Dear teachers!
We invite you and your pupils to take part in the international unity action “We are the water cycle”, which will be held within the framework of the XXIX Open All-Ukrainian Festival of Children and Youth Creativity dedicated to the World Earth Day “Earth for Us and for Descendants. Responsible consumption for sustainable development”.
The festival will be held at the Kirovohrad Regional Center for Children and Youth Creativity from April 17 to 19, 2024, in Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine.
The international unity campaign “We Are the Water Cycle” is being implemented as part of the Vela project in cooperation with the Leslie Trauma Institute (Boston, USA). “We are the water cycle” is a metaphor designed to give us resilience and remind us of the power of unity. This exercise helps to demonstrate the nature of unity in the world and the power of unity in communities. Just as each individual drop of water in nature joins with others to form a large well, so too does the individual contribution of each person create unity and sustained strength. This exercise is designed to remind us of the importance of respecting our common habitat and the connection between children in Ukraine and children around the world. All children and youth aged 8 to 21 from around the world are invited to participate in the event.
Participation in the campaign involves completing the exercise “We are the water cycle”.
Time: This is a one-hour art activity. You will have the opportunity to choose the version of the exercise according to the age of the participants with whom you plan to do it. We have two versions of the instructions: for younger children (8-12 years old) and for teenagers and young adults (13-21 years old).
Purpose: to form an ecological culture of thinking among children and youth, to promote the ideas of the Sustainable Development Goals on responsible consumption, to promote a sense of unity around the world, and to popularize the celebration of Earth Day. The focus of this activity is not on creating the best piece of art. Like drops of water in nature, each individual work of art will be a valuable contribution and together with others will form a great sea of unity and sustainable strength. Each work will be unique, but we will all be united by common values.
Materials: paper and drawing equipment (markers, crayons, pencils, etc.)
Instructions (for 8-12 years old):
- Watch the tutorial video https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyQ2eNG-t2ED2v4xRlMD-cxKhAMJyQGqr&si=b_AJHB8j8NEGda-s or check out the short information “Did you know? Interesting facts about water”: https://vela.ocdut.kr.ua/2024/04/15/did-you-know-water-facts/
- Read the story “The Adventures of a Droplet of Kapotishka.” https://vela.ocdut.kr.ua/2024/04/15/kapitoshka-the-water-drop-the-adventure-of-the-water-cycle/ or listen to the story in the previous video.
- Create your own “Story about the beauty of water”. To do this, follow these steps:
- Create a drawing that reflects the beauty of water. Imagine yourself as a single drop of water, like Kapitoshka, or as part of a community of droplets.
- Water is an amazing element. It fascinates with its mystery. Even a drop of water can become an object of beauty. If you were a drop, like Capitol, where would you go? What would you do? Use your imagination to create your own beautiful image of water. For example, as water, you can travel the planet, fly to the sun and be nourished by its warm sunlight, and then transform. You can also rise high up to the clouds or take a walk across the rainbow that will connect you to other parts of the world. You can be picked up by the wind and fall as a heavy rain along with other droplets to refresh the earth and all the living organisms that live on it. You might join the ocean or a river. Where will you go?
- Additional step (optional): Watch a video about stress reduction techniques, try them out, and determine which one is best for you: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyQ2eNG-t2ED2v4xRlMD-cxKhAMJyQGqr&si=b_AJHB8j8NEGda-s
Instructions (for 13-21 years old):
- Watch the tutorial video: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyQ2eNG-t2ED2v4xRlMD-cxKhAMJyQGqr&si=b_AJHB8j8NEGda-s or check out the short information “Did you know? Interesting facts about water”: https://vela.ocdut.kr.ua/2024/04/15/did-you-know-water-facts/
- Create your work “I am water!”. To do this, follow these steps:
- Our identity is made up of what we do and what we believe. For this exercise, draw a drop of water and write words on it, or create an artistic representation of the parts of your identity that help you sustain your resources (hope, strength, faith, humor, kindness, etc.). For example: what part of you has the strength of a great river? What part of your identity cleanses like rain? What is it that you believe in or have done that nourishes you like a big glass of water when you are thirsty?
- An additional step (optional): Watch a video about stress reduction techniques, try them out, and determine which one works best for you: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyQ2eNG-t2ED2v4xRlMD-cxKhAMJyQGqr&si=b_AJHB8j8NEGda-s
Explain to the children how they can participate in the Campaign. Tell them to take a picture of their work and upload it to the application form at the link: https://forms.gle/zSicZGmUYhYr3RxXA by filling in all the points of the electronic form.
The result of the children’s participation in the campaign will be a virtual exhibition of their works.
All participants will receive certificates from the Kirovograd Regional Center for Children and Youth Creativity, and the leaders will receive letters of appreciation.
The campaign will be covered on the Kirovohrad Regional Children’s and Youth Center’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kocdut, on the institution’s website: http://ocdut.kr.ua/ and on the Festival’s online event page: https://fb.me/e/28dNpwMcM
For more information, please call (0522) 32-15-81
Contact persons: (050) 589-02-66 – Kateryna Viktorivna Oleksienko, head of the methodological department of the Children’s and Youth Center; Tetiana Oleksiivna Hladchenko, head of the folk arts department – (095) 139-02-79; Diana Oleksandrivna Volobuieva, methodologist – (095) 646-34-41.
