The Monkeys and their epic stories

The Monkeys did an amazing job working together to create their stories! They thought about the characters in the story, what the main idea of the story would be about, and then how the story would begin, progress, and then end.

Another great part of this Inspiring Stories project is that we first looked at the artworks from our friends in Australia to gain inspiration. So you could say, K/1HT had a helping hand and was an important part of this creative process! We inspire each other!

TheMonkeys #DearYou #InspiringStories #YourSchool #Espoo #Finland #Arlene

TheMonkeys #DearYou #Espoo #Finland #YourSchool #InspiringStories

Thank you K/1HT for being such great friends to us! We love your artworks and hope you like ours as well!  Wishing you a great 2018!!

With love,
Arlene & The Monkeys

The Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with K/1HT class from Bulli Public School in Bulli, Australia. All artists are 5-6 years old.

These are pictures The Monkeys drew as they listened to the story, The War of the Animals.

Making inspiring stories calls for a party!

We are watching a video our friends in China made for us!

For the last project of this session, we thought it would be great to bring the artists in 7C from Helsingin yhteislyseo to get to know another artistic space in Kontula, Helsinki. So we gathered in Museum of Impossible Forms to create Inspiring Stories art project and celebrate with next year's Dear You group from Päiväkoti Pihapirtti, who are also located in Kontula!

We started the session by looking at a video a few of the artists from Shenzhen Middle School made for their friends in Kontula. They had made a sweet introduction of themselves and also shared with us the art that they have been making in China.

Looking at our friend's artwork and thinking about past Dear You projects we have made gave us some material to work with as the next step was to make an audio story.  One artist said we need to keep in mind the sanoma (the message) when creating a story.  Some other creative writing elements are to designate characters and what is the beginning, middle, and end of the story. 

We then got into small groups and came up with four different amazing stories! When it was time to record, we thought about intonation, sound effects, and tone of voice to enhance the story.

Brainstorming in small groups

And action! Recording our audio story.

Anastasia and the groups then edited their audio recordings

The stories were all so different! Have a listen! 

MuseumofImpossibleForms #Forest #Kontula #Helsinki #Finland #13yearsold #InspiringStories

Forest is a story about a boy named Ajax. He lived in the 1940s in a small village. Ajax went to pick some berries and mushrooms in the woods. About an hour into the journey, he found himself lost. He then saw a mökki (a small cottage) and peaked through the window. Inside he saw an open cupboard, which had a lot of food in it. He went inside and ate a big loaf of bread. After that he left the mökki to try and find his way home. Along the way, he met an old person and asked this person some questions. The old person didn't understand anything!

DearYou #Kontula #Helsinki #Finland #InspiringStories #13yearsold #MuseumofImpossibleForms

DearYou #Kontula #MuseumofImpossibleForms #Helsinki #Finland #InspiringStories #13yearsold

The storytellers from Differences and Similarities have more questions for their friends in China.

Do you pack your own lunch? Or do you pay 1euro for it? Or how much?
Do you have a lot of homework?
When does your school day end?
Are your tests difficult?
Does your school have any after-school activities?

Helsinki #Kontula #MuseumofImpossibleForms #DearYou #InspiringStories

Eläimet puussa , Animal in the tree (English translation)
All the animals are meeting under a tree and they decided to make a pack. The pack leader is the lion. The walrus also wants to be a leader. They start to fight and the walrus wins. The walrus will become the leader and so the lion has to go. The walrus was a good leader but the lion returned. The lion took a coconut from the tree and hit the walrus in the head with it while the walrus was asleep. The walrus got a mild concussion! The lion became the leader again. The animals didn't want the lion to the be leader so everybody else left the pack.

We had a great time making these stories for you!

Thank you! Kiitos!

With love,
Arlene, Anastasia, Saara, and the artists at 7C

The 13 year old artists at Helsingin yhteislyseo in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 13 year old artists from Shenzhen Middle School in Shenzhen, China.

In autumn 2017 Dear You project in Kontula is supported by the Museum of Impossible Forms.

From left to right: Saara Raevuori, Arlene Tucker, and Anastasia Artemeva. Saara is the art teacher at Helsingin yhteislyseo. Arlene and Anastasia are the makers and creators of Dear You. Thank you, Museum of Impossible Forms for hosting us!