Play is an unquestionable right for all children and young people and is a basic activity in the life and global development of people. Play is in its essence an end in itself. In a secondary level, play can also be a tool with which to work cross-cutting skills. Through play and concretely through board games, cognitive and social development is fostered: rules are learned and assimilated, thought and strategy are stimulated, decisions are made, conflicts are resolved, and interaction is carried out. Play has a decisive role in the integral development of children and young people from an emotional, physical, intellectual and social well-being perspective. The Domus Ludens Project- A House that plays has as general objective improving - through play, and in particular board games - the subjective wellbeing and acquisition of skills of young people in residential care. This is a vulnerable population segment that enters residential care centres after having suffered a situation of neglect or abuse in their family of origin. They often suffer emotional needs and other associated difficulties such as attention deficits, impulsivity and sociability issues. According to our experience, protection services tend to prioritize actions focused on the promotion of education, employability, autonomy, and the relationship with the family of origin, and often relegate the benefits of play and games as a tool of integral development to a secondary level, either by a lack of training, space or resources. This general objective will be achieved through 3 specific objectives: SO1: To train educators from residential care services as ludic agents: a figure able to analyse the specific context and needs of youngsters in care, and based on an evaluation, structure board game spaces in a programmed and sustained way. SO2: Implement the right to play in residential care services through a specific play program based on board games and the presence of the ludic agent. SO3. To evaluate the impact of the figure of the ludic agent and the board game programme in the subjective well-being and the acquisition of competences of young people in residential care. The project involves 5 partners from 3 European countries with 3 complementary profiles: 1) services providers for youngsters in care (Resilis Foundation (Spain), S & S gem Gesellschaft für Soziales mbH (Germany) Fundacja Samodzielni Robinsonowie (Poland) 2) experts in games (Cooperativa La Juganera (Spain)) 3) with academic expertise (University of Gerona (Spain). Three intellectual products will be developed: The first two will consist of a "Guide on Board Games" (IO1) and a "Ludic Agent Manual" (IO2) which will include methodologies and contents to effectively use board games to improve the skills and well-being of young people in care. Afterwards, the project will organize a short-term joint staff training event: youth workers will participate in a 5-day training to become ludic agent trainers, using as methodological basis the contents of the intellectual products IO1 and IO2. The participants, trained as ludic agents' trainers, will replicate the knowledge learnt in national trainings, training a total of 30 youth workers from Spain, Poland and Germany. These 30 youth workers trained as ludic agents will apply their knowledge in 8-month pilot experiences in their organizations in which they will implement structured board game spaces with a minimum of 100 young people in care. The pilot experience will be evaluated by the University of Girona. The results and conclusions of the evaluation will be the core of the third intellectual product IO3. "Evaluation of the impact of participation in play spaces in a regular and systematic way on the acquisition of skills and the well-being of young people in residential care". The project results will be disseminated through national conferences (E1) in each of the partner countries (Spain, Germany and Poland). Four transnational meetings will be organized. A project website and 4 dissemination newsletters will be also created. The expected impacts will be: 1) Improvement of personal skills and general well-being of around 100 youngsters from Spain, Germany and Poland 2) Improvement in the climate of coexistence in the residential centres in which these young people live, c) training of 30 youth workers as ludic agents d) Awareness of public authorities and organizations in the field of child and youth care on the benefits of promoting the right to play and making training tools available to them d) improvement of the relationship of young people with their immediate surroundings, specifically the school and the community.
General goal: To improve the subjective well-being and the acquisition of personal competencies of young people in residential care through play. Specific Objective 1: To qualify and train educators of residential care services as play agents: a figure able to analyse the specific context of young people in residential care and based on an assessment to structure play spaces in a programmed and sustained way. Specific goal 2: To implement the right to play in residential care services through a specific play programme based on board games and the play agent in the framework of 8-month pilot experiences. Specific goal 3: To evaluate the impact of the play agent and the play programme on the subjective well-being and the acquisition of competencies of young people in residential care.
Play is an unquestionable right for children and young people (Article 31 CRC). Play, in its essence, is an end in itself, not a means to an end. On a second level, play is a tool for working on transversal skills and has a determining role in the integral development of children and young people from a perspective of emotional, physical, intellectual and social well-being. Despite all these considerations, play and its variants are often considered a non-essential element. The project hypothesises that a structured and sustained implementation of play (with a specific focus on board games) can have a positive impact on the improvement of skills (planning, organising, goal setting, decision making, collaboration, action skills) and well-being of young people with a specific profile, who are in residential care. Protective services tend to prioritise actions focused on the promotion of education, employability and autonomy, and relationship with the family of origin and may relegate the benefits of play as a tool for comprehensive development to a secondary level, either due to lack of training, space or resources.