A week full of Knowledge Surprises

The Knowledge Surprises week, one of the most eagerly awaited theme weeks of Dubai Summer Surprises, officially opens today at 7.30pm with a special presentation at the Mall of the Emirates.

The opening ceremony will be attended by Sultan Butti Bin Mijrin, Director General of the Government of Dubai Land Department, members of the Organising Committee of Dubai Summer Surprises, dignitaries and VIPs and members of the media. Visitors of the mall can expect to see a special show in the Galleria area with scintillating performances and stimulating mental activities during the opening ceremony.

Everyone is invited to partake of the glorious show and take home some glimpses of what's in store during the seven days ahead. The major attraction of the opening ceremony is a breathtaking performance by professional bungee jumpers who have wowed audiences with their daring acts in Europe and the Americas and are here for the first time in the region. This is a not-to-be-missed segment of the opening ceremony.

The activities are expected to draw a very good response from the visitors and are sure to be a big value addition to the DSS. Dubai Land Department has dedicated a huge budget to present an exciting week full of interesting activities and events. In all 19 activities are being organised across five shopping malls in the emirate. In addition to in-mall activities, a series of events also takes place at Modhesh Fun City at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The Modhesh Fun City events are being held for the first time ever during Knowledge Surprises and target families especially children.

Dubai Land Department is organising Knowledge Surprises for the first time. All the activities have been designed to provide fun as well as knowledge keeping in line with the theme of the week. In addition, they are to present for the first time their funny and witty character "Fatfoot" that represents the measuring tool for land which in its essence is one of the main jobs of the department.
Prizes worth half a million dirhams are up for grabs during the week-long activities.

There will be daily draws and for the first time in the history of the theme week big prizes such as 16 LCD TVs, 35 play stations, 12 sound systems, 12 video cameras, 28 vouchers, 175 cash vouchers, 11 laptops, 30 MP3 players, 1,000 courses in computer training, 100 free Internet memberships plus a Hummer car will be given away. The Hummer car will be the prize for the final draw to take place on the last day of Knowledge week Surprises. Companies such as Etisalat, Liberty Cars, Emirates Union Cooperative and Pro-X are sponsoring major prizes during the week.

The audiences will discover the joy of inventing new things during the week. A voluntary and charitable activity will also be held via the activity "Junior Entrepreneurs" where proceeds will go to Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment, specifically to the UAE's campaign to remedy the Lebanese wounds under the slogan "their Kids are our Kids".

Six activities are being conducted in the Mall of the Emirates, which include "Junior Entrepreneurs" as well as "Sama Fatfoot" for kids that teaches children about computers, cameras and movies. Additionally, there will also be "Fatfoot City" which is a competition with different segments to test the knowledge of children and the "virtual blast" activity a technology game that consists of video games in which two teams challenge each other.

Al Ghurair Centre hosts four activities such as "Fatfoot Shagool" a game for children wherein they try and climb a pyramid after giving right answers to the questions posed to them. Another interesting event is the "Fatfoot Corner" which is a workshop for kids to dabble in the art of cinema. The participants will get to play with sound surround systems as well as sand and sticking products. The 3 rd activity is "Wonder Compound" which is a lego. It's a highly stimulating activity that helps develop children's mental skills. The final activity is "scientific booths" where children can try experimenting with science.

BurJuman hosts five activities including "World Cup" where children can play football, "Kimopoly" where children sell properties and build projects. Then there is the "Little Bankers'" workshop teaching children how to do business and then there is "Eureka" a workshop that teaches the kids theoretical science in a fun and easy way. The fifth activity at BurJuman is " Body Language" which teaches the little ones how to understand and project good body language.

The Deira City Center hosts two activities - " Fatfoot Around the World" which will enable the kids to address a crowd confidently and the second one is " Knowledge Surprise" a workshop for children which will be a mix of science, art and loads of fun. Bin Sougat Centre offers a novel activity called "Star Lab" which as the name suggests will be about space. Throughout the theme week a historical play titled 'I knew God' will be held at Modhesh Fun City.

The 10-week long DSS, which opened with Ice Surprises week on June 21, celebrated the Arts Surprises Week, Food Surprises, Adventure Surprises, Cartoon Surprises, Nature Surprises and continues with the weekly themes of Knowledge Surprises, Flower Surprises, Heritage Surprises and will conclude with Back-to-School Surprises on September 1.