Creating Beyond the Screen: Art, Nature, and Play at Create Hub-HOH

In March 2026, our Create Hub-HOH in Bacolod City finally opened alongside the operations of our three main program components - Technology, ICT Courses, and Arts. 

All of these components aim to holistically develop the digital readiness, literacy, and aptitude of Create Hub Users. The art component, in particular, is an initiative to ground the youth and children in cultivating their critical thinking, social-emotional learning, and visual literacy skills beyond the computer screen through free and guided art sessions.

To bring this vision to life for our guided sessions in Create Hub-HOH, we were joined by our partner program implementor, Amat-Amat. 

Amat-Amat is an organization based in Negros and conducts nature-based programs that blend arts and crafts for kids and kids at heart. Their outdoor sessions provide a vital space for children to connect with the world around them — offering a welcome alternative to screen time. Through unhurried, creative experiences, Amat-Amat opens unique learning avenues where children can play and explore, shaping how they see the world, little by little — which is literally what the local phrase "amat-amat" means. 

On 17 March 2026, Amat-Amat conducted the first arts session at Create Hub-HOH. Together with Teacher Czarina, Amat-Amat's founder, and HP, our Partnerships and Projects Officer, our Create Hub users had fun playing with their hands and creating a DIY salt dough. 

During their second session on March 24, Amat-Amat led three activities with the younger Create Hub-HOH users: a Storytelling session using picture books, a Nature Study and Walk where children observed the outdoors and made scientific sketches of what they found, and a Nature-Based Painting activity, where they extracted natural dyes from blue butterfly pea flowers and atsuete seeds to create their own paints.

The free and guided art sessions are conducted once a week, every Tuesday. The works of the children now decorate the walls of Create Hub-HOH, slowly filling the space with their creativity as they continue to hone their skills in navigating the world of tech.

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Create Hub is the flagship program of Create Foundation, offering all five solutions in its Create Framework: Digital Readiness, Digital Literacy, Computer Ownership, Internet Access, and Digital Upskilling. The hub's target users are children and youth who live in or are part of residential care facilities (RCFs) such as orphanages and crisis centers, as well as Offline Communities — including rural communities, urban poor areas, and indigenous people groups — who are experiencing digital exclusion.

Learn more about Create Hub here.