Materials for imagining
The research of Imaginatory is anchored in the design of educational materials where play, creativity and education meaningfully intersect. The materials are based on latest research findings and knowledge.
Riddle of the Spirit
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Riddle of the Spirit is a set of playful multiliteracy materials. They are designed so children can explore the topic of climate change through a story inspired by Finnish myths. One day, the thunderstorm spirit Ukko became sick and lost his ability to control the weather. The goal is for the children to investigate the reasons for this loss and create imaginative solutions to help Ukko be happy and control the weather once more.
This project aims to promote children’s awareness and knowledge of environmental issues as well as enhance their literacy in ecological issues and multiliteracy overall. In total, this journey consists of seven pedagogical activities to be realised inside and outside of the classroom through teacher facilitation, explorative learning and discussion. The project includes activity instructions, discussion questions and prop templates.
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Riddle of the Spirit is an extensive learning journey with several spirit characters, who are the thunderstorm spirit Ukko, the forest spirit Tapio, the water spirit Vetehinen and the ancient wizard Myrrysmies.
MyARJulle: Creating stories with AR-technology
The gift of storying! Every child needs to have opportunities to create and share stories. MyARJulle is an open source augmented reality app created in the Joy of Learning Multiliteracies (MOI) development programme.
MyARJulle is designed pedagogically by professor Kristiina Kumpulainen and visually and functionally by Maroy Oy. It supports children’s storytelling in multimodal ways. The app invites children to take a picture of and tell a story about the forest elf ‘Julle’. The app is designed to promote playful exploring of surroundings and it engages children to place and imagine ‘Julle’ in specific environments (Kumpulainen, et al.; 2020).
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MyARJulle can be downloaded from AppStore and Google Play in Finnish, Swedish and English.
Whisper of the Spirit
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Nature has always been especially important to people living in Finland as the four seasons make the environment very rich and varied here. It is not surprising that it has kindled people’s imagination and been the source of many beliefs. For example, shooting stars were believed to be cracks in the sky through which gods could take a peek at the Earth. Forests and their spirits were also an essential part of the northern culture of Finland and way of life as they were an important source of food.
The Whisper of the spirit activity cards are our contribution to the celebrations marking Finland’s 100 years of independence. The aim of the activity cards is for children to take an interest in Finnish stories, nature and ancient beliefs from a variety of perspectives. The tasks encourage children to imagine, observe, collaborate, reflect, innovate and experiment in multimodal ways.
Kupla
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Kupla (Bubble) is a children’s picture book co-created with the team in the MOI - The Joy of Learning Multiliteracies development programme at the University of Helsinki (Byman et al., 2020).
The visuals of the book are created as a collaboration with graphic designer Maroy Oy and are based on Jenny Renlund’s and Jenny Byman’s artwork. The book is designed to engage young children in multimodal and multi-sensuous explorations of their surroundings. In the story a soap bubble ends up in a forest and children are invited to go on an adventure together with the Bubble. The book is available in Finnish and Swedish.
Poetry Science cards
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Poems and nursery rhymes are one way to introduce children to the rich world of language. They also offer a great basis for practising interpretation and using imagination. The Poetry Science cards approach scientific literacy through poems. The illustrations on the cards feed the imagination, and they can be discussed with children. The themes can be used as the basis for experiments that improve children’s inquiry and research skills, and children can try them out with the support of an adult. The poems provide a framework within which children can communicate and verbalise the phases and findings of their experiments.
There are nine themes in the Poetry Science cards, and they are used for observing scientific phenomena: Autumn Leaves (colours), Flying Fish (air resistance), Snowfall (crystallisation), The Bird Dances (identification of species), The Water Cycle (rain), The Rocket (pressure), The Penguin’s Balloon Puzzle (formation of gas), the Senses in a Mess (senses) and How Fast Do Plants Grow? (germination).
Mood Cards
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The mood cards were created to be used especially in conjunction with stories. They can be used to describe what a story feels like and Mood cards what emotions it stirs in children. The mood cards can be used with stories that are made of written, oral, visual or other types of texts. Many children find it easy to use images to manage and express their emotions and to understand other children’s expression of emotions. With the help of the cards, children can take part in various activities and express their own feelings. The mood cards can be used in various situations, not only with stories, in nurseries and schools. They help children to express their emotions, and they can be used for discussing emotions and even in self-evaluation. The cards can also serve as a stepping stone to a larger project in which emotions are present.
There are seven mood cards: Nice, Now I feel like crying, Scared, Horror, Funny, Oh my! and What on Earth is this?
Picture Cards
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Should we play with picture cards? You can project or print these cheerful picture cards. The cards feature symbols that also invite very young children to interpret and produce different messages in different ways and through different tools. There are 11 different types of cards available.
The Storybook
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The storybook is a child’s own book in which the child is the storyteller, writer and Illustrator. The book is designed in such a way that it guides children to think about the key features of a story. In other words, where the story begins, how it progresses and how it ends. Children are encouraged to think about the setting and the characters, as well as what makes a story interesting or surprising.
In the storybook material, a child’s own storybook is left empty so that they can create their own adventure. The story can be taken forward by the means of modelling dough, playing or drama. The pages and spreads are open so that the child has plenty of space for writing, drawing, attaching images or a QR code, for example. The storybook inspires children to create an entire story from start to end and is created step by step so that the author and the illustrator can bring it forward little by little.
Playful Parts:
The Joy of Learning Multiliteracies
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This book has been written for all those adults who are interested in promoting young children’s multiliteracy skills.
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We gave this book the title Playful Parts: The Joy of Learning Multiliteracies. “Playful Parts” is a metaphor that we use to encourage children and adults to use their imagination and creativity in teaching and learning multiliteracy skills. Playful Parts are open to pedagogical interpretation and can be applied in a variety of ways to meet the needs of particular children, situations and circumstances. They can be extensively used in different settings, such as, nurseries, schools, libraries, science centres, museums and homes.
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We hope that Playful Parts will come to life in a variety of forms when applied to activities participated in by adults and children and that they generate new approaches to enhance the joy of teaching and learning multiliteracy skills.