Fourteenth Stop
Workshop with Lights On at Ellen Keyskolan · May 2026
Workshop Leaders: Leila Natsheh and Simona Cavalieri
Photo: Simona Cavalieri
We asked the children at the Lights On program at Ellen Keyskolan, who were 9-11 years old, to help a new family that moved to Backa by showing them around the neighborhood. Since language was a limitation, the assignment was to show the family around Backa through drawings and 3D paper sculptures on a large collective map.
The family had an 8-year-old boy, Haru, and an 11-year-old girl, Yuna. They both love being outdoors. They like to be with friends and family, but sometimes like to relax or be outdoors alone.
Photo: Simona Cavalieri
"Smultronställe"
Football pitches, playgrounds, bike paths, and animal petting farms come up very often when we have our workshops with the children. We try to expand these initial ideas of places to go to through questions and conversations. To this group of children, we also introduced the Swedish concept of “smultronställe”, which none of them were familiar with. “Smultronställe” literally translates to “wild strawberry place”, but means a place that is not well-known, and is beloved and dear to a person, in other words, a personal favorite place that brings joy and happiness to someone.
Once this concept was introduced, some children opened up and spoke about summer flower fields where they like to relax and just “be” during the summer months. Others talked about a green park that has rocks to climb and a place they like to hangout at with their friends.
Photo: Simona Cavalieri
“Friends are all you need. To feel good somewhere.” — R, 11
Social Places
One child told us about how important friends are, and how if one has friends around, any place is great. Another 10-year-old was explaining how after school he meets up with his friends, and then together they hang out at the park where they play, climb rocks, and just chill. One 11-year-old child, who recently moved to Sweden, said that his favorite place is the outdoor gym near his home, where he often plays and exercises with his 9-year-old sister.
“Ladan”
“Ladan”, an animal petting farm, came up as a favorite in Backa. Almost all of the children mentioned it during the workshop as a place they like to go to, to pet and feed the animals. In our workshops places with animals come up very often. Children of all the ages that we have worked with, have an interest in being around animals, caring for animals, and feeding animals. Insights like this help us confirm ideas that we have, what to focus on, and how to present them to the children, on the Barnens Smarta Karta platform.
Photo: Simona Cavalieri
An Alien Arrives
In this workshop we did not introduce Allen the Alien, who we have had in our other workshops. Despite that, right as one 11-year-old completed her 3D paper farm, she introduced an Alien who landed on planet Earth. The Alien landed with his spaceship near the farm, and explored the area.
This shows us how important storytelling, fiction, and challenging reality is, even for older children. Storytelling does not disappear, it just becomes more complex, and more sophisticated.
“I will make a golden medal for the person that made the best paper structures” — C, 11
Gamification
We never introduced competition into our workshops, and we always work collectively. Together with the children, and the children with each other, add to one large outcome. Competing comes up, introduced by the children.
More than competing with others, it is maybe about earning something for the hard work. A medal for completing a task. This is an idea we have been considering and thinking about during our process. Could Barnens Smarta Karta encourage more children to play outdoors if there was a system of earning points for places you visit or times you are outdoors?
Gamifying digital platforms is common nowadays, but it is something we need to study well before introducing to children in order for it to not backfire or have a negative impact on the aim of the platform, which is getting children to explore and play more outdoors.
Would you like to join us next time?
