DROPLET 2 AT THE SCHOOL
Playtime at Professor Escragnolle Dória Municipal School
16 de março de 2026
Among the Maxakali people, it is said that the Sun keeps returning to Earth because of the children. In some Bantu philosophical traditions, it is also said that when a child is born, a Sun is born too. During the visit to the Professor Escragnolle Dória Municipal School, Verônica Pinheiro, coordinator of the Ways of Knowing Selvagem Group, said she left with the feeling that many little suns had been lit after a day of conversations and play with the Droplet 2 activities.
The meeting took place last tuesday, on the 11th of march, at Professor Escragnolle Dória Municipal School which plays such a special role in Selvagem’s journey: it was there that the first dialogues and partnerships took place in Selvagem’s relationship with the school environment, creating together a space to imagine a more vibrant and joyful school for children, teachers, and staff, as well as for the birds and other creatures that also pass through there.
Veronica worked at the school as a reading room teacher from 2023 to 2025 and even after she left the partnership continued to thrive through Selvagem’s initiatives. On this visit, she returned to play with the children and try out some of the activities created to accompany the new episode of the Droplet Selvagem series, which explores the relationship between sunlight and life through photosynthesis.
Set to launch on March 18, 2026, Droplet 2 – Where life arises arrives with an animated video and a notebook offering new practices and knowledge to expand upon the studies that began with Droplet 1 – Sun traversers all, in 2025. Tracing the path of sunlight toward the leaves, passing through photosynthetic organisms such as algae, plants, and cyanobacteria, Droplet 2 explores the invisible transformations that convert light into matter and make life flourish.
And what better way to learn than playing? The Quilombola thinker Nego Bispo reminded us that "while we play doing things, we actually do them". It was in this spirit that Veronica took the "Sun Game" and the "Ozone Tag," activities present in Pingo 2, to see what could emerge from this pre-launch of the new pedagogical workbook.
Veronica Pinheiro presenting the activities of the Droplet 2 notebook to the class.
The Sun Game is a board game that invites children to imagine themselves inside this star. The path can be drawn on the classroom floor, with the children themselves acting as the pieces moving across the board, or set up using pieces cut out from the educational notebook. The game follows a journey that begins at the Sun’s core, where hydrogen atoms fuse and transform into helium, passing through the different layers of the Sun until the moment when light escapes and travels toward Earth.
Sun Game board, featured at the Droplet 2 notebook.
Along the game path, transformation cards and solar event cards influence the journey: sometimes the light moves forward, other times gravity pulls it back, and even an energy disturbance can change the course of the game. Thus, amid advances and setbacks, children use their bodies and imaginations to experience the physical and chemical processes occurring inside the Sun.
The activity that was supposed to last just a few minutes turned into a collective adventure. Tables became mazes, the route took on new paths, and curiosity kept the game going for over an hour.
Children playing the Sun Game.
Next came Pique Ozônio, a game of running, grouping, and splitting up that can transform any space into a small, dynamic atmosphere. The children take on roles in pairs as oxygen—the most common form of this element in nature—while others form trios to represent ozone, with one of them playing the role of the swift ultraviolet ray.
In this game, the ray tries to separate the pairs, but it is at that moment that something new can happen: a free oxygen atom finds another pair and forms a trio, creating the ozone that helps slow down solar radiation. Amid chases and improvised alliances, the molecules break apart and reassemble, showing that nature is made up of constant encounters, ruptures, and rearrangements. Contrary to what adults often say, what breaks or is lost isn’t always negative, because nature shows that reorganization may be necessary to take on a new form in the world.
Instead of just testing out activities, the gathering served as a way to give Droplet 2 a physical presence, a voice, and movement. “It was very energizing and uplifting,” said Veronica, who wrapped up the activities with a circle of conversation with the children to hear what they thought about playing, experimenting, and imagining together. In that afternoon, they were rays of sunshine, molecules in transformation, inhabitants of the atmosphere. From inside the classroom, they experienced the solar events that sustain life on the planet—a reminder that the sun that passes through the leaves, the air, and the Earth also passes through us, and sometimes shines even brighter when we learn together with presence.
May Droplet 2 continue to transform into a river far greater than we can imagine with the children’s blessing and permission!
Page from Droplet 2 notebook featuring the Pique-Ozônio activity.
If you wish to introduce the Droplet’s at your school or another educational setting and would like to learn more about the materials, please send an email to veronica@selvagemciclo.org.br.
It will be a pleasure to talk to you!