It sure was a rare occasion that the Public Gardens saw so many children and their parents on a Sunday. But a workshop on clay Ganesha-making at Jawahar Bal Bhavan (JBB), an initiative of the Telangana State Pollution Control Board, is hard to absent oneself from.

Jessica, of class II from St. Joseph’s Grammar School, had come all the way from Santosh Nagar with her mother and younger brother, to take part in the competitions. Though too young to be talking about being environment-friendly, suffice it say that her enthusiasm was drawn from her mother who said had made clay Ganeshas when she was in school.

Over 300 schoolchildren from classes I to X were found at the JBB on Sunday, testing their creativity, using environmental-friendly material — starting from the clay given to them by the organisers to the assortment of 21 different leaves that Lord Ganesha is said to love eating.

Project Officer-National Green Corps (NGC), T. Radhika, said the endeavour was to get the children to memorise the 21 different leaves that Lord Ganesha loves eating.

“We insist that they at least mention five of the 21 leaves and their medicinal properties,” she said, going on to add that VinayakaChavithi was basically an environment-friendly festival.

Akshara of class III from Narayana Concept School said this was the second year that she was participating in the competition. Even as the younger lot were taking their time fashioning their Ganeshas, a couple of class X students, S. Jahnavi and G. Divya from St. Anthony’s High School, proudly showed off their creations.

One of the staff members of JBB, C. Rajeshwari, who teaches science, said every subject was integrated and that one thing led to another.

The participants received certificates signed by JBB director M. Radha Rani and Director, NGC, N. Ravinder later in the evening.