On April 1st, 2023 from 10:30 to 15:00, the very first edition of Driftkikkers has taken place at Café MidWest, located at Cabralstraat 1 in Amsterdam. Driftkikkers is an afternoon of philosophy for children, in the form of a theater workshop, a socratic conversation and a short lesson in philosophy. It is put together for children between the ages of nine and twelve who enjoy learning about philosophy in an interactive way. In keeping with the theme of Festival DRIFT itself, the topic of the afternoon will be the unknown.
Café Midwest is a community center that hosts a multitude of cultural and social events. During Driftkikkers, the café will be open for a cup of coffee or tea.
Participants were divided into three groups. A new block will start every 45 minutes, during which each group will switch to the next activity. The three activities can be found below.
THEATER WORKSHOP
Margot Zwiers and Simone van der Steen of Achterdeberg Productions are theater artists who have put together a workshop especially for Driftkikkers:
“In this workshop we will explore terra incognita through imagination. Theater as an art form takes place in the moment; through it, we can imagine other worlds in the here and now. In other words, theater always takes place in a particular space, but it can also provide access to other places, which in reality are incompatible. It can connect spaces that normally cannot coexist and propose new, as yet unknown places. In the workshop we make the children look at their environment differently. Through imagination, we create terra incognita in space (the building).”
SOCRATIC CONVERSATION
Philippe Boekstal, Montessori- and UvA-teacher, will lead a socratic conversation with the children.
This is a conversation in which every perspective is articulated and heard, and the participants come to new insights together.
The theme of the conversation is “The Other”. How does one learn more about the Other – the unknown?
PHILOSOPHICAL LESSON
Sabine Wassenberg has published a number of philosophy books for children and will come to Driftkikkers to give a philosophy lesson. For this she will draw from her book De zoon van de Gazelle, discussing among other things the universe, symbol of the unknown.