ABOUT NATURE LOVING KIDS

Nowadays, the issue of environmental protection and environmental education is becoming increasingly urgent. Recognising the importance of this, 6 of our partner countries (Romania, Turkey, Italy, Poland, Latvia and Hungary) have decided to develop a programme for children called Nature Loving Kids (NLK), which will set them on the path toward environmental awareness and love of nature, thus contributing to the protection and care of our planet. However, environmental education is not only educationally beneficial for children, as research has shown that quality time spent outdoors supports young people's physical, psychological and cognitive development and health. 

Therefore, over the years, our primary goal has been to carry out a project that would help, develop and enrich the activities of the kindergarten teachers so that they could share their environmental education experience with the approximately 150 staff members and nearly 800 children of the participating kindergartens. Other highlights include the emphasis on the professional development of teachers in alternative approaches to nature; and equipping them with new ideas and techniques that they can apply to children with special educational needs in nature.

Another essential objective was to get children to spend as much time outdoors as possible and to get in close contact with the nature around them while developing their skills through nature-based play, inductive learning and exploration. 

 

In all 6 partner countries, different themes were explored, so participants were able to experience each occasion with various activities. 
 

C1 - A PATH TO THE NATURE:

The meeting in Poland aimed to get to know the partners and to discuss the project implementation, methodology and tasks, as well as the integration of outdoor education activities into a nature education programme.
 

C2 - GARDENING WITH KIDS FOR BEE-FRIENDLY GARDENS: 

In addition to presenting C1's project activities at the online meeting in Italy, the main objective of the training was to provide participants with innovative ideas and practices on integrating our 2nd theme, "Gardening with kids and bee-friendly gardens", into our nature education programme.
 

C3 - GARDEN TO TABLE: Grow, Harvest, Prepare and Share:

This online meeting in Turkey aimed to evaluate the C2 project activities and provide participants with tools, ideas and useful practices for Theme 3, "Garden to Table: grow, harvest, prepare and share".
 

C4- TREES, PLANTS & EDIBLE WILDS 

The aim of the meeting in Hungary was to evaluate the 1st year of the project process, the project activities of theme C3 and to discuss the analysis of the post-tests (POST). We also prepared the administrative and dissemination tasks for the 2nd project year. The purpose of the training was to share innovative ideas and best practices on how to manage our 4th theme, "Trees, Plants and Edible Wilds", in the project process.
 

C5 - ANIMALS IN NATURAL CYCLES

During the online mobility in Romania, we evaluated the project activities carried out during C4 and exchanged ideas and practices on how to address our 5th theme, 'Animals in natural cycles'.
 

C6 - SUSTAINABLE NATURE EDUCATION at KINDERGARTENS

During the meeting in Latvia, we evaluated the C5 project activities, and the work carried out over the past years. We started planning for the project administration, final report and dissemination activities. 

The aim of the training was to develop a long-term plan through a commitment to promote nature education through outdoor learning in our kindergartens.

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As a result of the project, we have established regular evaluation procedures:

 1) 2 PRE/POST TESTS for children to measure their progress 

 2) OBSERVATION SHEETS for teachers to evaluate and monitor their own and their children's work

 3) FEEDBACK COLLECTION AT WORKSHOPS/PARENTS' MEETINGS

 4) PARTICIPANT SATISFACTION QUESTIONNAIRES

5) We were present on social media (Facebook), where visitors were able to express their opinions through COMMENTS under the posts

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In addition, to showcase the PROJECT RESULTS AND RESULTS, we produced a project brochure, a website, an eTwinning platform, a social media group, a guide to nature-related activities, an international recipe book, a Flora & Fauna picture dictionary, a newsletter, and a sustainability and dissemination plan, in order to make our project as visible as possible to a broader audience, helping more people to start promoting environmental education.