Home-kit

The home-kit* is an Educational Initiative by de Appel that encourages children (and grown-ups!) to explore the notions of 'home' through playful, reflective and creative activities. These activities are conceived together with artists Adnan Atik, Elisa van Joolen, Marley Braaf and the collective The Shadows Assembly, and introduce new ways of expression beyond the boundaries of spoken language. It invites you to start collecting stories and memories—independently by yourself or together with your family. This  requires you to listen to your body and how it relates to elements in your direct environment, like the social bonds we have with others, the clothing we wear or the domestic objects we use.

Starting from doing and making, with our hands and our hearts, we want to stimulate different ways of thinking, communicating and learning. We are noticing that spoken language alone is not always enough to articulate responses to the current developments in society. What skills, forms of knowledge and experiences, perhaps invisible or undervalued, need more time and space? In the home-kit we offer suggestions for extending our vocabulary with skills that go beyond words and language, enabling us to hear, see and feel all bodies. These take the form of activities that encourage new ways of doing and making, creating joyful and meaningful experiences along the way.

The home-kit was developed in collaboration with the artists Adnan Atik, Elisa van Joolen, Marley Braaf, the collective The Shadows Assembly, de Appel’s Education Curator David Smeulders and the cultural institutions ICK dans Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Museum for the bi-annual manifestation Refresh Amsterdam with the theme Sense of Place. Graphic design by Bardhi Haliti en Zuzana Kostelanská.

*Please note that the home-kit is available in Dutch only