Maarat Misreen, Idlib, Syria (CNN) From a distance, there is an air of jubilation. The kids wave bright balloons and wiggle to a cheery tune. This could be any schoolyard, anywhere in the world. But the cheery faces of the children and their delightful squeals are a temporary illusion. The blaring music is a shield, giving these kids a moment of respite from the rumble of explosions from Syria's brutal civil war.

The music stops. The chorus of artillery and shelling reasserts itself. Then comes a melancholic silence. "You see the fear in their eyes, you see them looking up to check if there are any planes," said Bilal al-Shawa of the Hurras Network, a child protection charity.

Hurras has organized this activity at a school in the town of Maarat Misreen in Idlib province, Syria's last opposition enclave. "The children should be thinking about playing, about studying. Our entire focus right now is how to we avoid having them hear something scary," al-Shawa told CNN.

There is little anyone can do to protect the children physically, so al-Shawa and his organization are trying to keep the kids healthy mentally.

Plumes of smoke rise following Russian airstrikes on the village of al-Bara in the southern part of Syria's northwestern Idlib province on March 5, 2020.

In areas of Syria controlled by rebels or Turkish troops, Hurras runs weekly psycho-social support sessions focusing on building children's resilience and coping skills, as well as one-on-one support for those who need it. The charity also works with parents, to help them learn skills to support their children, and reduce harm at home.

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