Stories by pupils

De Wondere pluim starts from a simple but powerful idea: young writers will continue to write later in life. Every child who writes a story takes a step inward as well as outward - they discover what they are thinking, feeling, dreaming. The texts - sometimes playful and absurd, sometimes adventurous and moving - leave a deep impression. Yes, there is an element of competition, but it is not only the result that counts. It is the ability to let your imagination run wild, try, start over and discover something of yourself again and again.

That writing continues when the children get older, is evidenced by an initial expansion with the pilot project Zinnenzee. In 2025, 90 secondary school students wrote a story. Many of them are former participants iof De Wondere pluim. A chain of imagination that continues to grow, year after year, generation after generation. Because those who get hold of the writing bug won't let go.

De Wondere pluim is a movement, in which children learn that their imagination matters, that their voices deserve sound and their words deserve space.

The MAS took the collection outside the museum walls for the first time in 2021. 35 collection pieces travelled to primary schools as inspiration for new stories about the city. A group of children chose these objects themselves. The result was as diverse as the collection itself: old telephones, a bird's beak, masks, a wooden camel, a papier-mâché dog ... Pupils who wrote a story inspired by an object, had a chance to win a place in the museum with their story.

Since 2021, the writing competition has been repeated every year. A jury, consisting of parents, children, professional jury members and MAS employees, choose the winners. The MAS honors the winners, the winning stories - read by the children themselves - can be listened to, and the accompanying objects are displayed in the Visible Storage.