South African artists swim their way to Mexico with Nemo!

We introduced the Dear Art project to the Toddlers during circle and explained that our art is going to another school very far away in Mexico. In a few weeks’ time we will get the Mexico’s school art projects sent to us. Img0087 is the Toddler teacher showing the children where the other school is in relation to our school. The Toddlers used a fish theme as the average age in the class is only 2.5 years. We explained the theme as light, camera, action we asked the class what the favourite movie was and the children all said “finding Nemo”. As the class is very young we asked the class to colour in and decorate the fish to what they wanted it to look like. We asked them to close their eyes and think of their favourite colours. Each picture is the Children's own interruption of Nemo.

I introduced the theme to the older class also during circle time and also spoke about Light, Camera, Action. The children then decided to take shapes and use laminating pouches to colour in the shape in between the sleeve and then we laminated them to represent stained glass windows 

Kind Regards,
Rebecca

The Toddler and Pre-school groups from Oakdale Preschool in Cape Town, South Africa are making and sharing art with Nursery C and Kinder C classes from Colegio San Patricio in Monterrey, Mexico.

Excitement at EtonHouse!

Our children are excited to send mails to your children. They asked, " Ms Rachel, Are you saying that we are going to receive mails from the children in Mexico?!" When I said, 'Yes!', they jumped with joy. Sharing an art work is a excellent idea. 

In fact we had a show and tell with all the children about their mailboxes and they all gave unique descriptions. The Lights, Camera, Action! Dear You Art Project was well received by the children. The sticky contact papers often got stuck together and had to be pulled apart. Children were exploring with the materials. Perhaps after the project, I will suggest an open-ended experience with the materials that you suggested. Most of them enjoyed tracing the pictures while others decided to draw the pictures on their own. A child was very focused and wanted to use specific coloured tissue papers for specific part of the drawing and was concerned when the tissue paper couldn't be cut into the exact shape and size. Another child preferred to use the markers alone with the contact paper.

Exploring the unique properties of the materials would be my next objective. We haven't used it with torch or the projector or paint. We will do more later.

The children shared that they have to go to the Airport to send their mails since the mails have to take the flight just like us. Interesting! Looks like we have to do an inquiry on how mails travel around the world.

The children will do a show and tell upon completion and experience light effects on the Art pieces.

Today we also did a Mexican dance at school. It was fun.

Thank you again!

Love,
Rachel

The Monkeys and their new friends in Mexico

Eyes wide open and with welcoming ears, the Monkeys were very excited to hear that their new Dear You friends are from Monterrey, Mexico! The 5 and 6 year olds from Your School and Colegio Bosques de las Cumbres will be making and sharing art!

The Monkeys had the great ideas to look in the geography book where Mexico was. They then figured out ALL the ways to get to our new friends from Finland. We could swim! Use a submarine! Fly a helicopter! Drive a boat!

After we had a good conversation about our favorite stories and the characters that live in the story we got to work! We first cut and organized our transparent silk paper and then collaged it onto sticky paper. This stickiness was at first a challenge, but the artists persevered and made beautiful artworks, as you can see!  We then tested our artworks against the light and then adding onto it with either more colored paper or markers.

The Monkeys like Butterfly, Ninja, Pokémon, Transformers, Chima Legos, Kung Fu Panda, Hedgehog stories. Do you recognize these stories? What stories do you like?

We can't wait to hear about your stories!

With love,
Arlene, Ben, Atefeh & The Monkeys

The 5-6 year old Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the 5-6 year olds from Colegio Bosques de las Cumbres in Monterrey, Mexico.

The Tigers tell it all!

The Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland are bubbling in their seats about their new friends in Nursery A from Colegio San Patricio Cumbres in Monterrey, Mexico.  Both groups of artists are 4 years old.

In the first project, Lights, Camera, Action!, we made artworks of a character from our favorite story. This is our introductory piece of art to getting to know each other.  The sun was also a tool to create our art with.  Good thing the sun was shining bright in Finland!

The stories liked were Goldilocks, Batman, Tree Monster, My Little Pony, Spiderman, Batman, Shark Story, Magical Fairy, Superman, Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed, and Ninja.  Do you like these stories too?  Which characters do you like from the story?

We can't wait to meet you!

With love,
Arlene, Toti, Zeynab and The Tigers

Enjoy your meal : )

What a creative and colourful project this was!

We have learnt so much about ourselves and our friends across the oceans by doing this project. The children were so excited to show off all of their new geographical knowledge. We have marked all of the places we know on a large map, so now we can easily find them. 

We remembered all of the projects in this series so far, our masks decorated with skin patterns, our rhythmic paintings using so many painting objects and our food book. Now it's time to combine them all! We started a discussion about our dinner table, and what we need to put on it. Plates, knives and forks, chopsticks? What about under them? We need a beautiful table cloth or placemats. We gathered a range of objects in different shapes and sizes. We found cd's and blocks, triangles and rectangles and squares. 

We started by choosing one shape and we made some traces with it. Then we chose a second shape and then a third if we wanted. We watched how the lines overlapped and it made different shapes on the inside.

When we were finished it was time to colour! We coloured each section with a different colour. How amazing and bright they looked with all these beautiful colours.

When we were finished we all looked at each other's and tried to put them together to make one big table cloth, but we decided that it was much more exciting if each guest at our international dinner table had a different piece of art under their plate.

The children have absolutely loved being a part of the Dear You project. Now as the little Tiger cubs and Puppies graduate their last year in kindergarten, they enter big school with knew knowledge of cultures, geography, creativity and wonder. 

Thank you for letting us be a part of this project and we hope to continue work with you in years to come.

Lots of love to our friends overseas,
Teacher Steph, the Tiger Cubs and the Puppies.

Below are pictures from the workshop with the Puppies.

Below are pictures from the workshop with the Tiger Cubs.

The 4 year old Puppies from Just Kids in Hanoi, Vietnam are making and sharing art with the artist Tigers at Your School in Espoo, Finland.  The 4 year old Tigers at Just Kids are making and sharing art with the 3-6 year olds at Oakdale Montessori School in Cape Town, South Africa.

Books open up so many questions!

Last week we did the book workshop. The workshop was very intense.

I think it was a good experience for kids to think about the food.  Children had drawn their favorite foods and then the ingredients separately. I asked children many questions how food is made and where the ingredients for the food come from. Children had many questions and it was interesting to see how they are figuring out the food chain.

Kristina Laine

Kristina Laine and her 4-5 year old artists at Kalinka Päiväkoti in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with Evelyn Müürsepp and her 5-7 year old artists in Mooste Preschool in Mooste, Estonia.

Patterns from Mooste's Preschool

It's a great idea and kids are natural pattern creators. One thing confused them though- namely magnifying classes, I should have left these out and just focused on patterns we can see with our eyes. Otherwise it is too much information packed in 1 project: patterns and magnification and ones skin and masks. Otherwise kids really loved their masks and did not want to send them away, but when i reminded them that they get masks in return from other kids in Finland they agreed.

So cant wait untilyour masks arrive.

Best greets,
Evelyn

Evelyn Müürsepp and her 5-7 year old artists in Mooste Preschool in Mooste, Estonia are making and sharing art with Kristina Laine and her 4-5 year old artists at Kalinka Päiväkoti in Helsinki, Finland.

What am I? Oh what could I be?

We first started the workshop by playing a riddle game.  This got our brains thinking about how can we tell things about an object without giving it away!  From there we went into the world of senses and on this adventure- it was all about taste!  We thought about what foods are local to Nordic countries and what foods are not.  It seems that most of Your School's artists love picking berries from the beautiful forests of Finland!  Can you guess what the Monkeys' and the Tigers' favorite foods are?

The Tigers are 4 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland.  They are making and exchanging art with the Puppies, 4 year old artists at Just Kids School in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The Monkeys at Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the Full Moons from Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, PA.

Can you see what the Monkeys see?

Our exploration with the magnifying glasses brought us to closer to what is around us!  Can you figure out where the Monkeys found their inspiration for their masks?

The Monkeys at Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the Full Moons from Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, PA.

The Inquisitive Monkeys!

One great thing about making and sharing art is that is brings out the inquisitive side in us.  We can surely see that it has for the Monkeys at Your School in Espoo, Finland.  During the November project, Shared Atmosphere, so many questions came up about our friends at Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, USA.

The Monkeys would like to know from the Full Moonstoners:

Is your country nice?
What is your favorite food that you get in school?
What are you favorite colors?
How much do you like to be in school?
Do you like our pictures?
Can you write something about your picture?
How cold is it in Philadelphia?
What do you like about your school?
What are your teacher's names and are they nice to you?
How big is Philadelphia?
Do you get any free play?

These questions came up whilst we were painting our atmosphere.  We got into smaller groups and divided our landscape into ocean life and land and air.  You'll find all animals, vegetation, and ways of getting from Helsinki to Philadelphia!

Thanks for sharing with us!

With love,
Arlene and The Monkeys

A soft pillow for our sleepy friends

The puppets need a place to stay. How could that look like? Many came up with the idea of a house. We talked about how far away the puppets had to travel to come to us so we put them immediately in bed as they were tired...:-)

The pop up technique was familiar to some of them and they asked for little instructions and worked more independently. It was a fun experience for all of all.

Best regards, 
Lusine

The 4-5 year olds from Kita Felix and Friends in Berlin, Germany are making and sharing art with The Smart Squirrels, a group of 4 year olds from Açı Preschool in Istanbul, Turkey.

Super Imaginary Me Puppets from the Smart Squirrels !

We are very excited to join in DearYou Project as the teachers, so do children :). 

When the teachers introduced the Project from the website of “DearYou” Project, they got excited and wanted to start quickly. They were happy to create their imaginary friend and talk about the features and the abilities they have. They used art materials and their own drawing to finish their work.

We hope you’ll like the products as much as we do.

Warm regards,
Smart Squirrels

To see more of The Smart Squirrels Imagine Me puppets, please click here.

The Smart Squirrels are a group of 4 year olds from Açı Preschool in Istanbul, Turkey. They are making and sharing art with the 4 year olds from Kita Felix and Friends in Berlin, Germany.

K1 Pop Up Homes from Helsinki to Hanoi!

Oh my what an inspiration the Tiger Cubs' puppets are!  We first had a good long look and conversation about our new puppet friends and tried to think about what kind of home they would like to live in. Of course, we want them to feel comfortable in Helsinki!  

First I showed them how to implement some easy pop-up bookmaking techniques to build the house. The got it so fast that we went straight into making our homes! 

S put a spiderman bed inside and has a cabbage waiting for him on the table.
Dsri made a treehouse that is a castle.
F put herself inside the home so that her friend always has somebody to play with.
M said that his puppet, Mr. Dinosaur, is thinking about the pyramid and waddles like a penguin.
AR said, "it's windy and that the snow is coming in."
R said, "Mummy, Daddy, Baby Reya (as a grown up) have strong muscles. They are eating sausages in the house."
AN made a cozy bed for baby and daddy.
W made a garden for the outside for his rocket house.
J made his home in India so that Spider Man can walking around with his friends.
KAU made a chocolate cake for his new friend to eat!
AA made his home for Mr. Banana.
D's home is for the bear family.

We had so much fun making these homes and can't wait to see what our friends have come up with! We hope you like them too.

With love,
K1, Arlene, Lydia, and Bibiana

Play houses from the Tigers

It's amazing how the Tigers can turn a simple rectangle into a super fun play house! We had so much fun making our pop-up homes for our new puppets that our friends in Vietnam made for us. Now our friends have a place to stay in their new cozy home in Finland!

We first looked at the puppets the Puppies in Vietnam made for us and then created homes that we though would be nice for them. What an inspiration!

Thank you and we look forward to receiving your homes.

Warm hugs,
Arlene & The Tigers

Imagining our friends

I asked to try to imagine a friend. Imaginative friend could be a person or an animal. The materials for the workshop were old magazines, paper, crayons and glue. Since my son is in the same group, almost all kids new me already so they were not shy and asked me many questions. Some kids needed more guidance than others. After everyone was done with their work I placed all the imaginative friend images on the floor and invited all the kids to come and see their work together. I told them that these images will be sent to another group which, by the way, has the same name: Siilit.

All best,
Kristina Laine

Kristina Laine and her 4-5 year old artists at Kalinka Päiväkoti in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with Evelyn Müürsepp and her 4-5 year old artists in Mooste Preschool in Mooste, Estonia.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar comic strips

If you haven't read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, then I'm sure after you see these comics inspired by Eric Carle's book,  you will want to!  The artists from Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, USA did a wonderful job!  Their friends at The International School of Antwerp will have some summer fun reading to do :).

Sun catch the rays in Berlin!

Here are some pictures of the sun catchers the artists in Berlin made.

Lusine Boyajyan, the teacher of the 5 year old artists at Kita Felix and Friends said, "We had a great sunny day and the kids were happy to explore the light and drawn pictures, the shadow of fingers behind the transparent paper...was a lot of fun :-)"

These artworks will brighten up Ahja's artists' day!

The Monkeys are full of Light & Love

In Finland, the change in light is one of the biggest differences we feel when moving from winter to spring. The Monkeys used the beautiful sunshine to make their artworks since this is one of the best things Finland has to offer right now!  

We first talked about how to draw profiles and then experimented with different silk papers and paper cutting techniques.  Some of the Monkeys got very detailed when drawing their profiles while others liked to add more collage and layering techniques into their pieces.  Either way, the results are amazing and I hope our friends in India will like them too :).

First signs of Spring and much much more from the artists in Vantaa, Finland!

Here are the Lumileopard's paintings from Vantaa, Finland.  You can see the first signs of spring through the viewfinders!  I wonder if their friends in Austria are also seeing the seasons change through their viewfinders.  Anne-Marie, the Lumileopard's teacher, has shared so much great information with us!  She says:

This Art task was so gorgeous and funny. Kids and adults were so excited about all working and screening.  At first I told the children about the new themes and we were discussing what all of that means and how we can do this work.  We then built our own viewfinder.

Next we made small groups and went out to search for good painting items and at same time we considered signs of spring. After that everyone painted their own watercolor landscape. 

Some kids found their views easily, some of them had to seek them out longer. That view what is in Picture, can exhibit small detail from nature, or house's wall etc. or it can be also bigger view from landscape or even imagination topic ! The finished works were delightful!
 

I wrote some notes about what the kids named their works:
Rebekka: Firs, red house, stones.
Teppo: Firs, red stable, watergrass.
Eetu: Space and ufos
Veera: Sky, sun
Anna: Spruce and flowers
Jimi T: House, Big Flat
Andreas: Car, house and human being
Rasmus S: Colour of the sky
Karl: Spring is coming
Jimi P: Venetian blind and bricks
Doina: Spruce, sun and dry leaves
Eelis: Rainbow and sun
Sandra: All kind of colours
Moonika: Birds, clouds, sun, grass and spruce
Helmi: House and grass
Miina: Nursery's playsquare on sunny day
Aapo: Octopus on the wall
Leevi: Bus on the road
Adam: Stones, man is walking, sun and blue clouds

Have a nice spring there and lot of more fun with art and kids!

B.W : Anne-Marie and Snowleopards from Vantaa

A room with many views

We were so excited to receive our first package from our new friends in India!  Aniish asked, "How can you draw that good?!"  Ella asked, "Do you like the Monkeys- the animal and us?"  Dante asked, "Is the boat in your painting going to Sweden?"

The Monkeys were discovering all special angles of their classroom with the help of their newly crafted viewfinders today.  The viewfinders also helped us build a better composition.

Have a look at their paintings and then see if you can find where they found it in their room.  It doesn't surprise me that there are a couple of watercolor paintings of fish and monkeys!  Can you see why?