Our creative process for the second pathfinder:
I started to remind them what we did last time and showed them again the pictures introducing our friends in Prague (a photo of a mole, a picture of Krtek, and a map to see where are Iceland and Czech Republic).
I then introduced new visual material: 1) some photos of Prague, to compare Prague with Seyðisfjörður. Here what they conclude : we also have a bridge, a church, boats, water (the sea), houses... Ours are simply smaller and less crowded! 2) We have a puzzle that has the map of Europe with the correspondent flags around it, I show it to them so they could compare our flags, and they were excited to see that, although different, they have the same colors. 3) I showed the website of your kindergarten to show them where they friends were all day when, like us, they're at school. They were so interested to look at your beautiful garden, classroom, sport hall... We don't have a website with pictures of our kindergarten, but we could send you some photos. I'll ask if I can do that because I guess the Owls would be as excited as us!
Then, we opened the envelope with your artworks of the first pathfinder. We looked at them, read what you wrote behind each drawing, and, because we still had ours, compare it to the drawings we did.
We then listened to one of the recordings you sent us. They were so psyched to have the concept of having a friend abroad materialized with the drawings and the records!
After explaining what we were going to do for the second pathfinder, they each chose randomly from a jar a name from the Owls (some had just one name, some had two, but hey understood the mathematical logic of this unfairness ). Ægir is the friend of Leos and Maya, Úlfur is the friend of Thea and Freddie, Katla is the friend of Bruno and Johi, Anton is the friend of Benny and Amelia, Leon is the friend of Charlotte, and Hörður Áki is the friend of Leah (we might keep this connection or change them next time, not sure yet, what do you think?).
Once they knew the name of their friend(s), it was time to do the second pathfinder: One by one, while the others went back playing, they listened to their friend(s) record. They were provided felt pens and a white paper. After listening it once, they listened it again and again while drawing to its "rhythm", its "musicality". They were working with the drawing of their friend in front of them and all the images from Prague to be connected even more to their new friend(s).
Some of them understood some words, some nothing, but they were all impressed to hear their friends and understanding that they have similar feelings and hobbies as themselves!
Although it was not required for this pathfinder, we recorded them again because we knew how much you liked it the first time.
Kindly,
Lilaï Licata
Art Teacher Seyðisfjarðarskóli
The 5-6 year old Owls at The Little Mole in Prague, Czech Republic and the 4 year olds at Sólvellir in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland will start their new friendship from September to December 2021.
