Juin 2012. 12 000 pages de blog ont été vues, dont un nombre étonnamment elevé dans des pays anglo-saxons.
Cette page est une offre de discussion et d'échanges.
June 2012 12,000 pages of this blog have been consulted, and an amazing lot from English-speaking countries. this page is to say that we would be glad to get into relation with any group pursuing some kind of similar steps.
Feel welcome to contact us !
Ecolo'gestes : what is it all about ?
For 12 years now, it's an ever new adventure starting in September and ending in June, which has involved so far nearly 1,000 groups in Brittany, and gave birth to as many games invented by children on subjects related to nature and environment.
All day-care groups dealing with children from 4 to 12 receive during the summer a booklet presenting the new "theme" describing the field of experimentation proposed for the next school year. This will be completely free of charge and not compulsory in any case... even the training-sessions and the documentation given are granted by public funds.
The groups choosing to participate in this adventure will explore their environment and their territory during the fall and the winter to create in the spring a game invented by their children in connection with their experience on that topic.
Throughout the year, 3 training days are organized for the project-leaders. There, they will acquire technical and teaching know-hows to reinvest in their project.
What's going on underground ? Why and how wings, birds ? Who lives in the pond ? .... What can I explore with the children about this year topic ?
Each year, one of those training sessions is dedicated to the discovery of the gaming culture... categories of games, creativity, new games that appeal to children groups ... and numerous exchanges of experience arise between the participating centers.
Ecolo'gestes is concerned with the discovery of nature as an experience, exit to the outside linked to the idea of creativity and game : children discover by experimenting in nature as in a game : This is informal education, made possible by an attentive accompaniment of the normal leaders of these children. No substitutes for them, "specialists" just indicate what and how they could try, discover, and the curiosities that they can implement in their group.
Many groups have often little time each day. They come, leave and return to the topic regularly, for short periods, for a discussion, for an experimentation, for a walk outside... and then they have to be handy with paint, cardboard, carpentry .. some groups rely on nearby technical services (from the townhall, or from the school) to give them a hand to have a fully playable game.
During the training sessions, books are given to the leaders to enrich and broaden their proficiency. They understand that they are accompanied in a search they have, to live with children of their group. This accompaniment values the interest of authorities about their work, and what they can bring to it, accepting the challenge of discovering with children things that they don't know so well....
In June, a festival is held in each geographical area corresponding to ten to twenty groups : children bring and show their game and play with the games invented by the other groups.
The festival is often held in a cultural center having a link to the topic of the year : an ornithological center during the birds year, a museum of the earth during the year concerned with the underground, a farm-museum when the topic was the transformation of nature by man ...
This day ends with prizes awarded : all groups are reported to be first place tie winners of the contest but each group deserves a special mention highlighting the most remarkable quality of their game
"the most played ... the most user-friendly game ... "
Year after year, this adventure is spreading in new areas some outside Brittany. It is on the verge to be considered a French nationwide developpment project, because it constitutes an answer, not complete in itself, but efficient,to the ever declining time children spend nowadays outside, playing and paying attention to the world around them
Several countries are dealing with the same concerns : The USA has set a "take a child outside week", Sweden has set a "Laroplan" (2007/2012) which is quite close to the same idea... We will be glad to get into relations with people dealing with equivalent concerns in other countries... Welcome !
ecologestes22@gmail.com
