The Summer Camp (Junior Primary) program 'Ant Islands' was based on design thinking and set in a world of imaginary floating islands! Our teaching team turned the venue into an ocean filled with small islands, and the participating students worked in teams as island ants to complete a series of missions together. Over the course of three days, students built skills necessary for self-expression, team communication, and creative problem solving. Each session featured a simple woodworking experience in which students created their own imaginative pieces under professional guidance.
Day 1
The students envisioned a future when the Earth would be engulfed by water, and in this scenario, a swarm of ants found themselves adrift at sea, grappling with the challenges of shifting weather and a changing environment. By employing storytelling and experiential learning techniques, the students gained insight into the ants' behaviours and struggles, allowing the students to cultivate empathy and apply this understanding in their own lives.
Day 2
The students imagined that the ants had consumed an excess of sugar and had consequently become obese. To empathise with these overweight ants and better understand their experience and needs, the students put on some waistbands to pretend to be overweight ants.
Guided by the teaching team, the students utilised various tools such as woodworking clamps, electric wrenches, and hand saws to construct weight-loss facilities that matched the same scale as themselves. They also conducted tests among the facilities. By taking a hands-on approach, the students sought to develop a more profound comprehension of the overweight problem.
Day 3
The students took on the role of floating ants, imagined themselves on a 'floating island' to evade the 'gigantic waves' and search for 'food'. Divided into four teams, they visited each other to appreciate other teams’ perspectives, in order to construct connecting bridges that ultimately could merge together to become colossal ant rafts. This activity aimed to foster an understanding of the value of collaboration and solidarity among the students. At the end of the activity, the students presented the final outcome to their parents upon completing the rafts.
MUDWORK, an art and design studio founded by artists Chung Wai Ian and Ng Ka Chun in 2013, uses sculpture and installation to explore the contemporary state of urban space, community, and nature.
Our teaching team Milk Design and STICKYLINE led an imaginary expedition to Mars, in which the participating students had to imagine the living conditions of future human beings on Mars in order to invent new living appliances! Pretending to be “Little Astronauts”, the students were encouraged to express their own ideas, communicate with team members, and work together through scientific and logical thinking to produce short videos illustrating their new inventions!
First, these “Little Astronauts” were introduced to the physical environment on Mars and the possible problems that could be faced by human beings if living there through an immersive video. They then divided into teams to design new living appliances or facilities; they also created shooting props to visualise their ideas and drafts. Furthermore, a professional video production crew from The Sumerian Studio introduced the basic concept of video making to the students for each of them to take up a position such as director, editor, art director, in their own teams. By performing their own duties and worked together as teams, the students produced short films that conveyed their creative design concepts into motion!
Over the course of three days in the camp, the students developed skills that are necessary for self-expression, team communication, and creative problem solving.
Chi-wing Lee is a product designer and founder of Milk Design Limited. He believes that design is a tool to explore the different facets of life, and that design is inseparable from daily living. In recent years, he has been actively involved in curatorial work - using exhibitions to promote design to the general public. Passionate about design education, he is currently a visiting lecturer at the School of Design of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and is part of various design education programmes at the PMQ and the Hong Kong Design Centre.
Stickyline was founded in 2011 by Mic Leong & Soilworm Lai. Focusing on paper engineering and structure development, the creative duo has been transforming two-dimensional planes into three-dimensional forms through deconstruction and reconstruction. By folding and creasing, they have created art and design in its own form as installation art, sculpture, stage design and window display, etc.
The Sumerian Studio helps brands and clients tell their stories in creative and meaningful ways. Including both video and photo shooting production. We are working with different types of productions which include concert visual design, music video, cooperate video and event shooting.
