For our week two project we focused on the sense of smelling. The children were given a map of their school and the surrounding neighbourhood. They then added stickers with drawings of what they smell or imagined they would smell on parts of the map. They could also expand the map by drawing their own maps of their homes, neighbourhoods, or anything else that wasn’t included in the given map.
The children at Chedoke school didn’t limit themselves to just real places and neighbourhoods, they expanded the map using their imaginations! Even though that week was during the wildfires, when all they could smell was the smoke and burning outside, they were able to imagine and draw a better world for themselves. They moved on from the smoke smell and drew their families, pets, and created fantasy drawings. They included rocket ships, tree houses, slides, and parks that they wanted to play with. One child even used the sticker strips and extra paper to create railroads that they used to connect all their imagined places, so that they could transport between them.
It was amazing to see their creativity and how it could reflect what they wanted in the world. Even though they were scared by the smell and the look of the smoky sky outside, they were able to imagine smells and locations that they would enjoy.