Due to our experiences emotional development has been pushed into the background at the traditional early childhood education. We believe that emotions are playing an increasingly important role in childhood socialization. Our program aims to develop the emotional and social intelligence of children at the age between 2.5 and 7 years which could largely determines behavior, influences their reactions in social situations and conflict resolution. Emphasis is placed on experiencing and detecting emotions. We support children about the learning process to recognize, distinguish and formulate their emotions. We want to strengthen those qualities that stabilize their creative identity in various activities within the institution with friends and family. At the parental discussions we initiate parents into the project and provide them with the opportunity to participate actively to organize and transact programs. During the implementation children become acquainted with various techniques which reflect on the establishment of trained, broad-minded and objectively enforceable personality traits. We want them to strive for harmony between emotion and rationality, expressing non-violent emotion verbally and actively. It is important for us to give a sample and open communication channels to establish and strengthen social relationships. They can choose from joint activities and cooperative opportunities that can be used to coordinate and validate individual and community interests. As a first step all participating organizations familiarize themselves with the Erasmus + project and create a "corner" that provides insight into participating countries, organizations, current activities and results. During the preparation period we collect the emotional qualities from which we select the ones to be processed by means of free play, various methodological areas and tools of the arts. We define specifically the processes, methods and forms of communication of the topic. We set priorities and deadlines for the tasks. We record the forms of documentation of the partial results, the subtasks to be prepared for the project meeting and the presentation method. We create an Erasmus + Application Blog and ensure continuous tracking. At the project meetings all countries present their experiences from the same selected and processed emotional area by ppt presentation. Evaluating the results together and choosing the right games for the game collection. Preschoolers present the children's game and song which has sent before to the participants of the project meeting. Teaching a common drama game for the teachers participating in the project meeting. In local media and in a professional newspaper we report on our cooperation with the international framework, informing about the results of our Erasmus + project and the partner meetings we have implemented. Sharing our experiences during the implementation we compile a common collection of games at the end of the program which includes the professional innovation that created as an intellectual product during the project. We make it available in printed form to the teachers in all the kindergarten groups of our institution and the participating countries for later use. On professional days we show the visitors the project photos and the outstanding products of the realization. At the end of the project we make a final evaluation that includes the expected results and experiences, thoughts and suggestions.
From the 1st of September 2019 to the 30th of March 2022 an international project was implemented within the framework of the Erasmus + application together with Hungarian, Transylvanian and Spanish partners. Participating institutions: Hungary as coordinator: CSILLAGVÁR KINDERGARTEN Hajdúböszörmény Spain: ESCUELA INFANTIL "EL ALMENDRO Colmenar Viejo Romania: GRADINITA DE COPII HOFEHERKE CU PROGAM PRELUNGIT Sfantu Gheorghe The title of the tender is "Living and expressing emotions among preschool children age between 2.5 and 7". Our main goal is to exchange good practices. At the international cooperation our program aims to develop the emotional and social intelligence of children aged between 2.5 and 7, which greatly determines their behavior, influences their reactions in social situations and their ability to resolve conflicts. The development of emotional intelligence is essential and must be present from an early age in our educational work to help children identify, live, demonstrate, differentiate, articulate and deal constructively with their emotions. While thinking together with our partners we looked for common solution points and methods, through which we got to know each other's pedagogical work and educational experiences. Thus our project went beyond institutions, borders and became multicultural. Four pairs of emotions were processed: joy-sadness, love-anger, courage-fear, calm-impulsive. Children are becoming increasingly able to control their emotions but they still need help to do so. We planned the necessary activities and games in a differentiated way, taking into account their age development. We promoted the differentiation of their emotions and increased the persistence of their positive emotional state. We influenced all this with loving pedagogical processes. There was a need for positive reinforcement, in addition to discussing experiences in a relaxed atmosphere, as well as stress-relieving, relaxing, self-disciplined games. We assembled a child measurement device that was used to measure the input / output of each emotion pair. The input / output measurement of the teachers was performed with a questionnaire survey on Google. Professional planning was implemented in the children's groups of the institutions using a project method. Diverse, colorful, interesting topics appeared. Tested games used during implementation. During the online meetings and mobilities we shared the selected games with each other (via ppt), which are part of our common game collection. The content of our application was smooth, thanks to the coordinated cooperation. Despite the epidemic 2 mobilities have been successful. Our educational team has become characterized by an open, innovative approach and the search for new, efficient procedures. As a result of the work of the professional teams jointly developed solutions made our topic processing more and more effective. We used more productive, more original, age-appropriate methods. Over time educators from all participating nations have developed following a similar line. Parents as indirect partners were pleased to see a positive change in their children’s reactions, which strengthened the parent-child and teacher-parent relationship. The children took part in the thematic discussions with pleasure and voluntarily, which also contributed to the success of the implementation of the application. Numerical measurement data and facts also support the efficiency of our team work. Their emotional intelligence, communication, positive change in their behavior can also be experienced, the number of their conflicts decreases perceptibly, they recognize, formulate and differentiate their emotions more effectively. The unexpected virus situation forced us to change the schedule. We were pleased that the pre-determined tender date had been changed, so that allow us a second mobility to take place in Spain. As part of the dissemination we reported on the progress of our application in the local press, TV and social media. Educators continue to use tried and tested games and methods after the end of the project. The theme of the project is eternal, always topical, so it is reworked every year as the composition of the group of children changes. The theme of the project was also incorporated into the master program of a kindergarten teacher-entiteled “living and expressing emotions with the help of fairy tales”. We are planning to pass on the acquired knowledge and experience to interested professionals and families through lectures, conferences and related workshops. Our partner in Transylvania plans to advertise drawing competitions entitled “Happy children on the border from here and beyond!”, “Empire / Island of Love”, embracing and expressing emotions. Our Spanish partner aims to incorporate emotion development into their Central Education Project. The results achieved have confirmed that there is NO LEARNING WITHOUT EMOTION!