On the sidelines of the first Child Book Fair, al-Assad National Library is hosting workshops to teach children various arts and develop their talents.

The Fair kicked off on October 24 with the participation of thirty publishers from Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.

The Fair, organized by the Ministry of Culture, is the first of its kind which targets children and is a culmination of the efforts of the ministry’s directorates and the Syrian Publishers Union.

A number of artists participating in these workshops spoke about their content and purpose, as Khader Hamdan, Art Teacher of the Directorate of Child Culture at the Ministry, said that there are several workshops related to drawing, storytelling and drawing on faces.

He pointed out that in coordination with the Ministry of Education, children accompanied by their teachers were invited to practice arts under the supervision of specialized artists from the Directorate.

He added that these workshops allow children to use colors directly, which makes them daring to use them.

He noted that the artists draw initial designs on cardboard papers for the children to imitate  without allowing the parents or their teachers to intervene, leaving the children with a space to reveal their talents.

“I work with children in the field of painting on the faces, in addition to drawing the story where I tell the story to the children and then I ask them to draw what they deduced from the story in order to instigate imagination and build a personal approval for what they heard from the story,” said Hala al-Jari a fine artist.

The Fair will last till October 31st and includes artistic and literary activities in addition to a number of pavilions for children books.