Children in Japan and Cambodia create shared stories through dinosaur art

Makoto Manabe shared an experience where children in Cambodia and Japan collaborated on a continuous story through drawings.

Manabe visited Cambodia in January 2025 to speak about dinosaurs at a free art school and local primary schools in Siem Reap. In response, many children drew pictures of dinosaurs, including one of an 11-year-old boy's work featuring dinosaurs and butterflies. The following month, Manabe showed these drawings to children in Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate Prefecture, Japan.

The Japanese children then drew their own scenes to continue the narrative. One 10-year-old boy drew a scene where butterflies lifted a heavy dinosaur, while another child added a scene where the dinosaur sneezed and the butterflies flew away. These collaborative drawings functioned like a visual "renga," a form of linked poetry.