The aim of the Faber-Castell “colourful world” tour is to provide children with creative activities to help them in their mental development. The journey starts on the 30th May, calling at ten cities in Germany and Scandinavia.

It’s a colourful world!

The tour provides a varied programme for children aged three to twelve: an articulated truck belonging to the Dachser transport & logistics company will drive right through Germany and Scandinavia – a total of 1600 km or 1000 miles – carrying a giant pencil, 12½ metres (40 ft) long and weighing about a ton. At ten stops along the way there are events to stimulate children’s creativity in a playful way and provide parents and teachers with ideas to encourage that creativity, matched to the ages of the children in their care. In the course of the tour, they will put together the world’s biggest book of children’s art, in ten volumes.

How can we make the world more colourful?

In each of the ten cities on the tour, a regional cultural partner – for example a theatre, a school for circus artistes, or a museum – will provide some activities for children and an interesting motif for the relevant volume of the book. The pictures will be created in a drawing and colouring tent, in which children have free rein to try out a wide variety of materials – supported by some creative teachers.

Anyone who wants can go on a journey in colour: questions such as “how do I mix purple?” will be answered and experimented with. And the children can test their knowledge in a playful way by taking part in an exciting quiz on the pencil stage.

The stops on the tour:

30 May – 1 June: Europa-Park, Rust
3 June 2009: Moritzplatz, Augsburg
4 June 2009: Jakobsplatz, Nuremberg
8 June 2009: Rathausplatz, Bad Homburg
9 June 2009: MP Xpress Plaza, Movie Park Germany, Bottrop
10 June 2009: Steintorplatz, Hanover
11 June 2009: Altstadtmarkt, Braunschweig
13 June 2009: Bahnhofsvorplatz, Kiel
14 June 2009: Danfoss Universe, Nordborg (Denmark)

and then the grand finale in Norway
16 June 2009: Aker Brygge, Oslo

Why the “colourful world” tour?

“We wish to be a creative and reliable companion throughout people’s lives, and so we’re interested in encouraging playful creativity in children. It’s very important for their mental development” explains Count Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell, the head of the family firm. “I’m looking forward to the many-faceted programme of this tour and the wide variety of contributions to the book of children’s art.”

For Faber-Castell, being a companion for life means developing educationally sensible materials, precisely matched to the needs of children of each age group. The company also supports parents and teachers in educating children to think in a creative and differentiated way. The “colourful world” tour is intended, amongst other things, to provide guidelines for that.

“It’s part of our responsibility to provide the conditions necessary for developing creativity in the next generations” says Bernhard Simon, management spokesman for the Dachser transport company. “Encouraging children to think in an independent way is the foundation of our common future in this colourful world.” Faber-Castell and Dachser are two family firms that do business all over the world, have a similar system of values, and put humans at the centre of things.


Press contact:

Dr Anna-Louise Hübner
“Colourful world” tour press office
Tel. +49 30 81884-123
Fax +49 30 81884-255
eMail: Anna-Louise.Huebner@cbe.de