The beginning of September brought new volunteers from all over Europe, who were discovering a different culture, the culture of Romania. We had a busy start:  we built our teams, met our  mentors, visited the NGOs we will work with,  had workshops and training in order to learn more about the project, and in the very last part of the month we  joined a training in Bucharest.

This sounds a little vague, isn’t it?
We would like to share with you more details about how last month felt  like for us international volunteers. 
The induction part came not only with curiosity and excitement but with a lot of joy! Because we love playing, we used that amazing tool for knowing each other better, destroy any intercultural barriers and build connections between each other.. because we will have a long journey together. 

We are here for each other always! Volunteers standing up for volunteers! In this beautiful adventure are taking part other important persons as well, the mentors of each volunteer. Volunteers met their mentors and... magic happened, they got to know each other, got to know a good friend from this new and amazing country.

The activities carried out in the first month, helped us seeing the good in others and realizing we are pretty lucky to have such amazing people around. The team-building only reinforced this feeling.  We spent 3 days away from Cluj-Napoca, in the mountains, where you can only hear the sound of  nature and the call for adventure inside us. Beside the funny and unforgettable moments, we found out a lot of information about the projects. After the ending of this amazing 3 days one thing was sure: we were one step closer to do our job better.. and we can always count on our team.

Let’s go further! The second week came with a challenge: learn Romanian!! Sounds exciting? In the opinion of the volunteers it was, for sure. But who said that learning a new language is boring? We made sure we had fun in the process of learning this new language. At some point we had difficulties for sure, but when you are thinking about the amazing things you can do in your project especially if you use the Romanian language, motivation appears instantly.

It was the time to make other friends as well, so we headed to meet our soon to be colleagues at the NGOs.  A lot of places to go, a lot of people to meet and the vibe of excitement floating in the air, and thoughts of the best is yet to come in our minds.

Having fun, learning the essential for our projects, laughing a lot, were only a few things that happened in the first 3 days of our third week.  We felt that we have no patience and can barely wait to start working in the organisations.

The fourth week was about to begin.But what was different about this week? The place, the team, the staff.. in one word: everything! After a looong way from Cluj-Napoca to Bucharest, some of us were for the first time In the capital of Romania. 

Our group joined many other volunteers from all over Europe.. and not only! Such an intercultural environment, isn't it? But this didn’t stop us learning together about what EVS/ESC means, about how important we are in the projects we have chosen and much more. Briefly, we learnt more than we could have imagined. After 5 intensive days of learning, learning, learning, we were packing to go back to our new home.

The first month came to an end. We have deposited everything that happened  in our minds and hearts. A lot of beautiful things are on their way, so stay tuned  to hear our stories and get to know more about our experiences.

Chess is very important for children in Green School, they play in pairs whenever they have the time, so we have proposed an activity where children can create their own chess figures.

The activity itself was about making chess pieces by using cardboard, printed images of chess figures (King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook and Pawn), glue and toothpicks. Merged the elements of crafting and chess simultaneously. Taking into account the ages of the children, the overall structure of the activity ought to be simplified slightly by preparing the necessary materials in advance (cutting the images of chess figures to a standard size, preparing the stand bases for the pieces, making multiple chess boards per pair according to the sizes of the pieces.

The primary objective of the activity was to bring together children with little to extensive knowledge about chess, by combining two entertaining activities (chess and crafting) which can attract both chess and crafting lovers.

In Green School children learn in nature and from nature. They do not only spend time outdoors, but they learn directly from nature. They have their own pedagogical garden, where they grow flowers and vegetables. 

Part of the educational process is planting and taking care of plants, creating a diary in which they make notes about how much water, light and love the plants received and how much they have grown in the presence of these elements.

One of our responsibilities as volunteers in Green School was to help children in this process of caring for the garden. One of our activities included planting.

Using shovels, children were encouraged to dig holes in the ground and fill the with water. One by one, the little fibers were planted in the hole,  mixing the water and the soil carefully. While doing this, children were encouraged to split the responsibilities of digging the holes, carrying the water and planting.

This activity offered a good opportunity to talk about plants, the period of time when each should be planted, how to take care of them in the growing process. This summer we have collected the crops of what we have planted, green onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and greens. We had the chance to eat healthy and yummy salads. :)

You know that feeling when you get to a new place and you feel lost? When is helpful to use a map or an application that helps you navigate? This feeling can happen also when you get to a new place, a new building, a new group.

In Green School children have the possibility to visit the place with their parents and spend some time there before they are enrolled and this helps them when the school/ kindergarten begins and parents are not there anymore. 

Educators are trained and prepared for these situations, they know how to deal with children when a situation, a day becomes overwhelming, but they also work on preventing and accommodating.

One of the activities used for helping children claim the place as their own, is creating a School Map. Using a sheet of paper (or making bigger one using more of them) children are encouraged to paint the school map including the indoor and the outdoor space, writing the name of each space, drawing the things they remember.

During the process, they can talk about the meaning or the purpose of each place, which is their favourite place in Green School, where they feel safe/unsafe etc. They can write their names on stickers or directly
on the paper and pin it on the Map.

Using this activity at the beginning of the school year or a camp, can create an opportunity for children to feel more comfortable with the place and to get to know each other better.

Green School hosts a kindergarten and a primary school where learning is experiential, location and project based and the learning process is fit to the needs of children.

In kindergarten learning happens mainly through games, arts and crafts. When children asked about planets and astronauts and rockets, we have thought of creating an activity, where we do not simply speak about the planets and look at pictures, but create our own space rockets and tell the stories of astronauts, landing on the Moon and planets.

Because the school and the community aims to reduce the use of polluting materials and use „leftovers” from materials that we use daily, we have decided to create rockets from paper rolls with a little help from colored pencils and paper.

Kindergarten children have asked their parents to gather the paper rolls and bring them to Green School. We have decorated together the rolls, each child bringing in their own personality, preference for color. During the activity we have spoken about the structure of the universe - the space, its planets, the stars including the Sun, the Moon, the astronauts, Space Transportation Systems.

When working with children I have found that the best way of transmitting and grounding the information is through direct involvement and hands on work.

In Green School children learn about global warming, about the effects of littering and what they can do to help slow this process and find new ways of reducing, reusing and recycling materials. In order for them to better understand the effects and the different decomposition time of each material, I have created an activity in which i have asked children to collect their trash on a daily basis for a week.

On the day of the activity we have separated the trash according to the recycling methods (plastic, carton, paper, etc. ) and hung them with nail and hammer on a  wooden surface.
We have created a list for each type of trash and „planted” it  in the Green School garden, then labeled the place.

After a month we dug out together all the trash we have planted and talked about the results, what has decomposed, what did not and why.

This activity has helped them understand that we leave our print on nature immensely and generated solutions of how can we avoid using materials that pollute. 

*Acest articol aparține voluntarilor din proiectul 'NatureWISE', coordonator de Centrul de Voluntariat Cluj-Napoca și co-finanțat prin programul Erasmus+ al Comisiei Europene.

Creating. That's what children love. Using, playing and just simply enjoying something you have created by yourself is the on of the best things in the world. Let children get creative play with paints, glue, clay. In the end they'll create something. Don't tell them that you're proud of them (although you most probably will be) tell them to be proud of themselves.

Range of the creations can be immense and variable. Starting from ordinary airplanes ending with chairs and
tables, pieces of furniture they can use daily. Talk with the kids about the different types of games. Then focus on board games. Ask them what types of characters are there, what kind of challenges, how the boards look like. Offer them a set of different materials and challenge them to create a board games, individually or in teams.

The most important thing: play each game with the group and make the changes in the structure of the game (if any). take it home and play it with your family and friends.