Boorai - The Children's Art Gallery

Sharing Worlds: Children Appreciating and Respecting the Environment
An exhibition of children’s art from Melbourne, Australia and Kyoto, Japan

Environmental education is a global responsibility and should take a prominent place in the early years of education when children first begin to think critically and come to understand that their actions can influence the world around them. Fundamental attitudes, skills and knowledge, along with behavioral patterns are established in the early years. It is therefore imperative that educators engage children in developmentally appropriate programs that help them to understand the responsibility they have towards the maintenance of a healthy environment.

To promote the issue of educating for sustainable development the Sharing Worlds exhibition was developed involving over 100 artworks and stories collected from preschool children from the Association of Private Nursery Schools, Kyoto City, Japan and The University of Melbourne's Early Learning Centre.

• Gallery 1: By the children from Association of Private Nursery Schools, Kyoto City, Japan
• Gallery 2: By the children from The University of Melbourne's Early Learning Centre, Melbourne Australia

The Sharing World's exhibition presents children's sensitivity to nature and their relationship to it. Through paintings, drawings and stories the children communicate their understandings of environmental issues such as the ecology of trees, seasonal change and water conservation.

Gallery 1: By the children from Association of Private Nursery Schools, Kyoto City, Japan

Mao 6 yrs Butterflies I wish there were lots of butterflies in the sky, and on trees and flowers.	Narumi 6 yrs The River with crabs Mother crab. These are baby, big sister and big brother crabs. The river has lots of rocks to shelter the crabs.	Maya 6 yrs Caution, the earth is polluted! We are polluting the ocean. How can fish live in such a place? They must be sad.	Mizuki 6 yrs How do you like my fancy scissors? This is our pet crayfish we caught when we went fishing. It's scissors are pretty scary.
Moka 5 yrs The bug's party The bugs gathered at the tree and started a party. Their feast is the leaves and juice from the trees, and the delicious air.	Yoko 6 yrs Winter strawberries The last time I visited, there were only flower buds. This time there were lots and lots of berries. The strawberries in the sunshine were sweet and delicious.	Natsumi 6 yrs Sunflowers The sunflowers we planted blossomed. Natsumi gave Eire calls to the flowers reaching out to the sky.	Ryunosuke 6 yrs Cyclamen flowers When the air becomes crispy cold, soft pink cyclamen flowers will bloom. I think that the patterns on the leaves are interesting too.
Yuhi 6 yrs Cosmos flowers "What a pretty pink," Yuhi said as she carefully observed and drew the cosmos flowers in the garden of the center. Large cosmos flowers bloomed.	Shiho 6 yrs A trip to Shimogamo Shrine During our nature walk to the historic Shimogamo Shrine, the children looked up at the big gate and exclaimed "What a pretty vermillion red!"	Keigo 6 yrs The bendy root of the elm tree The root of the elm tree is bendy because of being stepped on, and because of the hard soil. But the root absorbs water and lets the tree grow.	Kenshin 5 yrs Rice harvesting Five little seeds of rice grew taller than me, and put on lots of grain. I can't wait to harvest and taste the rice with my friends.

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Gallery 2: By the children from The University of Melbourne's Early Learning Centre, Melbourne Australia

Claudia 4 yrs Sunflower It's the sunflower growing at Kinder.	Katerina 4 yrs Sunflower seeds I painted sunflower seeds.	William 4 yrs Sky This is the sky and it's dark.	Katerina 4 yrs The sun It's the sun that's red, it's sunrays are yellow.
Harry 5 yrs The tree This tree is from the Botanic Gardens and it has crooked branches.	Georgia 4 yrs Fire The fire is the forest.	Jessica 4 yrs Nest Bird's nest.	Natalia 5 yrs Rocks The brown shapes are rocks with lines around them.
Jeanti 5 yrs Sky and Earth The sky is blue, grey and white and the ground is brown, orange, red and a different coloured brown.	Seb 5 yrs The hand tree I painted the 'hand' tree and there is the plants next to it.	Tom 4 yrs River The wiggly river is dried and is sandy because there is no water in the river anymore. Everything is dried because there is no rain.	Mia 5 yrs Sun, clouds and rain This is a sun and clouds and rain.

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