Do you remember The DJ Kat Show?

 

As I mentioned in my previous post, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to continue my oil painting classes when we left my war-torn country. Nevertheless, I always stayed creative and productive.

One of my very first creative achievements in Switzerland was when my work was shown on The DJ Kat Show in 1988. I was over the moon. My mum and I had sewed and tinkered together a “DJ Kat Face” that you could hang on the door. Imagine our surprise when the host of the show Linda de Mol mentioned my name and showed our artwork on Live TV. A few days later we also received post and a gift from DJ Kat. It was his first Record disk and it wasn’t my last post from DJ Kat. I continued to send him drawings and won another Record disk. It was the lovely song “You never stopped me from loving you” by Sonia. Check out the official videos further down!

And as you see, I still have and cherish it all to this date. :-) Let's face it, keeping and cherishing our childhood memories alive, is what makes us who we are as adults. 

Today as a children’s books writer, storyteller, and Illustrator, I’m fully aware of the impact that stories and characters have on children’s minds. I also think parents MUST encourage their children to always find a way of creative activity. 

As much as Sport and dancing are important for the body, creative activities such as drawing, painting, crafting, sewing, photography, baking, cooking, singing, etc. are extremely important for the soul. The older we get, the more we realize the importance of creativity, because it brings us joy and happiness in the most difficult and challenging times in life! 

Check out my book recommendation about creativity "Lifelong Kindergarten" by author Mitchel Resnick. In kindergartens these days, children spend more time with math worksheets and phonics flashcards than building blocks and finger paint. Kindergarten is becoming more like the rest of school. In Lifelong Kindergarten, learning expert Mitchel Resnick argues for exactly the opposite: the rest of school (even the rest of life) should be more like kindergarten. To thrive in today's fast-changing world, people of all ages must learn to think and act creatively―and the best way to do that is by focusing more on imagining, creating, playing, sharing, and reflecting, just as children do in traditional kindergartens.

The DJ Kat show was a children's television program presented by the puppet DJ Kat and his friend Linda de Mol, the sister of Endemol founder John de Mol, which ran from 1986 to 1995. The next friend and host of the show was Steffanie Pitt. The show was first broadcast to Europe on satellite and cable channel Sky Channel and later on Sky One and Sky Europe. The show was aired every weekday morning and afternoon (and in later years, at weekends), and throughout its life was home to a particularly large number of imported animated series. A separate version of The DJ Kat Show was later created for the United States where it was aired on stations affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company.

DJ Kat was a puppet with a black leather jacket who loved spinning his records. He also liked to eat junk from the trash cans. His favorite dish was a jar of peas and carrots mashed together and his favorite drink was milk in a dirty glass. In the intro of the show DJ Kat would say the following line: "This is the DJ Kat show and I am DJ Kat...that's my name. It's a D and a J and a Kat with a K." The reason it is spelled with a K is because the Dutch spell cat with a k and Linda de Mol is Dutch. DJ Kat was originally performed by puppeteer Robert 'Robbie' Hahn.