Five Launceston children are the authors of an illustrated book, called All Emotions Allowed Here.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Maia Ranginui, 7, Blair Veassen, 6, Felix McCallum, 8, Oliver John Garwood, 5, and Levi Lynch-Parkes, 11, worked with established artists to draw and write about how COVID-19 has affected them.
As well as being useful and fun for the participating children, the hope is parents will be able to use the book to start difficult conversations with their own children.
Each page has a blank space with a starting question for children to fill in themselves, participating artist Karen Reavie said.
"We always assume that children either don't know, or don't want to know, or that we're protecting them by not talking about something," she said.
"But when you actually ask kids - and they're on YouTube and all those sorts of things - they know all about [the virus]. So you're better off having that conversation.
"And if you have that conversation, you're contributing to building their resilience.
"This is a tool for initiating those conversations - because you don't always know how to do that, and art makes it a lot easier."
The project was organised by Artelier Tasmania, a group of artist-educators who work with children using creativity as a tool for development.
It paired artists with children, to guide them through the process of the book.
Emotions like sadness, happiness, play, and fear came through in the work the children created, Ms Reavie said.
"One girl was scared that her teacher might get the virus," she said. "Other kids were sad that they couldn't see their grandparents, or because they weren't getting cuddles, like normal.
"But there were also a lot of lovely feelings - there's a lot of bike riding going on."
Reavie was one of two Northern artists who worked with the children on the project, along with Melanie Fidler, working with project manager Victoria Ryle.
The book has also been nominated for a Resilient Australia award.
It is available to buy at Up York cafe, Trevallyn Newsagency, Trevallyn Pharmacy, Rascal Robot Art Space at Beaconsfield, and online at arteliertasmania.org/store/allemotions
IN OTHER NEWS: