Award winner! Smart Work 2025: 70 Animal Stories
The Smart Work page presents everyday innovations and success stories developed by the employees of the City of Hämeenlinna.
At Runskila’s indoor pre-school group, early education teacher Katri Jauro is a pedagogue who always places the child at the centre of her work.
Fostering empathy and emotional skills is important to Katri. She has written 70 stories that address situations arising in children’s everyday lives. These linguistically rich animal stories deal with social situations, covering themes such as challenges with self-regulation, apologising and forgiving, self-esteem, honesty, bullying, wise choices, and a friend’s responsibility.
Each week, the circle of friends reads a story chosen to match a situation that has just come up in the children’s everyday lives. The stories are performed either as table theatre or acted out by adults. The children then discuss the lesson of the play together and think about different ways they could act instead. At the end of the performance, the children get to present their own solutions for how the story should end.
Parents report that children return to the stories and the discussions they spark at home too. The stories and their content have become part of the children’s everyday lives. Katri’s valuable work deserves recognition.
Developer
Katri Jauro, early education teacher