ONNI Education

A simple activity for the beginning of a new term 🩷

When a new group comes together, children need more than time to learn each other's names. They also need opportunities to share something about themselves, discover what they have in common and begin to feel that they belong.

My Name Is Special is an easy activity to try with your own group.

You’ll need:

- a piece of cardboard or sturdy paper for each child
- markers or crayons
- stickers and other simple decorating materials
- glue, if needed
- optional small natural or craft materials that children can use to make their work their own

How to do it:

1. Write or help each child write their name clearly on the cardboard.
2. Invite the children to decorate their names with colours, pictures, stickers or other things they like.
3. Give them freedom to make their work personal – there is no single “right” way for it to look.
4. When everyone is ready, invite the children to show their work and share something about the choices they made.
5. Use the finished name artworks in the classroom, for example as part of a group display.

While creating, children become familiar with the letters in their own names and practise early literacy and fine motor skills. At the same time, they have an opportunity to express their interests, talk about themselves and build confidence in sharing their ideas with others.

And there is an important pedagogical layer too.

As ONNI's Head of Pedagogy Mervi points out in the video, simple activities like this can help children get to know one another and begin to feel that they belong in the group. What matters is not the finished artwork, but the opportunity for each child to communicate: this is my name, these are things that matter to me, and this is a little bit of who I am.

This activity is part of ONNI Months.

ONNI Months provides early childhood educators with ready-to-use lesson plans that turn research-based pedagogy into meaningful everyday learning.

This lesson is part of the Wonders of Me theme, helping children explore their identity, recognise their emotions and build a positive self-image.

We were curious: if a Finnish 18-year-old explored all 240 lesson plans in ONNI Months, which activities would stand out?

This summer, our summer employee Eden took on that challenge.

Her task was to explore the 240 ready-to-use lesson plans that make up ONNI Months and choose five activities that particularly caught her attention.

The result is a wonderfully diverse collection of activities, from identity and self-expression to science, sustainability and environmental awareness:

💛 My Name Is Special (Wonders of Me): exploring identity and self-expression

🌧 Make a Rainstick (Water Wonders): creativity, sound and sensory exploration

♻️ Sorting Recyclables by Sound (My Voice, My World): listening skills and sustainability

⛵ Float Your Boat (Water Wonders): inquiry, experimentation and early science

🐾 Protect the Animal Voices (My Voice, My World): empathy, nature and environmental awareness

Together with our Head of Pedagogy, Mervi, we'll explore the pedagogical thinking behind each activity and show how the principles of Finnish early childhood education can be brought into everyday practice.

We hope these ideas inspire educators everywhere and offer a glimpse into how research-based pedagogy becomes meaningful everyday learning.

🩷 A special thank you to Eden for the creativity, curiosity and dedication she brought to this project. Her work has helped us build a growing library of images and videos that will continue to support ONNI's communication and inspire educators around the world.

Greetings from around the world! 🌍

We're grateful to have passionate Country Representatives who are bringing ONNI's vision to life in their own communities.

Different countries. Different cultures. One shared vision: helping every child thrive through high-quality early childhood education.

Say hello to our global team in the comments and tell us, which country are you joining us from? 🇬🇷🇮🇳🇦🇿🇪🇸

A pine cone may seem ordinary to an adult.

To a child, it can become part of a story, a game, a discovery, or something entirely new.

Open-ended materials invite children to imagine, explore, and create their own meaning.

Sometimes, the simplest materials offer the richest learning opportunities.

📖 Read more in our latest blog:
Learning Environment as the Third Educator

👉 Link in bio.

More and more long-term studies are pointing to the same conclusion: warm relationships, emotional safety, and feeling truly seen in childhood may shape lifelong wellbeing more strongly than many traditional measures of success.

Research following people from childhood to adulthood has found that emotional connection and secure relationships can predict adult wellbeing even more strongly than factors like income or educational achievement.

Children do not only learn through lessons.
They learn through everyday interactions: how adults respond to them, whether they feel safe, whether their emotions are welcomed, and whether they feel they belong.

In Finnish early childhood education, these moments are not considered “extra”.

They are seen as the foundation for learning, confidence, resilience, and lifelong wellbeing.
Sometimes the smallest moments shape us the most.

ONNIEducation

A child’s sense of belonging shapes so much more than we often realise.

It affects how children participate, build relationships, express themselves, and experience learning every single day.

Positive group culture is built through small everyday moments: greeting each child warmly in the morning, making space for every voice, helping children join play, using encouraging words, creating predictable routines, and noticing when a child may need extra support or connection.

These moments may seem small to adults, but to a child, they can shape the feeling of: “I belong here.” “I am safe here.” “I matter here.”

Every child deserves to feel seen, valued, safe, and connected 💛

FinnishEducation PlayBasedLearning

Sometimes, learning begins long before an activity starts.

Before an educator says a word,
the environment is already communicating something.

You are welcome here.
You can explore.
Your ideas matter.

Or sometimes… something else.

In early childhood education, the learning environment is often called the third educator because it shapes how children feel, act, and learn every single day.

We explored this idea further in our latest blog:
Learning Environment as the Third Educator

👉 Link in bio.

Small details in the environment can shape children’s confidence, curiosity, and sense of belonging more than we often realise.

ONNI Education is built on expertise shaped through years of practical work in Finnish kindergartens and educational communities around the world.

ONNI’s work is shaped by experience in early childhood education, pedagogical leadership, teacher training, and everyday life with children and families.

That perspective shapes everything we create — from teacher training and lesson plans to parent collaboration and wellbeing-focused learning.

So when kindergartens collaborate with ONNI, they are not only receiving educational materials or training.

They are working with people who genuinely understand everyday life in early childhood education 🩷

Last week, we had the pleasure of welcoming Tarana Mohsunova to Finland for a learning visit.

During the day, we explored the key pillars of Finnish early childhood education, visited a local kindergarten, and spent time discussing how different systems support children’s learning and wellbeing.

What made the experience especially meaningful were the conversations — reflecting on inclusivity, everyday pedagogy, and the similarities and differences between Finland and Azerbaijan.

One insight that stood out in many ways was this:
In Finnish early childhood education, much is built on trust — in children, in teachers, and in the learning process.

These are the kinds of insights that begin to emerge when you step inside a kindergarten and experience it in practice.

Thank you, Tarana, for your thoughtful questions, reflections, and inspiring discussions 💛

When a child walks into a classroom,
learning has already started.

Not because of instructions or because of planned activities. But because of what the environment makes possible.

A thoughtfully designed space can invite children to explore, make choices, and become active participants in their own learning.

This is why in early childhood education,
we often say that the environment guides learning.

We explored this idea further in our latest blog:
Learning Environment as the Third Educator

👉 Read more through the link in bio

childdevelopment