JENNY RENLUND

The storybook about a soap bubble

Kupla (Bubble) is a children’s picture book, co-created with the team in the MOI-The Joy of Learning Multiliteracies development programme. It is designed to engage small children in multimodal and multisensuous explorations of their surroundings. Children are invited to go on an adventure together with the Bubble.

Open access through this link.

Byman, J., Renlund, J., Kumpulainen, K., Keso, M., Sintonen, S., Vartiainen, J., Sairanen, H. & Nordström, A.. (2020). Kupla - monilukutaitoa pienten lasten iloksi, MOI-The Joy of Learning Multiliteracies, University of Helsinki.

This workshop invites participants to paint landscapes inspired by sensory impressions. The workshop includes four activity cards and each activity focuses on one sensory dimension; scent, sound, touch and vision. In the workshop participants will paint their sensations, perceptions and thoughts about a place and during the process a sensory landscape emerges.

The Sensory Workshop

In the sensory workshop children are invited to create their own imaginary creature. The workshop promotes multiliteracy skills, which are approached through arts and the senses. The process includes smelling different scents, visual expression, experimenting with sounds and feeling different textures and materials.

“We are connected to our environment through our senses, and they are connected with our experiences, thoughts and emotions. Art as a teaching method gives verbal communication an alternative dimension and opportunities for self-expression... When we were developing the sensory workshop, we realized that the different elements in the workshop inspired children’s imagination, inquisitiveness and emotions such as joy. The Sensory workshop teaches children to take note of different scents, textures and sounds in their surroundings. Children were particularly interested in scents with which they were already familiar. The images, memories and emotions that they stirred were the basis for the workshop and a connection to their imagination. Storytelling also played an important role in the workshop. Children were eager to explain where the ideas for their works came from, and their stories about their imaginary characters’ characteristics and features were both versatile and deep.”

You can read more about the sensory workshop and it’s pedagogical steps in the digital version of the MOI development programme’s book: Playful Parts : The Joy of Learning Multiliteracies. Open access through this link

The book is also available in Finnish and in Swedish.

Playful Parts: The Joy of Learning Multiliteracies, Kumpulainen, K., Sintonen, S., Vartiainen, J., Sairanen, H., Nordström, A., Byman, J. & Renlund, J. (2018). Helsinki: the University of Helsinki

Bångstyriga bitar: Inlärning av multilitteracitet med glädje. Kumpulainen, K., Sintonen, S., Vartiainen, J., Sairanen, H., Nordström, A., Byman, J. & Renlund, J. (2018). Helsingfors: Helsingfors Universitet.

Kurittomat Palaset: Monilukutaitoa Opitaan Ilolla. Kumpulainen, K., Sintonen, S., Vartiainen, J., Sairanen, H., Nordström, A., Byman, J. & Renlund, J. (2018). Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto