Creative Themes

Creative Themes

 

The following themes are suggested as a starting point for discussions and creativity. Make use of them to whatever extent suits your community, but don’t let them limit you!

Everyday Encounters

That old pair of jeans, the desk you lean on, your favourite novel, a delicious chocolate cake, celebratory flowers and the vase you place them in… How many of the objects you encounter every day come from the soil?

Surprise the visitors to your exhibition by starting with a display celebrating the everyday encounters that most of us don’t typically realise come from the soil.

Our Very Body

When we were born our parents could hold us in their arms. How we have grown! And although our feet are not anchored into the ground, it is the soil that has provided us with the nutrition that has made our very body. We are made of soil!

Let the visitors to your exhibition reflect on our connection with the soil with the next display, which explores how our body is made from soil.

Billions of Life Forms

One teaspoon of soil contains more microorganisms than there are people on this planet. Soil is just teeming with life, some large and some small!

Excite the visitors to your exhibition with the next display of art and poetry, all about the life in the soil.

Beneath My Feet

What do you feel when you sink your hands or feet into the soil? What else do you find on or in the soil under your feet?

Let the visitors to your exhibition share in your experience through the next display of art and poetry that celebrates the human experience of soil beneath our feet.

Abundance

The life of the soil comes in such abundance, whether it’s the dense myriad of life in a jungle or the variety of fruit and vegetables produced on our farms and sold in our markets at harvest time.

Allow the bounty of the soil to awe your visitors, with a display celebrating the abundance of life, and food, that comes from it.

Land

Soil, as well as our interactions with it, forms the basis of many of our landscapes; forests, gardens, parks, farmland, city streets and wetlands all spring from a foundation of soil.

Give your visitors a wider perspective on soil with this display celebrating the land.

SOS

Our soil is dying. We are losing one acre of soil every second. The UN estimates that by 2050 90% of the world’s soil will be degraded unless we act now.

Once the visitors to your exhibition appreciate the role that our soil plays in our lives, it’s time to send an SOS – “Save Our Soil”. The final display makes sure there is no doubt about the sorry state our soil are in.

Hope

We encourage you to include the following information at the end of your exhibition along with a vision of a future where our soil is healthy and bountiful.

Right now 52% of the world’s agricultural soil is already degraded. By 2050, UN agencies say 90% of the earth’s soil could be degraded unless we act now.

And we can act now. We can turn this around. There are solutions and they are not difficult. We can shift to more regenerative ways of farming, so that our soil becomes more healthy year by year instead of less, and helps us reduce climate change emissions instead of cause them. To make this happen, first we must spread this awareness to everyone. Spread this message.

Downloads

A Colouring Book designed to support youngsters in exploring these soil themes.

The Soil Song Game designed as a fun way for youngsters to explore everyday encounters with soil.

Suggestions for introducing these themes in a creative class.

A Save Soil Exhibition Flyer to invite others to join.

A How to Participate Flyer to explain to schools how to take part.

A Save Soil Exhibition Flyer for Children to invite young children and their parents to join.

See also

Why Save Soil?

All About Soil

 

 

Anapaula Rocha

When I joined the Save Soil movement I saw the possibility to reconnect with my first memory about soil. I was about 7 years old and my teacher asked us to monitor the growth of a bean and look after that tiny piece of life. This first experience never lost its sense of magic and mystery for me. How was it possible for a seed to transform itself into a plant on a piece of cotton wool and then grow enough to continue living in soil? I recalled transplanting it into the soil and still now remember the smell of that soil too.

As a parent I had revived the experiment, watching my children growing their own beans at school. 

As a child photographer, there were many times when I had witnessed children connect deeply with the wonder of forests. We sat on the ground to deepen their experience.

My involvement with Save Soil has brought the opportunity to engage once again with the bean project. I had the pleasure of repeating the experiment and photographing it in detail as well as contacting two families and engaging with their children about soil.

The children were of different ages and showed a good range of familiarity with the soil; some were more involved than others. After listening to their own experiences I shared the idea of recreating the bean project. They will monitor the experiment using their creative skills and we will reconnect in the middle of the project.

I believe that connection with soil is an essential component in raising awareness about the soil itself and its depletion. By conducting the same experiment, and inviting the children to engage with their creativity, it will certainly create an opportunity for conversation with their own families and friends about soil - sharing how the soil needs our attention and care just now.

Roxana Păun

My first presentation was about ”What is the soil?” The children in my class have already studied about the layers of the earth: Barysphere, Hydrosphere and Lithosphere. Soil is part of the Lithosphere, the outermost part of it. Then we start talking about the composition of the soil: what it contains as non-living matter and the life inside the soil: microbes, fungi, bacteria, worms, insects, and other animals. We also discussed what is the role of the soil, how it contributes to the other living beings on Earth, and the importance it has for the survival of life on our planet.

The children were so excited about all the information, and they contributed with their own knowledge and ideas. They connected so many areas of the economical system to farming, and discovered that actually everything comes from soil. We have performed experiments, and the children wrote various projects on soil. We are planning to continue with the study of soil in the next two months.

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As a parent I had revived the experiment, watching my children growing their own beans at school. 

As a child photographer, there were many times when I had witnessed children connect deeply with the wonder of forests. We sat on the ground to deepen their experience.

My involvement with Save Soil has brought the opportunity to engage once again with the bean project. I had the pleasure of repeating the experiment and photographing it in detail as well as contacting two families and engaging with their children about soil.

The children were of different ages and showed a good range of familiarity with the soil; some were more involved than others. After listening to their own experiences I shared the idea of recreating the bean project. They will monitor the experiment using their creative skills and we will reconnect in the middle of the project.

I believe that connection with soil is an essential component in raising awareness about the soil itself and its depletion. By conducting the same experiment, and inviting the children to engage with their creativity, it will certainly create an opportunity for conversation with their own families and friends about soil - sharing how the soil needs our attention and care just now.