Creativity and individual potential can also be developed among children when their interests, needs and uniqueness are also taken into account when planning their education. We believe a holistic approach shall be applied in a child-centred curriculum, which includes both the academic and aesthetic learning. This is the reason to integrate Children Arts into our Day Care Centers curriculum, so that the creative ability in children is nurtured and enhanced.

It is the first time for the government-subsidized day care centres in Hong Kong to organize a Children Art Exhibition - A Salute to Life, to demonstrate the appreciation to children's creativity in the form of art. Among our day care centres, 38 pieces of our children's art works were exhibited, of which 31 pieces were done by individuals and 7 pieces by joint efforts. The children were asked to express their feelings and observations through their art works after reading different stories and visiting art galleries. There had also been pieces expressing the children's thoughts and feelings on SARS that broke out in the last few months. The followings are some of the exhibited masterpieces:-

Tsui Wai Lam (4 years old)
Title: Big Feast on Flower Pollen

The Creative Process:

Wai Lam was deeply impressed by an illustration of a field full of flowers while reading the book "Cheery Tree". He imagined himself to be a butterfly flying between the flowers to collect pollen. After carefully observed the structure of a flower, he purposely put arrows on the petals patterning the path to show the butterfly the way to get the pollen.

Ma Wing Yee (6 years old)
Title: My Little Sister

The Creative Process:

While going through paintings drawn by some Chinese contemporary artists, Wing Yee was drawn by the painting "When I was little." The gracious pretty Chinese girl deeply impressed her. Wing Yee associated the girl's red color dress with Christmas and the baby in the manger. Therefore, she drew her little sister sleeping on her bed resembling the picture of baby Jesus sleeping in the manger.

Cheung Chi Yip (5 years old)
Title: The Marvelous Anti-SARS Medicine

The Creative Process:

Chi Yip was very concerned about SARS. When he learnt that some kids had lost their parents because of the disease, he expressed in his drawing his wish of inventing an anti-SARS medicine.

Au Hong Ting, Lo Lok Lam, Fung Yik Chi,
Ying Lok Yil, Lee Wai Hon (5 years old)
Title: Little Harry Travel Around the World

The Creative Process:

After the children read the story, "Little Harry's Magic Broom', they believed that different countries in the world had to have their own famous scenic site. They thought if they had Harry's magic spell to fly, they could all have flown to the different countries to appreciate each of the famous scenic spots together.

The exhibition was held from 1st – 5th August and was sponsored by Gallery 13. Revenue from the sales of our exhibited art works would be contributed to set up an Arts Development Fund for promoting children’s aesthetic learning at our day care centers.