Storytelling is an important part of transferring traditions, culture and getting to know each other better. ‘Wat een gemier!’ is a picture book with a corresponding in-depth package for children in which dealing with cultural differences and philosophizing about this theme is fundamental. By doing so, we bring children’s worlds of experience together and pay attention to appreciating and accepting differences and dealing with prejudices. The ultimate goal is to increase awareness of our multicultural society, migration, diversity, citizenship and to be open to other cultures.

This picture book tells the story of two different ant (mier in Dutch) colonies that, due to circumstances, meet and have to work together.

The story can be used to open up this dialogue at home and in class. The accompanying assignment cards have been developed to deal individually and collectively with the events and dilemmas in the book, in order to eventually find a solution for the end of the story.

This picture book has been written for children from age 7 to 10, but because it is a recurring theme, we would like to invite all children, parents and teachers to work on it together.

This book is the product of an idea and collaboration between Tanéa Tajiri and Sarike Gaillard. The *first version of the book with the assignment package (in Dutch) is now available.