June 28, 2010

Listening to children in Norway

Norway and the other Scandanavian countries have a strong tradition of pedagogy and listening to children. This was very apparent in so many places throughout Oslo. The Oslo City Hall has paintings of children on many of its walls, including the fresco of children in the annual Oslo day parade.
Many of the statues in the famous Vigeland Sculpture Park are of children (left).

Many street signs include children. However, my favourite place was the International Museum of Children's Art: a gallery completely dedicated to showing children's art from around the world in a setting that is vibrant with a child-friendly atmosphere. Most of the art has been collected around themes including "Fathers", and "Disasters". They were interested to hear of our "Children draw talking" art exhibition.