Founder of her eponymous foundation ESF and community-based young educators program, Funtasia, and mother of two, Elisa knows a thing or two about inspiring the future generation through creative learning. The Funtasia program encourages “both children and adults to work together to create safe environments and further their learning.” This workbook provides two activities to try at home.
Family “Quilt” Activity:
This is a super fun activity for families to play together and celebrate the gifts and strengths they bring to their home and family. Together, you will create a collection of drawings taped together to create a “quilt”. Each drawing/picture will represent the positive qualities or strengths each individual brings.
1. Get a piece of square paper. Each individual needs a 21cm x 21cm square piece of paper and have them place it in front of them.
2. Count the number of Individuals. Now you know how many squares you’ll have and divide them into small groups. If you have 4 participants, for example, you might want the quilt to be made up of 2 rows of 2 pictures. Each person can have more than one square/piece of paper
3. Choose your qualities. Ask everyone to come up with a quality they bring to the family. Enthusiasm or friendliness, compassion, for example. It can also be fun or practical things, like good cooking or humor and laughter.
4. Everyone draws an image that represents that quality and includes the word in the image. The image can be literal or abstract. It’s important that they use bold colors and fill the entire paper. Each of these pictures will become a square in the paper quilt.
5. Piece the pictures together. Start putting every 2 or 3 pictures together in a strip and tape them together from the back. Then put all of the strips together and tape them from the back.
6. Turn the quilt over… And you will have a colorful representation of the gifts everyone is bringing to the family. Talk about all these qualities and celebrate each other!
Home Gardening Activity:
Gardening with children can be a great relationship connector. Sharing the common goal of growing a plant is one benefit, but it’s also a chance to learn from nature and create a connection with it; learn about its importance, enforce some values like taking care of others, responsibility, and patience. You do not have to be an expert at gardening to do some easy projects at home.
1. Do a little research together first! Find out what’s easy to grow in your climate, and get your seeds!
2. Learn and discuss what plants need to grow (basic needs). Watch a seed germination video.
3. There are different ways to plant at home that are simple and easy for anyone to grow! Choose your option from the following:
EGG CARTON
1. Get a section of an egg carton with 4 cups. Poke 3 little holes in the bottom
2. Fill each cup with soil almost to the top, and then plant the seeds. Cover the seeds with a little more soil.
3. Place these on a tray. Gently water with a sprayer, and keep evenly moist every day. Keep in the mild sun and wait!
TOILET PAPER ROLLS
1. Cut two toilet paper rolls in half, stand the four cylinders on a tray.
2. Fill with soil almost to the top, and then the plant seeds. Cover the seeds with a little more soil.
3. Place these on a tray. Gently water with a sprayer, and keep evenly moist every day. Keep in the mild sun and wait!
RECYCLED PLASTIC BOTTLE
1. Cut the plastic bottles in half, and then put the top half upside down inside the bottom half.
2. Punch a hole in the bottle cap, and thread a piece of yarn through it: this will draw the moisture upwards.
3. Put the cap back on the bottle top and nest the top of the bottle in the base. As the plants grow and use up the water, you can just lift off the top to add more to the base instead of pouring it over the soil. As the soil dries, water will be sucked up through the string into the pot.
4. Fill containers with soil and plant the seeds 10 cm deep. Keep in the mild sun and check regularly to be sure it is moist enough.
Keep a simple gardening journal! Document the growth journey of your plant. Write down what you did, date it and track the plant’s growth every day. Document when it bloomed or anything interesting that happens. If your children are too young to write they can draw or scribble. You can also document by taking pictures.
Celebrate small wins… And allow space for disappointment when things don’t go as expected. Try again and learn from each experience.
This process is a great opportunity for growth and profound discussions. Draw parallels between humans and plants (how are we similar or different?) What could you learn from gardening that is useful to your life? (skills, values) What other ways can we grow plants? Use your imagination.
It is important to emphasise that every plant is different. There is NO flower or plant in nature that is equal to the other, exactly like any human being is equal to another. Learn tolerance and diversity from Mother Nature.
Don’t be afraid to learn together. You don’t need to have all the answers. Why are leaves green? Why do some plants need sunlight and some don’t? Feel comfortable saying “I don’t know, let’s find out together”. Grow and learn together.
