LOCAL EVENTS

1) Primary school, Mileto, Calabria (fourth grade, 9 y.o.)

Our first meeting in schools was carried out in Mileto with the kids of the four fourth classes of the local primary school.

For this event we managed to implement four moments, three of which involved the kids actively: we initially carried out a presentation of S.T.O.P. Project, at this point, kids were already very collaborative and interested in the topic. They were allowed to express their feelings on this topics during a five-minute reflection moment

We went on involving the kids in a super fun quiz on the topics of the project, splitting them all in heterogeneous teams in order to mix their ages: each team had two minutes per question to find the answer in group, discussing and confronting within each other. They learnt new specific things but not only: they had the possibility to discuss the topic with their pairs which made it more realistic and tangible for their lives, bringing it on a daily-life plan.

The last moment of the day consisted of an artistic workshop!

Kids were asked to produce some recycling bins and customize them in order to invite people to use them through using given materials (paper boxes, coloured paper, glue, colors, no plastic!): they should use their best creativity and involve their own thoughts on the topics while working in teams. They were kindly helped by their teachers and us.



2) Secondary School, Filogaso, Calabria (all grades, 11-14 y.o.)

Our second school meeting took place in Filogaso, a rural town in the Province of Vibo Valentia, Calabria.

Here we met the kids from all grades of the secondary school who were all between 11 and 14 years old.

Also during this event we implemented four moments; as for the first event, three of them were: presentation of the organizations, of the project, of the topics and issues and so on; moment of reflection with the green and red papers, quiz.

Afterwards, the last part of the morning together involved the children, who were older than the elementary school children, in a campaign to raise awareness of environmental issues and specifically ocean-related issues, which are the themes of our project, through the production of "publicity" posters.

As such, they were invited to do a role-play in teams trying to take on the ocean's point of view, in terms of ocean inhabitants (sea creatures, flora and fauna in general) or materials that end up in the world's waters (plastic bottles, shopping bags, straws and so on).

They were very creative and sensitive on the topic. They also were gifted with some souvenirs customized with the acronym of this S.T.O.P. Project.

3) Primary School, Filogaso, Calabria (all grades, 6-10 y.o.)

For this third meeting in school we used the same format as the one used in the primary school of Mileto. We managed to implement four moments, three of which involved the kids actively


4) High School, Vibo Valentia, Calabria (fifth grade of high school, 17-18 y.o.)

This event took place at “Liceo Vito Capialbi - Human Studies” high school in Vibo Valentia, in Calabria.

We met the students of the last grade of the high school who are mainly 17 or 18 years old.

For them we planned three different activities starting with a presentation of S.T.O.P. Project, of the general and specific topics and objectives, of our organization and of the other organizations that took part in the project, of the Erasmus+ Programme and so on.

Afterwards, students were invited to use the app we designed as part of the project activities: while they were using it, we could discuss the new knowledge they were acquiring thanks to our application.

When they finished using the app, they were invited to reflect on the issue addressed in the app that had struck them the most and to share it with all of us.

The last activity of this event was very interesting, since they are very smart and participating  adolescents: they were asked to split in teams and help us find the best way to reach as many kids their age and older and be able to raise awareness of the issue covered in our project, so that more people become aware of these issues and help do more to improve the way we impact the environment. This activity wanted to involve them actively in the action and help them understand that they are required to be active citizens and take part in the social actions actively.

Their solutions were very contemporary and thoughtful, very realistic, and with language that fit well with their generation and their understanding of social issues.

5) Parghelia Beach workshop with kids

Our beach event for children of all ages was organized in collaboration with local kids who are contributing to the environment project funded by the National Civil Service.

This event was attended by both children who were specially accompanied by their parents who had learned about the event, as well as local and tourists children who were on the beach and were attracted by our activities.

Kids who took part in this event were 2 to 10 y.o. Some of them were accompanied by their parents who helped them with the activities.

We implemented this event in the afternoon, at snack time, and planned three moments:

  • The first activity was an art workshop

  • The second activity was a game in which we adapted “Capture The Flag” to the needs of our project:

  • The last activity was a plastic free snack time! We prepared different snacks and juices for the children who meanwhile received some S.T.O.P. souvenirs.

All of them had fun and were very talkative and interested in the activities. What we noticed is that most of them were well educated on the issue and this gave us hope for the future of the oceans and the planet!