Light, shadows and the creativity of children

Students use their creativity and imagination.

Theodoros Achilleas Proikas (Theo) has been working for a year as a school and leisure assistant at Hvaleyrarskóli. He comes from Greece and has experience there of making puppets. His project Bringing light into the darkness Received a grant from the Education Fund this spring. Theo's Project is a shadow theatre project where children work with emotions, creativity and collaboration through light and shadow. Using their hands, figures, and body movements, children create and present their own shadow shows, bringing warmth and imagination into the winter darkness.

„They come to me during their leisure time or after school, and it is their choice to take part in this. Then they have plenty of time and space for it under my guidance.“ says Theo, who is clearly excited about developing the project next autumn. He acknowledges that the weather and lighting conditions are considerably different here in Iceland than in Greece, but he takes great pleasure in working with children and has extensive experience of it in his home country, mainly with nursery school children and children with special needs in primary school.

Hvaleyrarskóli a good workplace

„The project is mainly for them to use their creativity and imagination, to enjoy doing it and to find their strengths. This winter, for example, I have been experimenting with this with a boy in the study centre, and he found his strength in it because he has struggled with academic learning.“ says Theo, who has various other duties at Hvaleyrarskóli. He will work out alongside those roles how many hours a week will be spent on this next winter. 

Theo is otherwise very happy here in Iceland and says that Hvaleyrarskóli is a very good place to work. He started working there just three weeks after arriving in Iceland and says he will make good use of the summer to get his bearings, learn even more Icelandic and see the country. 

In recent weeks and in the coming weeks, interviews with grantee from the Hafnarfjörður Education Fund be published on the media channels of the City of Hafnarfjörður. This gives residents and other interested parties the opportunity to gain a deeper insight into the excellent projects and creative school and leisure activities.