Non-Fiction Fans 2024–2025 – reading and science capital for schoolchildren

Common to all

• Duration: 10-45 minutes
• Target group: families, elementary and middle school classes
• Accessories: table and chairs, markers or colored pencils, ready-made Tietokirjafanit notebooks or A4 sheets and staplers
• Short description: In the workshop, schoolchildren get to make their own small information book on a topic of their choice. At the same time, they learn what the structure of a nonfiction book is like and why a nonfiction book offers more balanced content. You don't have to make the booklet all the way, you can take it with you. At school, classes can think about what is found in non-fiction books in advance (e.g. the cover always has the name of the author and the book, the book contains a list of further reading or a list of sources, a short description of the author and a short summary of the book's topic on the back cover).

Make your own information book logo image (pdf)

Make your own information book workshop instructions (pdf)

In connection with Ilari Aalto's visit

• Duration: 10-20 minutes
• Target group: families, elementary and middle school classes
• Accessories: flap paper or other large paper for two lines on the wall, markers
• Brief description: In the workshop, two parallel pieces of paper will be used to compile the course of children's day from morning to night. Let's discuss children's rights and responsibilities. If the audience is a school group, the teacher can take the flipcharts with them, for example for a history lesson.

Morning to night before and now logo image (pdf)

In connection with Laura Ertimo's visit

• Duration: 10-30 minutes
• Target group: families, elementary and middle school classes
• Accessories: three sheets of several meters on top of each other, pieces from e.g. a paper roll of a calculator, markers, sticky notes
• Short description: Participants get to tell what they remember about world history. The leader visually draws things on the top strip of paper. Together, we can think about the birth of the Earth, the separation of the continents, the age of dinos, the age of stone age cave paintings and finally a short period from prehistory to the present day. With the same idea, a timeline of Finnish history is collected in the middle strip of paper. Let's start with the ice age, go to today. For example, the last hundred or fifty years are marked on the bottom third strip of paper. It collects the good moments of the children's personal history, which they may have written on colorful sticky notes. Adults can participate with their own stickers. We always leave about half a meter of space on the paper towards the future, because time does not stop at this moment. We discuss how things that happened even far in the past, such as the time of the pharaohs or antiquity, are placed at the end of the timeline. If the audience is a school group, the teacher can bring the rolls of paper with them, for example for a history lesson.

Timeline workshop logo image (pdf)

In connection with Tero Hiekkalinna's visit

• Duration: 15-30 minutes
• Target group: families, elementary and middle school classes
• Accessories: Table, disposable mug, ping pong ball, masking tape roll and one sheet of A4 paper. Carpenter's folding measuring stick or other measuring device.
• Short description: In the Mars lander workshop, an attempt is made to make a structure that allows the ping-pong ball to stay in the mug when the mug is dropped from the height of the table. This simulates valuable research equipment being landed on the surface of Mars. First, the ping-pong ball is placed inside a disposable cup. When this "lander" is dropped from the height of the table, the ping pong ball jumps out of the mug. The participants' task is to make shock-absorbing legs for their own lander by folding and tearing A4 paper, just like the Mars lander has. Finally, the solutions are compared. If there is time left, you can compete to see whose structure allows the highest drop height.

Mars lander logo image (pdf)

In connection with the visit to Vuokko Hurme

• Duration: 5-15 minutes
• Target group: families, elementary and middle school classes
• Supplies: table and chairs, cotton thread and loose candies with holes
• Short description: The candies are strung into a string of pearls that you can take with you.

Candy jewelry logo image (pdf)

In connection with Merja Kalmi's visit

• Duration: 30-45 minutes
• Target group: families, elementary and middle school classes
• Supplies: Markers and a print with the title WE TOGETHER and under it the four box Appearance, Treats, Hobbies, Dislikes for the smaller ones and the four box Strengths, Wishes, Goals, Fears for the bigger ones. Small sticker sheets.
• Brief description: By talking, couples look for things that unite them and record their observations in the square. The finished works are placed on the wall as an exhibition. On the exhibition tour, everyone gets to independently familiarize themselves with the works of others and look for similarities in them in relation to their own lives. You can stick a sticker on the points that suit your life very well. Let's talk about how similar people are, and why it matters. If the audience is a school group, the teacher takes the papers with them.

Similar-workshop logo image (pdf)

In connection with Jukka Laajarinte's visit

• Duration: 15-30 minutes
• Target group: families, elementary and middle school classes
• Accessories: table and chairs, resealable bags of about half a liter, soda powder, brandy vinegar, spoon.
• Brief description: Pour vinegar into the bag and note its strong smell. Next, everyone takes about a tablespoon of soda into their bag and closes the mouth of the bag. The acid of the vinegar and the base of the soda react by bubbling, the mixture cools and the bag bulges from the carbon dioxide produced in the reaction. Everyone opens their bags at the same time and sniffs. The strong smell of vinegar has been diluted. We can continue by discussing chemical reactions.
  

Ihmönjäpaja logo image (pdf)

In connection with the visit of Pinja Meretja

• Duration: 15-30 minutes
• Target group: families, elementary and middle school classes
• Accessories: old telephones, note-taking equipment, Morse code printed on the board or on the tables.
• Brief description: Let's take a look at the recent history of the telephone: it was a short journey from a desk phone with a number dial to various mobile phones. What was it like to send a message in the days of telegraphs? What would your name sound like in Morse code? Finally, a secret message is made with dots and dashes using Morse code. If you have a crimping key, let's try it.

How the message goes logo image (pdf)

In connection with Mika Wickström's visit

• Duration: 10-30 minutes
• Target group: families, elementary and middle school classes
• Accessories: table and chairs, small football figures (or self-made cardboard football figures), flipchart paper or other large paper for the wall, markers, star stickers
• Short description: Let's try together what is the most common way to group players and what the field would look like if everyone was attacking or just defending. Let's think about why there must be a bench and judges. Finally, let's put together some ideas about what makes all kinds of gaming fun. Participants can vote with star stickers on what they consider to be the most important things.

Futistaktikkopopa logo image (pdf)

Kerttu in connection with Rahika's visit

• Duration: 10-20 minutes
• Target group: families, elementary and middle school classes
• Accessories: Table and its protection, peat bag, small peat pots, pea or sunflower seeds in spring and summer, nettle seeds in winter, a few spray bottles, small plastic bags, possibility to wash hands
• Short description: Each participant receives a peat pot. It is filled with peat about halfway and moistened with a spray bottle. A few peas or sunflower or nettle seeds are pressed slightly apart in the middle of the peat and covered thinly with peat. Finally, the surface of the peat is moistened. You can take the plant with you in a small plastic bag, where the plant will survive the journey home. During the sowing, the participants can discuss the care of the plants and why protective gloves are not needed when handling soil and peat. According to research, too much disinfection is not good, but e.g. soil treatment improves the immune system.

Green thumb workshop logo image (pdf)

In connection with Miia Kantinkoski's visit

• Duration: 10-20 minutes
• Target group: families, elementary and middle school classes
• Accessories: table and chairs, clicker for dog training and small treats such as popcorn
• Short description: One volunteer leaves the others for a while, knowing that when he returns, he is expected to do an unspeakable task. A company going in the right direction is promised a click and a little treat. The rest of the group decides what the volunteer is expected to do when he returns, for example going around a certain table and sitting in a certain chair. The leader clicks on every thing that goes in the right direction and gives a small treat. Through trial and error, the matter will eventually be resolved. At the same time, we illustrate how difficult learning is without a common language, like when training an animal.

Learn like a dog logo image (pdf)