Children today play too much inside in computers, tablets, mobiles and watching TV which make them lazy, less active and affect their health negatively. This also isolates them from society and causes communication and socialization problems. In the project “100 steps” are involved 5 partners (4 kindergartens and 1 primary school) from different European countries: Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Croatia and Spain. Within this project we are looking for interesting and different motivating activities for children that would help to change their insufficient physical activity habits. Project general objective is to find ways of merging the world of smart devices that are attractive to children and their physical activities. There will be created so-called "Creative Backpack" that consists of different educational materials to the preschool teacher, as of: description of activities, subject plans, described physical activity game collection, video collection of appropriately understood and suitable experiments for the preschool children, introductions of ICT tools used during the project activities, and the like. "Creative Backpack" is a handy tool for either novice or for an experienced teacher, as well as for parents who are looking for new ideas how to spend quality time with their kids. As an International group we can find creative solutions because the professional training, experience and knowledge of participating teachers is different but complementary. The teachers will improve their teaching skills and will make teaching more attractive for the pupils by using ICT tools and other modern methods of teaching. Participants will find right balance between the use of ICT tools and physical activities, promote active learning, encourage the use of ICT tools and the interactive methods of teaching. The schools involved will exchange their teaching methods via training and the infusion of models of good practice, in order to make the process more effective and child centered. Additionally it will increase teachers' English language skills and motivation to use it for self-development and cooperation at European level. Outdoor learning will increase children's interest, tolerance and respect for the nature. We expect strong impact on school staff competences, personal attitudes and working experience. The communication between teachers and production of joint tangible project results will encourage the learning of partners languages, especially English that will be the working language of the project. Planned activities will have impact on children's physical competences and health, general knowledge about nature and climate, enhancing "learning by doing" and experiential learning, creative expression. Due to many family activities included in project we expect impact on family life, greater parents involvement in school's life and their children's learning.
In the "100 steps" project collaborated 4 kindergartens and 1 primary school across Europe, using their experience and knowledge to find diverse ways to use ICT in pre-school education.The project was inspired by a growing problem where children have become physically and socially inactive because of influence computer games, smart devices and television. Instead of banning the devices, our plan was to use them as a motivational tool in teaching. So we decided to find ways to use these tools to motivate the children to be physically active, communicate and collaborate. The general aim of the project was to find ways to integrate ICT with physical activities. In line with the goal, the project focus was on improving teachers' ICT skills. A survey, conducted before the start of the project, revealed that teachers have some ICT skills but they are one-sided and not very used in teaching process. The extra focus was on outdoor learning as it offers many opportunities for physical activity. The direct target group of this project was teachers of the participating organizations who benefit from the project: - learning tools for different activities in different environment - advancement of the pedagogical competences of early years education through the European exchange about the topic - improved skills in using ICT tools in teaching - get to know and to understand different European school systems - teachers acquire new teaching methods - improvement of foreign language competence (English) Indirect target groups were: - Children - all the activities were children oriented. Project activities contributed greatly in development of several key competences of pre-school children. - Parents, who were encouraged to be physically active and creative with their children, they facilitated implementation of many project activities and their feedback emphasized quality of this project. During the project we created so-called "Creative Backpack" that consists different educational materials to the preschool teacher, as of: description of activities, described physical activity game collection, video collection of appropriately understood and suitable experiments for the preschool children, introductions of ICT tools used during the project activities, and the like. "Creative Backpack" is a handy tool for either novice or for an experienced teacher, as well as for parents who are looking for new ideas how to spend quality time with their kids. The added value of the project was the possibility to carry out it transnationally. The teaching materials that are created throughout the project were prepared by kindergarten teachers and are considering especially the needs of an early childhood education. As an International group found creative solutions because the professional training, experience and knowledge of participating teachers were different but complementary. Our project results will stay in digital form and freely accessible by others as open educational resources at Project website, eTwinning Platform, school websites, EU Dissemination Platform.