Coming to grips with heritage in a fun way

It all starts with a mysterious wooden box handed out in a classroom and ends with a group of four-year-olds interpreting a 17th century Flemish painting at the Mdina Cathedral Museum.

The activity, quite innovative for Malta, is meant to increase children’s cultural capital and help them make sense of traditions and symbols which they could otherwise take for granted.
The mind behind the activity, associate professor Adrian-Mario Gellel, said life was so fast-paced these days that people no longer had time for interaction with their surroundings, to the detriment of their cultural knowledge.
At the same time, the digital era provides an information overload, making it difficult to distinguish between knowledge and wisdom. In fact, he said, educational systems gave more importance to factual knowledge, but in real life, wisdom often came in handier.
The Symbol Literacy project is meant to help children develop their observation, thinking and creative skills, among others.
The aim is to help them recognise, read and interpret these symbols and metaphors wherever they are and in whatever form they are in.  The project has been going on for some four years and it all kicked off...