Playbusses

Children cognitive development takes place mainly through a process of discovery and acknowledgment of the world.
Most of the KGs dedicate small time to activities such as playing and drawing. By free playing we mean non organized or self-organized games, during which teachers do not played a role of guidance.

Playing is essential in the psychosocial development of the child, yet, less than half of Kindergartens in Gaza Strip dedicated 21% of the time spent in the KG to free played every day, referring mainly to the break between lessons when children leave their class room to go playing in the garden, often considered as a spare time during which teachers can take a break from their role of educators.
By educative playing we mean games organized by the teachers with an educative purpose. When carried out within an educative framework such activities become an effective way for “active education”.
According to the collected data 27% of the KGs do not foresee time dedicated to educative playing. Only the 30% of the KGs foresees such activity few times per week and for a period of time between 15 to 45 minutes, that represents the 7% of the all time spent in the KG every week.

Other activity that support and stimulate children cognitive development is drawing. The majority of the KGs foresee such activity once per week or few times per week. Furthermore 4% of the KGs never foresee drawing activities. Only 14% of them foresee daily drawing activities.

Therefore, in the project is involved one playbus working in the South area of Gaza Strip - linked to the Partner Al Amal Rehabilitation Association. In the playbus are working 5 activators. One team of educators will realize educational and playing activities for a total number of 1.620 children during the whole scholar year by mean of equipped vans.
The playbus pursue the general objective is to support the KGs in the process of becoming resilient contexts, i.e. places of acceptance and protection for children. Children, teachers and parents are involved in open air playing and life bustle activities, to facilitate cooperation and trust on non-aggressive approach to problems and difficulties.

All the parents of the children attending the 18 selected KGs will be invited to participate to the visits of the playbus. During the visits, the animators will actively involve some parents in sharing the activities with their children. The animators and the teachers will explain to the parents the educative purposes of the activities and of the tools, and the importance of playing in the growth of children.

Playing is essential in the psychosocial development of the child. But as above described, playing activities not always take place in KGs, and too often are considered as a spare time activity.
To dedicate an entire open day to these activities breaks the normal routine of the KGs highlighting the importance of playing for children.
Furthermore, parents must become aware of children communication and of the importance of playing for the child development, being involved actively in the playing and creative activities of the playbus. In this way parents will share and experience new playing with their children, as well as how to communicate through a non verbal language.

The role of the parents is very important to support the child in building his resilient capacities. During one evaluation mission carried out during 2005 three main points have been highlighted:

1. Children are happier if they perceive a continuity between school and family. If children perceive that those adults who are important to them take care of them in a like-minded way (that is, they create a sort of “collective mind” or an “educating community”), they feel more worthy of love and interest, their self-esteem increases and they overcome the sense of insecurity that children tend to feel in any case. This is even more the case when their insecurity is well-founded on real facts. Symbolism emerges when this continuity is promoted by objects or “mediating” situations (parties, meetings, trips, exchanges of gifts, the passing of things or thoughts from one place to another, educative or fun workshops...).
2. Adults who have the function of teaching or educating (formalism and power) play with the children, not as leaders but at their level. This symbolic experience allows children to minimize the duty/pleasure dichotomy (which readily brings to mind the analogous resistance/resilience dichotomy) and to have far more flexible instruments for judging and using the things that happen.
3. Children are happier if their parents are content and if this can be attributed (even if only indirectly) to them. If parents take part in the activities of the kindergarten (such as parties or other aesthetic/social-type initiatives), it allows them to make a symbolic statement otherwise difficult to express for a parent in a critical situation: “I am happy thanks to my child ...”.