We have some serious Pokémon fans in the Cocoon and therefore we have been inquiring into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, values, feelings, and beliefs; the ways in which we can reflect on, extend, and use creativity for enjoyment. What we quickly observed and unpacked was the children appreciation for the aesthetic.

Designing our very own Cocoon Pokemon was a challenge. The children didn’t think they would be able to design their very own Pokémon. We had many discussions about how the designers had developed some of the characters.

“This one is like a seal” Mila.

“This one is like a wolf” Tom.

“Maybe they thought of things and changed it to make it new” Oscar.

“So, they used existing things to help them design the characters?” Rachelle.

“yeah, they definitely did that” Luca.

“Could we think of something and then create our own character?” Rachelle.

“I think it will be a sea animal” Seb.

“It does have a fish mouth” Amelie.

“It’s a sea Pokémon creature. It lives in water” Spencer.

“It will need a big tail” Aaren.

“To help it swim fast” Frankie.

“Maybe it can fly too” Spencer.

“And it has a unicorn horn because we love unicorns” Amelie

“I did the horn bit” Frankie.

“It could have a flying power where wings come” Elle.

“It’s big” Arlo.

“Really big so big that it would be like a whale” Elijah.

This project has led us to look at many related concepts such as science; the materials we use and their properties. How paper and materials can be used and manipulated to suit a purpose.

“We can sew the Pokémon” Elle.

“I have seen a sewing machine before” Noah.

“Can I try?” Aaren.

“It would be hard to make” Indiana.

“I think if we use the design as a pattern, we could make our Pokémon from material” Kellie.

Working collaboratively on the one task has challenged the children to understand values, attitudes, experiences, and feelings and how each of us are different. By responding to the children as they express themselves through art, we have developed their ability to listen to different interpretations, evaluation, reflection, and ways of creating. From here we have studies the Arts; creating our own designs, using our imagination, interpretations, reflections, and communication to develop cards, puppets, and Pokémon balls.

“Can we make up stories” Tom.

“I know we can make lots of characters and powers” Amelie.

“It’s our own character” Spencer.

This unit of inquiry has seen the children express themselves in various ways, the educators have supported the children to arouse their imagination, inspire them in their interest and provide opportunities for children to transfer their prior knowledge.

“You have to match the character” Oscar.

“It’s a green machine” Arlo. (Pokemon ball design).

“You need to look at the number to know how powerful the card is” Luca.

“This one is stronger because it’s gold and has a bigger number” Seb.

It’s been a pleasure to watch the whole group make connections with others’ ideas and experiences and expressing their ideas in a range of ways. Creating our Pokemon board game was an extension of their prior knowledge coming together and extending their learning through number and shape explorations.

“Let’s mix colours” Elijah.

The children have been fascinated at the use of colours in artwork and how you can mix colours to create new ones.

“Red and yellow makes orange” Spencer.

“We could add a bucket of water” Frankie.

“I like the different blues. I add lots of blue to make it dark and only a little bit to make it light” Elijah.

“I love this I make green” Walter.

“Lots of green so much green” Walter.