Creative activities in an autumn mood

At the very first meeting, some of the children already recognized the members of the association, as they had already met in Szamosszeg, a village in northern Hungary. Some of the people living here were able to temporarily find a safe place in a community center in Szamosszeg before they arrived here. Therefore the kids welcomed Aunt Réka Aunt, Betti Aunt and Uncle Zoli with great joy. With the support of the Carpathian Foundation, the association helps people fleeing the war in several settlements.

When they arrived, there was only getting to know each other, games, dancing and handicrafts. Réka Makula, who led the session, wanted to assess what the children were most interested in.

"We want the children to decide in which direction the session should go. They are more interested in games or crafts. The point is that they do an activity that is interesting to them, this is how they will develop and how they will feel good about such a program."

The next time, they already knew that craft activities would be more authoritative for the greater part of the lesson. Therefore, they prepared an autumn-themed activity for the little ones. Taking advantage of the good weather, the children collected leaves and then made elves out of them. Their task was to present the completed works to the others at the end. 

Names and ages had to be invented for the elves.At the very end, when it was time for the presentation, many people named the figures made of leaves after the members of the association, as they also wanted to do them a favor. One of the little boys named his elf Uncle Zoli, who could not be present at the session.

"Aunt Réka, take this elf home to Uncle Zoli, I made it for him."- he also indicated that they were thinking of his too.

At the end, Aunt Réka told the children a famous Hungarian folk tale called The Salt. Involving the young people, she asked them to decide the names of the characters. This is how King Slávik and his three daughters Heni, Szintia and Réka ended up. During the storytelling, the young people drew and silently watched the story. However, one of the little girls recognized the folk tale and continued the story.

Children absolutely love this kind of useful recreation. We, who work here, experience that on a daily basis, the children ask for a sheet of colored pencils so that they can create something, which they then hand over to us with a big smile on their faces. They are always very happy when someone comes to them and spends some time with them.