“Children learn better when they are in a safe socio-affective climate, when they relate pleasantly with parents, educators and others around them” John Bennet,UNESCO,2004. The project Happy children’s build self confidence through games and stories is mainly addressed to teachers who carry out learning activities in early education as well as children between the ages of 3 and 7 of our kindergarten.Being the largest kindergarten in Ialomita county, kindergarten of application for the Pedagogical High School in Slobozia, where the future teachers in the field of early education are trained, with a team that combines the experience of the age with the desire of professional development of the young educators, with a good collaboration with community, we want that through this project we develop personal and institutional, at the level of European standards. The project will be implemented as part of a partnership with school organizations from Italy, Spain, Turkey, Slovenia, Portugal, with significant experience in implementing Erasmus + projects.The Dumbrava Minunata kindergarten, although it has no experience in coordinating an Erasmus project, has the experience of successfully carrying out educational projects and partnerships at local/regional/international level.Following the SWOT analysis at the kindergarten level, there was a weak integration of the personal development games and of the motivational stories in the teaching-learning-evaluation activities of the teachers,in the context of the excessive access in the family environment of gadgets by children from a very early age.Early education should provide a social, cultural and physical space, safe and welcoming in which children benefit from a number of possibilities to develop their potential.The project will be based around sharing first-year practices internationally,networking and collaborating to share and provide exciting and creative learning experiences to inspire and motivate children.We aim to use this project to improve children's attitudes towards learning,well-being and creativity development through play and story,by educators.The project aims to exchange experience and best practices in tools and methods, increasing access to quality education and care of preschoolers, by adopting new tools and methods, modernizing existing ones, testing methods from one country to another. The project activities include the organization of virtual and physical meetings, as well as mobility in each country, which will facilitate the exchange of experiences and best practices between the participating organizations regarding the developments in each country regarding early education. as tools, methods and activities. applied or implemented by partners and have achieved positive results.We believe that this project will have a positive impact on all those involved, removing the barriers to learning, coping and working together and then we will use our research and experiences to disseminate the acquired knowledge,during the LLT focused on the next topic: Kindergarten makes the difference;Creativity in teaching and training and how to use games/ stories in developing children's self -confidence;The nature of early learning. Using resources (games/ stories) to inspire practice;Contexts and tools for developing self – esteem of children;Providing all our children the best start for the world of tomorrow;Emotional development in young children. Achieving the goals of this strategic partnership between schools will have an important effect on all groups involved (children, parents, teachers, the local community), because it will change the perception of the responsibility of everyone's involvement to provide a good start in the lives of children and a quality education. The project will disseminate its results by producing and distributing a good practice guide of the project, as well as testimony. In addition, a final dissemination event will be organized in Slobozia, which aims to promote the results of the project to local, regional and national authorities, agencies and organizations. All project materials will be uploaded to partner sites and social media pages, as well as to the Erasmus + project results platform. Increasing access to high quality education and care for preschoolers is a widely recognized priority in the world and also a priority of the Romanian education system, for involving children in culture, raising aspirations, building trust and improving health and well-being. Finally, the exchange of best practices with relevant authorities and organizations could lead to new approaches to respond to the specific educational needs of early education and to the design and implementation of more efficient and targeted policies, thus providing quality educational services.
"Children learn better when they are in a safe socio-emotional climate when they have pleasant relationships with parents, educators and others around them" John Bennet, UNESCO, 2004- this motivational quote proved valid through the implementation of the Erasmus+ project. The project "Happy Children Build Self-confidence through Games and Stories" was mainly addressed to teachers who carry out learning activities in kindergartens with age groups between 3 and 7 years. The project was implemented as part of a partnership with school organizations from Italy, Spain, Turkey, Slovenia, and Portugal that had significant experience in implementing Erasmus+ projects. The project's coordinator was Dumbrava Minunata Kindergarten, Slobozia, from Romania. The main aim of the partners was to use this project to improve children's attitudes towards learning, well-being and the development of creativity through games and stories. Partners also shared experiences and best practices in using different tools and methods to increase access to quality preschool education by adapting new tools and methods to their programs, modernizing existing ones, and comparing methods across countries. The project was planned to be carried out between 2020 and 2022, although, due to the pandemic, it was extended by another year and completed in 2023. From the beginning until the first mobility that took place in April 2021, all meetings were performed, virtually. During that time, the activities carried out by the countries were also shared and uploaded to Twinspace. The project activities included the organization of virtual and physical meetings as well as mobility in each country, which would facilitate the exchange of experience and best practices between partners on the developments in each country regarding early childhood education, including tools, methods and activities. LTT focused on the topics below: 1-Kindergarten makes a difference; 2-Creativity in teaching and training and how to use games/stories in developing children's self-confidence; 3- Nature of early learning by using resources (games/stories) to inspire practice; 4- Context and tools for the development of children's self-esteem; 5-Giving our children the best start for tomorrow's world; 6-Emotional development in young children. The 6th mobility also included the final evaluation seminar, where each partner shared their experiences during the project activities and the results that can be observed in both teachers and students. All the expected results were fully achieved, being valuable educational resources for early education. All partner countries carried out the dissemination of the project through the use of school websites, the project website, Twinspace, Erasmus corners, newsletters, meetings with parents and teachers, seminars, the European platform for results, etc. These experiences equipped the practitioners with new inspiration and motivation to build their practice and to build international links for future projects, as well as to work together to develop a portfolio of collaborative projects. Dumbrava Minunata Kindergarten has been coordinating pedagogical practice at the local level since 2018. Since 2021, it has been designated by ministerial order, at the national level, as an application unit within Practice Base no.1 - Matei Basarab Pedagogical High School, proving a professional recognition of teaching staff in the unit. Thus, we have the responsibility of training teachers/staff in early education who will identify the needs of our children and provide guidance to learn the skills necessary to cope with life situations. During the project, students from high school participated in the activities and benefited from the project's results. The participants of this project have acquired professional skills. They will form children with initiative, curiosity, experimenting, perseverance, children with high self-esteem, and flexibility in thinking to find solutions in any circumstance and to achieve their goals in life day by day. The exchange of best practices between schools led to new approaches specific to the special needs of early education and to the most efficient implementation of educational policies, which led to the achievement of the proposed objectives and quality education. In conclusion, Erasmus+ is a life experience that will help us become a new person while discovering new cultures and meeting people with the same interests all over the European Union.