Description
As children cannot see enough practical models from previous generations they can’t follow the environment conscious behaviour such as energy saving or waste selection. This project aims to help children experience this behaviour through games and art activities which put theoretical environmental concepts into practice. The main project activity - a common event day when children create a garden installation which will be an incentive and model for other communities as well. Project activities have a community building role and new educational approaches towards environmental issues are realized. The direct target groups are nursery and elementary school children aged betweeen 5-12 in Nagykanizsa, Hungary but also parents and school teachers are involved in the activities. The expected long-term effect of the project is that children will have a more responsible and active environment conscious lifestyle and when they grow up they will promote people in their community follow this behaviour.
Summary of project results
Responding to the general low level of environmental awareness and the lack of sustainable behaviour patterns children could follow the project developed an innovative, art and experience based environmental education program, and tested it in Nagykanizsa city, in cooperation with one kindergarten and 6 primary schools. Altogether more than 200 pupils and teachers were involved in a chain-like serial of events in the framework of which they participated in different thematic workshops. Following the storyline of a tale written by Imre Kamondy, a contemporary Hungarian writer, 18 indoor workshops focused on the topics of waste, water, energy (fire), air (wind), soil (earth) and time during and by the end of which participating children constructed a joint exhibition. These workshops were complemented by an outdoor excursion, and closed by an “odds and ends” day, where the exhibition was opened with waste-related performances. Despite its small scale this project resulted in a unique educational tool that has widen the toolkit of environmental education and contributed to the environmental awareness of the younger generations in Nagykanizsa.
Summary of bilateral results