PUZZLES THAT CHALLENGE OUR
MINDS TO BECOME CONSCIOUS.
Auro.games are designed to promote inclusiveness and experiencing unity in diversity through colourful and creative Kaleidoscope Puzzles. Activating both right and left hemispheres of the brain, the puzzles engage reasoning, imagination and emotions alongside each other. The plasticity of the brain will begin to form new structures, expanding mental abilities, helping embrace unity in diversity, a quality that humanity is now adapting to. This is why we call Auro.games YOGA FOR THE MIND.
When we think of Yoga we think "exercise for the body”, meaning sequences of movements, stretches and breathing for flexibility, focus and strength. Auro.games creates flexibility, focus and strength for our minds, and in the process, we develop the power of our consciousness.
Like the turn of a kaleidoscope, every pattern created is unique and different. The puzzle pieces show infinite solutions, and all the answers are correct. Two people playing with the same puzzle pieces will create two different patterns. Both solutions are correct and at the same time, different. They can also build a pattern together, creating a third correct solution, that is different than the first two. Kaleidoscope puzzles challenge our minds to become conscious of multiple solutions and find harmony in the diversity.
Auro.games is an educational initiative based in the international town of Auroville in South India. The idea of Auroville is to be a living experiment for sustainability and human unity, where people from all over the world, with different cultural backgrounds, can grow more conscious individually and collectively.
Auro.games is a tool designed for Integral Education, the new educational model being researched in Auroville, that aims to serve a conscious and positive evolution of humanity. Such an education strives to build self-awareness, working on mental faculties such as openness, flexibility and attention to detail to widen and deepen our consciousness. To view life and learning as a kaleidoscope of systems, forms and natural hierarchies in evolution.
Auro.games Research - We are during the year 2023-2024 doing an in-depth research study with 200 children and their teachers in several government schools in the Auroville bioregion. Through the research we aim to more clearly identify the benefits of Auro.games in areas like concentration, joy of learning and spatial awareness.
Auro.games Teacher Workshops - We offer professional development for teachers. Through the training teachers learn to bring awareness to the operations of consciousness. They learn to use Kaleidoscope Puzzles as a tool for social and emotional learning (SEL) by bringing focus to transformative qualities, and to systems-thinking through the kaleidoscope effect.
Auro.games Family Puzzles - A cooperative kaleidoscope puzzle that is timeless, and for every culture. It can be built cross-generationally, together with grandparents, parents, siblings or friends. The box containing 101 unique puzzle pieces comes with 101 ready patterns in progressive levels, but the possibilities to create novel puzzles is infinite.
Auro.games Play Sessions - Although the vision is to "share Auro.games with the children of the world" (AuroCulture), we also want to reach as many children as possible locally. We especially want children who would not otherwise have the opportunity for such play to benefit from Auro.games, and offer game sessions to children in Auroville and its bioregion.
Auro.games is funded mainly through donations, and is run by volunteers residing in Auroville.
Do you want to help contribute towards this Auro.games? Donations are welcome! (90% of all donations go toward project implementation, 10% goes to cover transaction fees, platform fees and administrative costs).
Maya Shakti - Management and project coordination
Auro.games development, design and facilitator training. Maya has worked in the field of education for more than 25 years and is presently doing research on education for human unity and sustainable development in Auroville. She has a B.Ed. in Sciences of Education, a B.Ed. in Pedagogy and an M.S. in Education for Sustainable Development (Integral Education) - University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Ishay - Creative director
Project management and development of Auro.games from the physical puzzle prototypes into the revolution of the digital world. Ishay has a B.Ed. F.A. in Photography and Visual Arts - WIZO Haifa Academy of Design and Education in Israel.
The original Aurogame prototypes were created by a woman called AuroCulture (Helga Ahy). Her adventure in puzzle creation began in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry in the 1970's and continued in Auroville where she moved in the 1990's. She worked on inspiration until a puzzle materialized, and created over 40 beautiful handmade educational material prototypes and sketches. AuroCulture's wish was for these materials to be shared with the children of the world and of the future. She expressed that her role had been to create the seeds for this work through the prototypes, but did not have the knowledge or ability of how to take it forward beyond that. For many years she stored the game prototypes, waiting for "the people who will be a part of realizing this project to come together at the right time".
In 2015 she put the game prototypes in the care of Maya Shakti, who built a team to start to explore how to take the project forward. After an initial few years of experimenting with the games and trying to understand how to sustain the project, Ishay Botbol joined Aurogames as creative director, to build the strategy needed to share Aurogames with the world. During the past years Maya and Ishay (both working as volunteers in Auroville) have taken the games far beyond the original prototypes, through facilitator training, learning materials, and into the digital world, creating over 600 puzzles and a variety of different functionalities to reach people of all ages, everywhere, as well as schools in India and beyond. AuroCulture followed the work and development with enthusiasm until her passing in 2020.
Kaleidoscopepuzzles.online is an independent international initiative offering support to sustain the Auro.games project, offering online puzzles, and educational materials.
Online Puzzles - A daily routine, exercising with Kaleidoscopepuzzles.online. This tool can be used by anyone, anywhere. Regular creative play will offer you a moment of mindfulness, and support the development of mental agility, open-mindedness and focused attention.