This weekend the PlusKids team was at the Auchan Titan shopping centre, where we ran a mărțișor workshop open to every child who came by.
Over 250 children joined in, shaping and hand-painting clay mărțișoare. Clay has a quality other materials lack: it forgives. If the shape does not come out right the first time, you press it back together and start again, with no paper wasted and no sense of failure. For a child working with a new material for the first time, that is the difference between "I can't do it" and "I'll try once more". And the painting asks for exactly what we practise in our regular workshops: a steady hand, the patience to let it dry and a decision of your own about the colours.
We made sure the colouring sheets were printed on recycled paper. That is not a decorative detail: when a child asks why the paper looks different, the conversation about recycling starts from something in their hands rather than from a poster. That is how such things stay with them.
We were glad to be part of an event that was both educational and open, where children who had never heard of us worked alongside us for a whole hour. Thank you to everyone who took part.
About the after-school programme: https://pluskids.ro/en/after-school