The target group of our project was children (3-7 years old), parents and teachers who all worked in large numbers to achieve our goals. Throughout the activities of the project, we created small gardens in our institutions, planted seedlings and later used the plants to make meals for the children, which improved their attitude toward eating vegetables. We also directed attention toward recycling. You can make toys from crops and materials that are no longer used, and the making itself requires creativity, collection, planning and joint work, which ultimately means spending quality time with the child. These activities also had a community-building effect, since the parents participated very actively (a healthy spirit of competition developed, e.g. during the creation of the bird feeder and fairy garden.) When it comes to the teachers, we managed to achieve such a degree of cooperation that we did not even imagine as we gained huge amounts of useful information and experience during the joint work.
Our project answers the needs of parents who are looking for institutions where special attention is paid to eco-approach. We thought that teaching these basics to the children should be started at preschool age and since the 3-7-year-old age group learns through play, we proceeded to create those types of activities. The attempt was a success, the promotion of a healthy lifestyle - mainly through gardening - and the instilling of a positive attitude toward recycling were realized in children and parents alike. They also managed to strengthen family bonds since the parents were also needed to complete the tasks. Our programs were very popular and families participated in large numbers. The three exchanges of experiences during the project provided the opportunity for the teachers to learn new practices. During the visits, apart from institutional methods, we got to know each other's mentality and outlook on teaching. We showed each other our strengths (what works), as well as our weaknesses (what needs to be improved).