Our kindergarten proudly participates in the eTwinning project “Dreaming with Eric Carle”, where we explore the magical world of Eric Carle’s stories. Together with partner schools, we read his books, share our creative work on the platform, and discover how other children across Europe engage with his timeless tales.

For the month of September, we focused on the book “Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?”. This beautiful story opened discussions about mothers and their little ones, encouraging empathy, care, and family values.

After reading the book, the children created an adorable kangaroo craft: a mother kangaroo with a baby joey in her pouch. The joey could move using a wooden stick, bringing the story to life in their hands.

We also carried out a fun science experiment! With simple materials—two paper cups and two rubber bands—the children were challenged to figure out how to make a kangaroo that jumps. Step by step, they built their own hopping kangaroos, learning about cause and effect through play.

Of course, we couldn’t stop there! We then became kangaroos ourselves. The children jumped across the playground and used a measuring tape to find out how far they could leap—combining movement, joy, and math.

Finally, we connected the story to coding. Using the Bee-Bot robot, the children rolled a dice with animal pictures. The task was to program the Bee-Bot so that each mother animal could find its baby on the grid. With great excitement, the little programmers gave their instructions, step by step, and watched the robot complete its journey successfully.

In November, our journey with the eTwinning project “Dreaming with Eric Carle” continued with the inspiring book “From Head to Toe”. This story invites children to discover the body of animals—and their own—through movement and play.

As we read the book, the children joyfully imitated the movements of each animal, exploring what their bodies can do and developing self-awareness through fun physical activity.

We then turned to creativity with clay modeling. The children shaped Eric Carle’s animals “from head to toe” and placed them in the habitats where they belong, combining art with early science concepts.

Next came a burst of imagination: the children created surreal animals by mixing different bodies, faces, and legs of animals. The results were strange, funny, and wonderfully creative creatures!

With an animal dice game, the children rolled the dice and mimicked the movements of the animals that appeared. This playful activity helped them explore the possibilities of their own bodies while enjoying laughter and movement.

Finally, we transformed our reading into digital storytelling. Using StoryJumper, the children replaced the child character in the book with their own bodies, recreating the poses and recording the expressive line: “I can do it, can you?”. The outcome was a personalized class book that made them proud authors and actors of their own story.

In December, we explored the wonderful story of “The Mixed-Up Chameleon” by Eric Carle. We read the book outdoors in the schoolyard, enjoying the winter sunshine, and talked about colors, diversity, and how important it is to be unique and true to ourselves.

We then discovered the fascinating world of Surrealism! Inspired by the chameleon’s imagination, the children created their own surreal animals. Using the collage technique, they combined different faces, bodies, legs, and wings, forming imaginative and dreamlike creatures. The results were truly surreal and full of creativity!

Our learning didn’t stop there — we also became little scientists! Through an exciting color-mixing experiment, we used the primary colors — yellow, red, and blue — to create secondary colors. The children were amazed to see that mixing yellow and red made orange, and they eagerly explored more color combinations.

We completed the activity by filling in color experiment worksheets, recording our discoveries, and connecting art with science through observation and creativity.

To conclude our project, we played a fun math and fine motor activity: the children rolled a dice and fed our colorful chameleon with as many pom-poms as the number shown on the dice.

It was a joyful and creative December, filled with color, imagination, and learning! 🌈