Emotion, creativity and learning by doing

A workshop dedicated to children aged 3 to 10 which, starting from the reading of picture books on emotions and from psychomotor experiences, leads to the exploration of various emotion with art therapy and painting using the Stern method, in a non-evaluative and collaborative context, allowing participants to express themselves freely and creatively.

The workshop can be carried out in primary schools – during school and after-school hours – or in other educational spaces, and is usually composed of 10 meetings of about 2 hours each, but depending on the case, the duration may vary. The specialists involved are psychologists and expert conductors in artistic and psychomotricity workshops.

The workshops were co-designed with the professionals of Tadá – Atelier d’Arte in Movimento in Milan and of Atelier Oltremare in Como, where in autumn 2021 we carried out the Pilot project, involving 40 children aged 3 to 10 – both from stable family contexts and from host community for children.

At the end of the workshops, parents and educators participated to focus groups and compiled anonymous questionnaires in order to collect feedback on the activities proposed: the project received positive acclaim, all the participants would in fact recommend the workshops and believe that the experience was very useful for the children. In particular, the host communities shared that the activities helped both the children to express their emotions and the educators themselves to understand them better; the parents who took part in the focus groups reported how, at the end of the process, they noticed in children a greater awareness of their own emotions. 

In spring 2022 we created a spin-off of the project, still in Milan and Como, to deepen and give space to experiences related to the covid-19 epidemic, exploring topics like distance and the management of emotions experienced during periods of isolation, such as frustration and boredom.