About the education
Location: Szent Gellért tér
Funside School’s newest course is a self-awareness and enriching creative workshop where participating children and young people can experience and learn tools and skills which help them to relax more consciously, manage stress and express themselves.
The 12-session course aims to help participants develop their confidence and creativity in an inspiring and safe environment. The sessions are for children who like to create carefree and are open to playfully acquire tricks and practices that help them to listen to their inner voice, observe their feelings and the environment around them.
Groups are divided according to age, so that we can work on age-appropriate topics (more on groups below).
Mindfulness sessions and art therapy workshop
Our activities develop children and young people’s creativity and social skills. Our courses offer the possibility to create together or to put ideas into practice individually, always emphasising the importance of self-expression. Through their creations, participants can freely express their emotions while learning to share them with others. Our sessions consist of playful activities that help to discover individual strengths and increase motivation. Participants will experience the importance of relaxation to help them regulate their emotions and manage stress.
There is also the possibility to work on self-awareness questions: depending on the dynamics of the group, we also use psychodrama, art therapy, play therapy and movement therapy. Group work also provides opportunities to develop cooperation and social skills. Work created here is not assessed, as our aim is to focus on each child’s own individuality and creativity.
It is important to know that the process is not a substitute for psychotherapy or specific (remedial) developmental care, if this is what the child needs. The pictures on this page were taken at Funside’s mindfulness and art camps, and our year-round sessions take place indoors in our Gellért Square classrooms.
Our teachers
Petra Bárány psychologist
I am Petra Bárány, a clinical psychologist candidate and yoga teacher. I have been running camps, yoga and mindfulness sessions for children at Funside since 2018. As a psychologist I work with both children and adults. In my work, I often use different relaxation techniques and I believe it is important for individuals to find their personal resources and the methods that best help them cope with different stress situations.
Beatrix Lőrincz art therapist
Over the past few years, my life has been centred around the joy of helping and creating. I am a qualified socio- and art therapist and community development group leader. I am currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in psychology to put my helping experience into a more focused perspective. During my training as a therapist, my own group sessions focused on the healing methodology of music and colour, which was later reflected in my own artwork. From the academic year 2021 I joined the teaching team of the Budapest School, where I am a mentor and teach creative classes, EQ sessions for primary school children, and take part in the organisation and delivery of afternoons.
Our courses
Grades 2-4 (1x60 minutes per week, Monday 15:45-16:45)
Our elementary school participants take part in 60-minute creative workshops tailored to the needs of their age group on Mondays, led by Beatrix Lőrincz, our art therapist.
The 12 group sessions offer children the chance to experience different artistic disciplines (music, visual arts, literature – and a fusion of all these). The aim of this fun and creative workshop is to use art therapy to help children sort out emotional turmoil, overcome anxiety and develop their social skills. The group format provides an opportunity for participants to experience effective ways of working with their peers through self-expression during sessions in a safe, accepting environment. All sessions will involve group or individual creations, which will be used not in an aesthetic capacity, but in communication with each other. The session requires no prior artistic training!
We welcome children who want to be more confident at school and want to learn about different art mediums through creative activities. In the course, they can experience how to be consciously present and be independent, collaborative and open at the same time.
Grades 5-8 (1x90 minutes per week, Tuesday 15:15-16:45)
Our upper school students participate in longer, 90-minute mindfulness-focused sessions on Tuesdays led by our psychologist Petra Bárány.
The aim of the 12 group sessions is for participants to gain a deeper self-awareness through the identification and acceptance of individual strengths and weaknesses, which, together with the development of social skills, helps to build healthy self-confidence. We will work on recognizing, becoming aware of and regulating one’s own emotions, as well as recognizing the emotional state of others, an important skill in building social relationships. The relaxation exercises used during the process play an important role in emotion regulation and stress management. In each session, art therapy exercises related to the specific issues are also used and explored. The group format provides an opportunity for participants to learn to communicate their own feelings and opinions effectively, to reflect on each other, and to develop their collaborative skills.
We welcome young people who feel that they would like to develop in the above areas, to connect more deeply with themselves and others.
First session: 7 November. Number of sessions: 12. Joining is possible until the 2nd session.
Grades 7-10 (2 weekly 1x120 minutes, Saturday 13:30-15:30)
For our oldest participants, we run 2 weekly 2-hour workshops on Saturdays, alternating between 2 instructors.
One of the aims of the 12 Saturday workshops is to help participants gain a deeper understanding of themselves through the identification and acceptance of their individual strengths and weaknesses, which, together with the development of social skills, will help them to develop a healthy self-confidence. In addition, the sessions will also give tha participants the opportunity to experience different artistic disciplines (music, visual arts, literature – and a fusion of these). The workshops will focus on recognizing, becoming aware of, and regulating one’s own emotions, as well as recognizing the emotional states of others, and the sessions will include deeper exploration of relaxation exercises, imagination and art therapy tools. During the longer Saturday sessions, mindfulness and the use of art therapy tools will allow participants to express their feelings and thoughts through free associations and non-verbally in a safe, supportive environment. Individual or group artworks will be created during the sessions.
We welcome young people who feel that they would like to develop in the above areas, to connect more deeply with themselves and with others. They would also like to try out and reinterpret different artistic techniques, and through this, understand themselves and the world better.
More information
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Classes
Course length
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Classes
Language of the classes
Hungarian