monicaMONICA / CREATIVE NOTES
Monica’s Creative Notes
Meet Monica (詹以宁), a Hong Kong Primary 5 creator, through 40 bilingual notes on her drawings, handcrafts, performances, coding projects and playful learning.
As of October 2026, Monica (Zhan Yining, 詹以宁) is a Primary 5 student in Hong Kong. She explores drawing, handcrafts, LEGO building, piano, singing, recitation and writing. She also codes hands-on and explores AI-assisted creation. This site brings together her own work and ideas, collaborative interactive projects, and learning activities for her to explore.
BEHIND THE GAME
How did a memory of a Morandi exhibition find its way into her block game? Follow Monica’s ideas from an artistic palette to game rules and English words, as several interests meet in one project.
Read the story behind Crystal Blocks ↗A NEW CREATIVE STORY
From surprising hiding places at home to games with her grandfather after a move, Zhan Yining wanted to turn a childhood favourite into a game on the web.
Read how Hideout Club began ↗Curiosity & growth
Zhan Yining (Monica): A Hong Kong Student’s Art & AI Coding
Meet Zhan Yining (Monica), a Hong Kong Primary 5 student exploring art, music and hands-on coding with AI through playable games and a personal portfolio.
Read the note ↗02 / Curiosity & growthFrom a mountain walk to Dali: reading Monica’s writing
Explore Monica’s Chinese story about perseverance and English holiday account through their actions, details and changing feelings.
Read the note ↗03 / Curiosity & growthFollowing an idea across Monica’s portfolio
Follow connections between drawings, handmade objects, writing and interactive projects, with a practical route for exploring the collection.
Read the note ↗04 / Curiosity & growthAhead, behind, and carrying water home: perseverance in Monica’s writing
Read Zhan Yining’s perseverance essay through changes in movement, physical detail and a memorable description of carrying water.
Read the note ↗Art & making
Following the Lines of Monica’s Black-and-White Landscape
Look closely at Monica’s May 2026 landscape: clusters of dots, lines describing trees and houses, and waterways with small boats.
Read the note ↗06 / Art & makingA Heart-Shaped Home for the Earth in Monica’s Art
Explore how Monica’s Cherish Resources, Care for Life brings the Earth, a tree and marine animals together inside a heart-shaped picture.
Read the note ↗07 / Art & makingThree Ways to Imagine in Colour: Landscapes, Rabbits and a Portrait
Compare three works by Monica to explore colour in a textured landscape, a rabbit-filled fantasy scene and a coloured-pencil character portrait.
Read the note ↗08 / Art & makingTwo Handmade Fans: Lettering, Ribs and Soft Decorations
Explore Monica’s Reunion Fan and Pink & Lilac Fan through their lettering, open spaces, ribs, pom-poms and tassels.
Read the note ↗09 / Art & makingCloth, Dots and a Dessert Menu: Exploring Monica’s Handcrafts
Compare Monica’s patterned cloth, polka-dot pumpkin and dessert booklet to explore colour, three-dimensional surfaces and page-by-page design.
Read the note ↗10 / Art & makingInside Monica’s LEGO Handbag: Colour, Details and Structure
Explore the LEGO handbag Monica assembled, from its purple handle and colourful patterns to its pineapple charm, miniature roller skate and opening interior.
Read the note ↗11 / Art & makingThe Rabbits’ Mushroom House: Several Little Stages on One Page
A close look at the rabbits, mushroom house and rainbow scratch lines in Monica’s scene, with ways to read its overlapping spaces.
Read the note ↗12 / Art & makingCube Study: How Three Values Build a Sense of Space
Explore the light, middle and dark faces, hatching and cast shadow in Monica’s pencil study of a cube.
Read the note ↗13 / Art & makingLines and Colours: Looking Before Naming
Follow looping black lines, pale textured marks and scattered colour dots in Monica’s drawing without rushing to identify a subject.
Read the note ↗14 / Art & makingThe Pony’s Room: Reading a World Through Its Objects
Look around the bed, bathtub, ladder and sweet dispensers in Monica’s picture, and discover how objects suggest a world around a character.
Read the note ↗15 / Art & makingAn Imaginary Travel Plan: Pictures and Ideas Sharing a Page
Read the relationships between large fantasy figures, tiny people and handwritten ideas in Monica’s lively illustrated travel plan.
Read the note ↗16 / Art & makingGirl with Orange Hair: Contours, Eyes and a Flower
A close reading of the framing hair, large eyes, flower and collar in Monica’s coloured-pencil portrait drawing.
Read the note ↗17 / Art & makingPaper Doll in a Red Dress: A Figure Built from Edges
Look at the hair, smiling face, pink top and leafy red skirt of Monica’s paper doll, and examine how cutting and layering shape a figure.
Read the note ↗18 / Art & makingMini Paper Handbag: The Clues That Make a Bag
Examine the red handle, orange body, pink flap and small tab that make Monica’s miniature paper handbag recognisable.
Read the note ↗19 / Art & makingMint-Green Origami Hearts: Similar Forms, Different Folds
Compare the centre creases, upper notches and edges of Monica’s two paper hearts to notice differences within a repeated form.
Read the note ↗20 / Art & makingColourful Paper-Strip Collage: What Happens at an Overlap
Look closely at translucent overlaps, changing directions and the dark surrounding space in Monica’s colourful paper-strip collage.
Read the note ↗21 / Art & makingThe paper is still, but the little dancer seems to move
Look at outstretched arms, bent legs and a sweeping ponytail in Zhan Yining’s pencil drawing of a little dancer.
Read the note ↗22 / Art & makingA passport made of food pictures: inside Monica’s sticker booklet
Explore six photographs of Zhan Yining’s Food Passport, from its orange cover to themed spreads of food stickers.
Read the note ↗23 / Art & makingPudding for three, jelly for four: Monica’s little dessert menu
Explore Zhan Yining’s imaginary dessert-shop menu through its checked cover, handwritten prices and space for responses.
Read the note ↗24 / Art & makingClosed, a tin; open, a little world: Monica’s Relaxation Box
Two photographs reveal Zhan Yining’s Relaxation Box, from its handwritten lid to the paper and other materials inside.
Read the note ↗25 / Art & makingA bear and a flower: two ways Monica’s building blocks take shape
Compare Zhan Yining’s brown block bear and flowering plant through their silhouettes, colours and assembled details.
Read the note ↗Music & performance
Monica Plays Windy Hill: A Piano Performance with an Ensemble
Monica’s Windy Hill recording lasts 3 minutes 14 seconds. The page identifies a joint performance with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra and offers a starting point for listening.
Read the note ↗27 / Music & performanceVoices Meeting in Moonlight: Monica’s Joint Choral Performance
Explore Monica’s Moonlight choral record, featuring the Vienna Exchange Choir and Shenzhen Over the Rainbow Children’s Choir at a China–Austria friendship concert.
Read the note ↗28 / Music & performanceGiving a Poem a Voice: Monica Recites Firefly
Monica recites Firefly by Xiang Ming in a recording with Chinese and English subtitles. Explore ways of attending to voice, expression and written words.
Read the note ↗Coding & playful learning
The colours she wanted to play with: Monica’s Crystal Blocks story
From a childhood Morandi exhibition to Mondrian-inspired geometry, Zao Wou-Ki-inspired atmosphere and English words, Monica connects her interests through Crystal Blocks.
Read the note ↗30 / Coding & playful learningMonica’s Vibe Coding: A Hong Kong Student Turns Ideas into Games
How Hong Kong Primary 5 student Zhan Yining (Monica) brings her interests into game design through natural language, AI-assisted coding, play and revision.
Read the note ↗31 / Coding & playful learningMelody Garden: turning a little tune into a visible landscape
Six piano miniatures, four-lane rhythm play and a picture book connect music, interactive design and Monica’s drawings.
Read the note ↗32 / Coding & playful learningFruit Merge: choosing a landing spot and leaving room
From cherries to watermelon, explore matching, first-contact previews and basket space in Monica’s Fruit Merge game.
Read the note ↗33 / Coding & playful learningWonder Town: making a little story out of your day
Explore outfits, home spaces, bead patterns, drinks and neighbour requests in Monica’s Wonder Town.
Read the note ↗34 / Coding & playful learningHideout Club: choosing where to hide and how to leave
Explore cover, routes and a computer-controlled hunter across three scenes, then arrange a hideout of your own.
Read the note ↗35 / Coding & playful learningMath Adventure Island: a place for each idea you work out
Eleven topic groups connect numbers, estimation, area and fractions with small missions, hints, a repair station and hands-on models.
Read the note ↗36 / Coding & playful learningStory Lab: from a mixed-up recipe to the missing sugar
Two original lessons connect fractions, equivalent recipes, dissolving and fair tests through a recipe mix-up and a missing-sugar mystery.
Read the note ↗37 / Coding & playful learningThe hiding places that became a game: Monica’s Hideout Club
From surprising her family at home to playing with Grandpa outdoors, discover the real memories behind Zhan Yining’s Hideout Club.
Read the note ↗38 / Coding & playful learningYellow, purple, repeat: a closer look at Monica’s paper snake
Follow the alternating colours, folds and winding form of Zhan Yining’s handmade paper snake.
Read the note ↗39 / Coding & playful learningA console covered in little moods: Monica’s sticker collage
Look at raised stickers, a game-console frame and open space in Zhan Yining’s pale blue and pink collage.
Read the note ↗40 / Coding & playful learningWhat is behind the paper strips? Monica’s Moca Surprise Draw
Squared paper, coloured strips and handwritten notes make a small physical game in Zhan Yining’s collection.
Read the note ↗About these notes
Profile information was supplied by her family. These notes were prepared by the Monica portfolio editorial team from the original works, performance records and playable projects on this site, with AI-assisted writing and translation. Descriptions of existing work are distinguished from activities readers may try. The articles are editorial introductions, not first-person accounts written by Monica.
Each note links to the original work or a playable project. The Primary 5 profile is dated to information supplied by her family in October 2026; it will be updated as she progresses through school.
Chinese and English editions have their own pages. The language links take you to the same note in the other language. To begin with the works themselves, return to Monica’s Little World.
Open Monica’s portfolio ↗Creative projects & invitations
For conversations about Monica’s art, performances, coding projects or learning activities, please contact her family. Interview, exhibition and event invitations are also welcome.
- Family contact · WeChat
- jimsgrouphk