A new direction appeared in the Early childhood development center “Growing up in Ecopark” under the Children’s Ecology and Nature Study Academy. From now on, the members of the Centre work not only with the animals, but also with the plants.
“The Centre is open for already two years. Everything started from the fundamentals – we tried to foster love to animals and tolerant treatment to them in children. This year we decided to extend the field of our activity, as the world around us is not just the animals. There are a lot of tree and other plants in Ecopark. Love of nature is not just love of our four-legged friends, but also a careful attitude towards everything in it,” the head of the Centre Yuliia Naboichenko told.
The youngest naturalists (the groups in Growing up in Ecopark are formed of children aged 2.5 to 10) learn to work with plants in the specially equipped greenhouse. They plant vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, pepper, carrots, and cabbage) and flowers, water and weed them. Children also learn interesting facts about the plants. When it is time to harvest, they will be able to treat themselves to the cucumbers and tomatoes they cultivated themselves, and to treat their old friends – the animals of Ecopark – to carrot.
“For children, it is very important and very interesting, they appreciate and like this. The aim of manual training is to demonstrate children what efforts should be applied to cultivate plants and that it is necessary to respect the work of other people. When the junior group meets with the senior one during the lessons, the elder children always share their knowledge and skills with the smaller ones. It is wholesome for both groups,” Yuliia Naboichenko tells.
The lessons in the early childhood development center “Growing up in Ecopark” are given on Saturdays and Sundays for 4 age groups. Nearly 70 children are attending the lessons now. The children in junior groups attend the classes together with their parents. First, they do exercises to improve their mood. Then they learn some interesting facts about any of the animals in Feldman Ecopark, they also learn to create gifts, which are good for animals. Young naturalists try to train the ‘wards’ of the Theatre of Children and Animals and have pony and horse rides in the Horse Complex. If the weather is good, the lessons are carried out outdoors, if not, they make their crafts in premises. The children also prepare shows before the holidays.
