The Janakkala cultural education plan, Cultural Path, covers pre-primary education and elementary school students as well as early childhood education. The Cultural Path provides a broad introduction to various art forms. The goal is to create a path for children and young people in Janakkala through different cultural experiences, along which the child, as they grow, becomes familiar with local culture, gets to try various ways of creating and expressing art, and dares to create new things without prejudice. Cultural education supports interaction, creativity, collaboration, and the child’s and young person’s self-directed activities. These promote everyday management and learning skills in all age groups. Each stage of the path supports the objectives of the curriculum and offers content for both broad and subject-specific goals. The Cultural Path implements the child’s right to art and culture.

The plan includes cultural site visits, various workshops in culture and art, as well as methods. The content provides methods for the work of instructors and teachers, as well as ideas for building interdisciplinary learning entities. The Cultural Path is produced by the Janakkala cultural department in collaboration with the Children’s and Youth Cultural Centre ARX in Hämeenlinna and local art institutions. Costs arising from mandatory content, such as entrance tickets and transportation, are covered by the annual funding for regional children’s culture. The funding consists of the municipality’s own financing share and support from the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Cultural Path program 2024-25

Here you will find printable PDF files of the cultural paths and brief descriptions of the contents of the Cultural Path in an accessible format:

Early Childhood Education

1-2 year olds: Kukkuu! -bag

The Kukkuu bag is an art content designed for small groups in early childhood education, offering plenty of wonders with colors and shapes. This multisensory exploration bag transforms into a play mat, and from the pockets of the play mat, children can find hand puppets and books suitable for learning about colors and emotions. The guidebook provides many good tips for working on art education with young children. The Kukkuu bag was designed by art educator Sarina Pulkka.

3-year olds: Bom dia -international education material

The purpose of the “Bom Dia! Journey Around the World” self-directed project is to introduce children’s groups to the countries, continents, and foreign cultures of the world through art and physical education. The material enables international education appropriate for the age and developmental level of preschool children. During eight active sessions, participants will learn about Finland, the United States, Brazil, Australia, China, Italy, Russia, and the continent of Africa. Each session includes its own music CD and instructions. The material was compiled by music teacher Anna Syväsalmi.

4-5 year olds: Searching for Forest Creatures -self-directed material

In the Searching for Forest Creatures self-directed workshop, the group explores the local nature together: surfaces, shapes, and homes of forest creatures. In the workshop, participants take photos and learn skills for moving in the forest. Children create nature brushes with which they make nature-themed artworks. The duration of the workshop is about two hours. The whole was designed by art educator Tiina Aalto.

5 year olds: A Girl Named Rehema

In the Uulu fairy tale adventure, participants learn about the East African storytelling tradition, and the story is brought to life through song, dance, and instruments. Participants get to play various African traditional instruments and learn many Tanzanian song games.

6 year olds: Museum Visit – Laurinmäki’s Spring Trip

6-year-olds will visit Laurinmäki cottage museum and St. Laurentius church in May 2025. The trip is a spring dive into local history, and in addition to guided tours, there is an opportunity to explore nature trails.

Extras: Naperokino screenings available at Tervakoski KINO theater in spring 2025. School film week, ARX material bank, and free visiting sites in Hämeenlinna are presented in the cultural path program.

Lower Schools

1st Grade: Word Art -presentation and workshop

We will listen to poems and spark imagination through fun exercises. We will create our own poem together or in small groups depending on the group’s size.

2nd Grade: Environmental Art Self-Directed Workshop

The 2nd graders’ Senses Forest Trip self-directed material introduces the local forest using all senses. During the senses forest trip, the diversity of the area is considered, and participants learn about everyman’s rights.

3rd-4th Grade: Improvisation Package -self-directed material

The self-directed content includes instructions for the teacher and various exercises that gently lead to improvisation. The material provides tools for exploration and group cohesion, creativity and concentration, collaboration and interaction, as well as processing stories and emotions. Fun guaranteed!

NOTE! The choir rehearsals and concert for the boy who watched the treetops will now be conducted every other year with Hattula for cost-saving reasons. The 2025 concert year will be in Hattula, and in spring 2026, all third and fourth grade students from Janakkala will have the opportunity to participate in the choir project.

5th Grade: Media Education Workshop

In workshops led by ARX art educator Viljami Tabell, students will create tip videos for their younger peers. Fifth graders will consider what important safety and wellness skills are needed when using smart devices. Based on their reflections, concise tip videos will be produced for first and second graders. The goal is to sharpen good behavior models with smart devices and understand one’s role as a role model and example for younger peers. The content of the workshop may vary annually.

6th Grade: Students as Concert Producers

As the oldest in lower schools, 6th graders will produce concerts for the spring 2025 concert tour in each school – or if desired, for some other school’s festivities. With the help of concert center materials, students will learn about event production and the various tasks it entails. The school concert will gain a new perspective as students not only experience it but also participate in the production of the concert.

Common Contents: Concert tour for every school –
Extras: School cinema – screenings available at Tervakoski KINO theater in spring 2025. School film week, ARX material bank, and free visiting sites in Hämeenlinna are presented in the cultural path program.

Upper Schools

7th Grade: Media Workshops

In the Cultural Path for 7th graders, current media and digital culture phenomena are explored. The aim is to provide young people with a double lesson’s worth of time to focus on digital culture and their own relationship with media. The workshop series will be held by ARX art educator Viljami Tabell for their own school.

8th Grade: Art Testers

Finland’s largest cultural education program, Art Testers, offers all 8th graders in Finland and their teachers two art visits again next school year. The goal is to provide young people with unforgettable art experiences as well as the tools to form a reasoned opinion based on their experiences.

9th Grade: LOOP

LOOP is a cheerful performance that cleverly combines contemporary circus and music produced using the interactive live-looping method. The performance is like a game, driven by a musician and circus artists who influence the mood and rhythm of the piece with their choices. At the end of the performance, there is a guided discussion.

Common Contents: Concert tour for every school –
Extras: School cinema – screenings available at Tervakoski KINO theater in spring 2025. The concert center’s Culture crew model and School film week, ARX material bank, and free visiting sites in Hämeenlinna are presented in the cultural path program.