«Paint our world» – Art for Children, is the first book by Kindergarten school teacher Vilma Mavromatakis. This is an activity book based on 10 paintings from the Greek National Gallery. The aim of the book is to bring the child into contact with works of art, to cultivate his senses, his creative expression skills and their imagination. The writing of the book resulted after many years where both the teacher and her students used paintings in everyday teaching activities. The children always showed great interest and reacted positively to activities around painting and art that urged us to put the book into print.

The book is an aid for teachers and parents who believe that the engagement of children with any form of art has great value, when properly pedagogically implemented, respecting the needs, capabilities and interests of children. The proper preparation of children is the key to start a journey through art. What we need? Appetite, imagination, freedom of spirit, and love for what it is. The hard part might be the beginning. From the moment you put someone in the process, children themselves show the way by always reserving pleasant surprises.

In the book there are activities aimed at exercising noticing things, imagination, expression, oral and written speech, freedom of creation, games. The value of the book is highlighted by the artist – teacher, Mrs. Helen Moraitis in the preface:

«If we consider the different information the works of art provide, which are in the book of Mrs. Vilma Mavromatakis, we see that in every lesson the child is experiencing a whole world. Furthermore, because this is a clever book, children have the opportunity to deal with the information in a correctly taught manner. The very interesting thing about the book is that children have the opportunity to intervene in the artwork. The effect of various modes of intervention is a direct link to the cognitive visual system. Therefore, students are able to perceive and understand more deeply the subject of their attention ».

It is a colorful and luxurious book of 56 pages, approved by the Ministry of Education (Decision number: 124618/G2/21-11-06) and available from the publications «Mavromatakis», Papanastasiou 220 Chania, tel 28210 52626, fax : 28210 55089.