouring industrial areas and villages and to Tibetan refugees; and also caters to economically well-off children from cities in India and abroad (Souvenir, Children's Garden School 1997).

The museum was planned as an experiment in school education; a small step to enable children to have fun while learning about the past.  It aims at creating an innovative and informative museum environment where:

(a) children can develop an awareness of Indian heritage; (b) a spirit of enquiry, wonder and imagination is stimulated and sustained; (c) archaeology is used as tool to exercise  skills in  thinking children; (d) the past can be related to issues in daily life; (e) archaeological objects are used to teach principles of other social and physical sciences; (f)children are made aware of people (both belonging to past and present cultures) having different ways of life and belief systems; (g) local heritage issues are stressed; and (h) objects in the museum are used as a resource base for teachers for all disciplines taught in the school syllabus.

We strongly focus on addressing groups of children who would otherwise have no access to museums, educational products, T.V. programs and books. Our programs are in English and Tamil. Since inception we have conducted programs for more than 10,000 children from Chennai and suburbs and from nearby villages. All programs for underprivileged children are free.

We have dioramas, models, pictures and much much more. Check out our games and interactive activities for children and teachers.

Teachers join in (Right) and living a Neolithic way of life (left)

A lecture by a visiting scholar on biodiversity

Outdoor activities and results of an art competition

Workshop for school kids from the village of Poondi, at the site of Attirampakkam (left).

Forthcoming workshops. Please  send us an email to pappu.shanti@gmail.com or spappu@vsnl.com for further details. 

July: Field trip to Mahabalipuram with an expert in ancient Indian architecture. Classes IX and XII only. Total number of seats: 50; English and Tamil.

August: 'Fun with Fossils': workshop on fossils and palaeontology. Classes VIII and IX. Time: 4 hours: lecture, workshops and exhibition. Total number of seats: 100. English and Tamil.

Sponsor a Workshop

You can help an underprivileged child get quality education in our museum by funding a workshop. 

If you wish to sponsor a workshop you can contact us at pappu.shanti@gmail.com or spappu@vsnl.com.

All donations within India are exempt from Income Tax under S.80G.