Blog for the international research project "Our Mythical Childhood… The Reception of Classical Antiquity in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture in Response to Regional and Global Challenges", financed by the ERC Consolidator Grant led by Prof. Katarzyna Marciniak, Faculty of "Artes Liberales" of the University of Warsaw. Team members: Prof. Susan Deacy and Steve K. Simons, University of Roehampton; Prof. Elizabeth Hale and Dr Miriam Riverlea, University of New England; Prof. Lisa Maurice and Dr Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University; Prof. Daniel A. Nkemleke, Dr Divine Che Neba and Dr Eleanor A. Dasi, University of Yaoundé I; Dr Elżbieta Olechowska, Dr Hanna Paulouskaya, Dr Sonya Nevin, Dott. Edoardo Pecchini, Marta Pszczolińska, Angelina Gerus and the Project Officers: Magdalena Andersen, Maria Makarewicz, and Olga Strycharczyk from the Faculty of "Artes Liberales" UW.
We found something for the zombie fans! 🙂 It’s a new graphic novel series “Rombies”,written by Tom Taylor, illustrated by Skye Ogden and coloured by Mikiko Ponczeck. It is published by Gestalt Publishing.
The stories depicted in “Rombies” are related to the historical events associated with Roman gladiators, senators, and rulers. In its comic version, however, the Roman world turns out to be full of dangerous zombies, what makes the fabula very modernized and original.
“Letters from Felix: A Little Rabbit on a World Tour” [in German original: “Briefe von Felix: ein kleiner Hase auf Weltreise”, in Polish: “Listy od Feliksa: Mały zając podróżuje po świecie”] is a children’s book written by the German author Annette Langen, published for the first time in 1994. The illustrations are made by Constanza Droop.
The cover of the Polish version of “Letters from Felix: A Little Rabbit on a World Tour” [Mamika Publishing House]
The book tells a story about two friends: Sophie and her plush toy rabbit – Felix. When Sophie and her parents return from their vacation, Felix gets lost at the airport. The girl feels very sad because she never separates from her toy. One day however, she receives a letter, and it turns out that it is written by Felix. The rabbit explains to the girl that he is fine – he just got into the wrong plane.
Felix starts to travel around the world – he visits London, Paris, Rome, Cairo, Kenya, and New York. From every place he sends a letter to Sophie – the readers will find his letters placed inside the book. At the end of the story, Felix manages to come back home – he also bring some presents for Sophie (and of course for the readers ;)), that are placed in a little paper suitcase at the end of the book.
The first installment of the adventures of Felix and Sophie initiated a series that has several parts. In one of them, entitled “Felix Travels Back in Time” [Germ.: “Neue Briefe von Felix: Ein kleiner Hase reist durch die Vergangenheit”, Poln. “Nowe listy od Feliksa: Mały zając podróżuje po przeszłości”], published for the first time in 1995, the rabbit goes back in time and he travels among other places to the world of Ancient Greece.
The cover of the polish version of “Felix Travels Back in Time” [Mamika Publishing House]
In 2002 there appeared a children’s TV series, based on the books about Felix and Sophie, entitled “Letters from Felix”, directed by Alan Simpson and produced by WunderWerk and Caligari Film in co-production with TV Loonland and ZDF (Supported By FFF).
The series consists of 26 episodes.
Found by Dorota Bazylczyk
All the photos of the Polish version of book were taken by the author of this post.
MUJO is a puzzle game created by Oink Games Inc.OLYM is another game from the MUJO series, which has entered the top 10 puzzle games in more than a hundred countries around the world (read more). Both games were created in 2015 and are available for free on Android and iOS.
MUJO and OLYM consists of defeating soldiers and monsters from the Greek mythology by combining the largest number of the same blocks. The more blocks you connect, the greater power you’ll get. If you collect a treasure box during the play, you obtain a God or Goddesses, who helps you in defeating the opponents.
The game is most admired by its minimalist, colorful graphic design. [source]
The graphics of the main characters of the game were created by HEYgraphic design studio (Barcelona, Spain). Their illustrations of the mythological characters could be admired on the Oh my God Exhibition.
Overwatch is a young adult online multi-player team based first person shooter (FPS) videogame by the American game developer company Blizzard Entertainment released in 2016.
The game may contain content inappropriate for children.
Set in a science-fiction and post-crisis setting, players are divided into two teams to compete to control an objective which could either be controlling an area or escorting a “payload” to the other end of the map. Among the many characters or “heroes” players can choose to play as, one of the most popular is Mercy.
Mercy belongs to the healer or “support” category. Her role is to heal her allies if they have taken damage from the enemy, or to give them a damage boost while they fight. She can also resurrect fallen teammates. Interestingly, Mercy has the characteristics of three mythological figures from three different traditions: the angel from Judeo-Christian tradition, the Valkyrie from Norse tradition, and the Greek god Hermes from ancient Greek tradition. This is depicted through her playstyle, visual appearances (“skins”) and “sprays” (small images players can stamp on surfaces in the game).
Mercy contains shared aspects of the three mythical characters, such as their ability to fly, heal, and resurrect. The presence of mythological themes in a post-crisis contemporary context may suggest a tendency for young adults to be attracted to mythical and classical themes in a contemporary world wrought with regional and global challenges.
Looking for the traces of Classical Antiquity in children’s culture we often find many interesting ideas of hand-made activities and games connected to the world of Ancient Greece and mythology.
Our Mythical Workshop led by Dorota Bazylczyk on 19th June at the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” UW, for the pupils from Astrid Lindgren Elementary School Nr. 316, class 2a, in Warsaw.
Most of the mythological activities ideas published on Internet are publicly available – you can find them for example on educational websites, blogs, Pinterest profiles, etc. (They are usually free to use, but let’s remember that the ideas presented there are always the property of their authors).
The works we found are very original and simple – you just read the instructions written by the authors and prepare the proper materials.
Thus, get your scissors! We present you 5 interesting mythological activities for kids recently discovered on the Internet! 🙂
1. Medusa Snake Hat [manual work]
On the website of Enchanted Homeschooling Momyou will find a great idea of how to prepare a Medusa Snake Hat. Click here and scroll down the page a bit to see it. For making the snake hat you will need some paper, glue, and tape. Good luck!
2. Pin the Eyeball on the Cyclops [great idea for the childrens’ party]
On Melissa’s Taylor WebsiteImagination Soupyou can read about the idea of a great and simple game for children, named Pin the Eyeball on the Cyclop. The game consists of attaching the paper eye to the center cyclop’s head with closed eyes. Needed materials: some paper, crayons, tape, and scarf to tie the eyes. Lots of fun guaranteed!
3. Building Mythological Star Constellations from Marshmallows [complementary learning]
The authors of KCEdventures website propose children to create mythological stellar constellations from marchmallows and toothpicks. What a great idea! You can read about it here.
Something for the fans of card games! The author of Deceptively Educational blogprepared a colorful set of cards with the various characters of Greek mythology. You can print them for free and play them with your children them in a variety of ways. If you want to see them, click here.
5. Roman Aqueduct [experimental project]
The author of the blog Blue House School proposes to perform a small experiment that will help your child understand how Roman aqueducts worked. This play (click here to see it) is a bit more complicated than the rest of our findings, but in our opinion it can be a very interesting addition to the lessons devoted to Ancient Rome.
“Santorini” is a strategic board game designed by Gord Hamilton,published for the first time in 2004. In 2016 Roxley Games decided to republish “Santorini” in a new form and run its campaign on Kickstarter. The game went to stores in January 2017 [read more].
The game is intented for 2-4 players (recommended age: 8+). The box contains: 3D play board (ocean board, island board, and the pedestal), different blocks (base, medium, and top), domes, figures of builders, and God Cards.
Before starting the game we draw a card with one God or Goddess – it will give us special abilities to use during the play. Each turn of the game consists of 2 moves: first we move our builder on the board (at the selected neighboring field), then we start constructing the building (in the field adjacent to our builder). The person whose pawn will first enter the third level of the building wins!
There is also an extension to the game, entitled “Santorini Golden Fleece”.
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