Sonja Tanrisever

As the authors of Free Art Learning With Kids, our motto is: Children’s Creativity Should Definitely Not Get Restricted!

“A child has a hundred languages but gets deprieved of 99!” Famous Italian Educator and Poet Loris Malaguzzi

Sonja & Esin: “Children’s art is one of the unique primeval languages symbolizing thoughts and feelings and hereby reflecting the deeply original and universal inner nature of the children aound us. These reflections, we believe, can be found within the direct and friendly manner in which children approach and handle materials. And also as embedded in the child’s concrete visualizations of linear language into 3-dimensional forms is yet another one of these hundred languages. In these there is something that has to do with origin, birth and budding life; a joy of living and vitality; the same kind of power that makes plants and animals grow and develop. Man’s search and research through cycles of civilizations will, hopefully, aid us through whatever future challenges we meet in our World.”

These are some of the many messages in Free Art Learning With Kids, which is a fresh and inspiring book on art pedagogy for preschool aged children, written by two Swedish - Turkish artists and art educators. Sonja has spent 57 years of her life together with children and art and Esin has similar experiences since about 20 years. Now they want to share their stand points and colorful experiences with the World.

“Our mission with this book: When children through the magic power of art get chances to freely discover and explore their creative inner resources by means of self-expression, we believe in a broad sense, that art making has the potential of fostering growth of what is individual in each child (emotion, thought, and understanding). At the same time, the natural processes of psychic and physical maturing of the child will come to be integrated with the surrounding world so that there will be harmony and balance in their interrelation.

Let’s consider the scientifically proven fact that as much as 90% of children’s personalities get completed at the age of 6! Very much can and, according to Sonja’s and Esin’s understanding, should be done in order to support processes of developing self confidence and individual growth in children while their brains are most receptive.

This introduction book wil be followed by a series of instruction books that will, in the end, form a library containing guidelines on how to easily use numerous materials and how to apply various different techniques to achieve satisfactory levels of self expression.

Though it would be wonderful if one could have chance to get support from professionals, during early years of childhood, Sonja and Esin believe that it is not necessary for us to be professional art teachers. Adults’ love and and care for children they are close to is essential! Readers will find this Free Art Learning “library basics” full of fun and designed in an easily comprehensible interactive kind of communication.