The winner of the "Build your own Moominhouse" creative competition was grade 1B of Paide Hammerbeck Basic School

In the "Build your own Moominhouse" creative competition, a kindergarten or school class had to jointly make a Moominhouse according to their own vision. The competition received drawings, houses made of wood, cardboard or other handy materials, clay sculptures, and Lego buildings, that were captured in a photo or video. Afterward, the videos and pictures were uploaded to Prisma's Facebook page, where everyone interested could vote for their favourite. A jury consisting of representatives of Prisma and the Finnish Institute also selected their favourites from among the submitted works.

According to Teemu Kilpiä, Country Manager of Prisma Estonia, the Moomins have been loved for 80 years because they combine the warmth of home, togetherness, and creativity. "Both children and adults find solace in the world of the Moomins. Our goal was to inspire children to use their imagination, collaborate, and build their own version of the Moominhouse, where the door is always open. The fact that as many as 184 kindergarten and school classes took part in the competition shows how beloved the Moomins are among Estonian children."

"Deciding on the winner was very difficult, because all the works were creative and worthy of an award. First place winners, the children in grade 1B of Paide Hammerbeck Basic School, collaborated impressively with each other – they each had their own task and role. In addition, they used lots of different techniques and materials. A particularly nice touch was the children's own photos inside the Moominhouse. Second place winner, grade 3B of Rapla Vesiroosi School, had furnished their Moominhouse in great detail and masterfully, using toothpicks, popsicle sticks and other things at hand," Kilpiä added.

"The Moominhouse is not just a blue tower-shaped building, but a symbol of home, imagination and tolerance. All the works were so beautiful and lovely and it was difficult to choose only one recipient of the special prize, so we chose three!” said Head of the Finnish Institute, Hannele Valkeeniemi.

She added: “Maikellukesed, the 12th group of Jõgeva Kindergarten Rohutirts, had boldly recycled some interesting materials, such as egg cartons and paper rolls, as befits Moominworld. The Moominworld by the 2nd and 3rd graders of Käru Basic School offers a very diverse and fascinating view, where fantasy characters naturally blend into the Moomin stories – as if they had always been there. It’s a world where everyone fits and where each character finds their place. Similarly, the Tõrukesed class of Alutaguse Kindergarten showed that snow can also be used to create a feeling of home – with their Moominhouse standing in the middle of the winter joy of discovery. This is exactly the kind of fun and diverse world we would like to be in."

Prize-winning places:

• First place, along with 500 euros worth of products from Prisma for creative activities, went to grade 1B of Paide Hammerbeck Basic School

• Second place, along with 300 euros worth of products from Prisma for creative activities, went to grade 3B of Rapla Vesiroosi Basic School

• The Mesimummu class of Kuressaare Ida-Niidu Kindergarten, with 1,300 likes, was the favourite among Facebook users and received 200 euros worth of products from Prisma for creative activities

• The Finnish Institute's special prize and books by Finnish authors were awarded to Maikellukesed, the 12th class of Jõgeva Kindergarten Rohutirts, and to the 2nd and 3rd grade (combined class) of Käru Basic School, and to the Tõrukesed class of Alutaguse Kindergarten.

A total of 184 works by kindergartens and primary schools were submitted to the creative competition. All Estonian counties were represented, with the largest number of works submitted by Harju (66), Tartu (22), and Rapla (13) counties. On social media, the submitted works received a total of almost 17,000 likes (16,978 likes as of 3 April at 00:10).

The youngest participants were from the Liivatera class of Pärnu Mai Kindergarten, which includes eight wonderful children aged 1.8 to 2.7, and from the Siilikesed class of Haapsalu Kesklinn Kindergarten, where children aged 1.5–2 created a sweet Moominhouse out of biscuits, in addition to the traditional design.

Check out the winning works here.

Check out all the works here.