Kids to learn 'Happy Art' on TV

We all know that kids are imaginative and creative but their natural talents are not always channeled through art. Now Haha TV offers a four-month "Happy Art" teaching program that blends art and imagination.

"My gift to kids in China is the TV show. I will teach them how to change everything around them into art," says well-known Norwegian cartoonist Oistein Kristiansen, the TV presenter and teacher.

His mission is to help children learn to draw, so they can communicate their ideas better.

Every weekend from January through April, Kristiansen will show children and parents the joy of art. He will encourage children's constructive imagination through doodling, cartoon drawing, painting, paper craft and other expressions.

"As the famous Confucius said, 'One picture is worth 10,000 words'," says Kristiansen.

After graduating from the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in New York, Kristiansen has been delivering his unique blend of art and imagination to kids via TV in more than 40 countries and regions.

Before becoming a TV personality, Kristiansen set up the School of Constructive Imagination in Singapore to teach the foundations of creativity and animation.

In his view, imagination is more important than knowledge. "Knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand," he says. "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."

The program collaborates with Earthtree Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based company dedicated to children's art and creative thinking.

"We hope to provoke children's senses of art and open the door of imagination through interactive programs of fun," says Yang Wenyan, director of Haha TV.