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TOY4PARTICIPATION: PROMOTING PARTICIPATION, DEMOCRATIC ENGAGEMENT, AND COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION IN INCLUSIVE EARLY CHILDHOOD SETTINGS
Meaningful child participation in ECEC settings is the cornerstone of the TOY4Participation project. Recognising the significance of early years in shaping lifelong participatory practices, the project seeks to fill a critical gap in existing child participation mechanisms and address the need for young children to be included as active decision-makers in matters relevant to them. This project leverages the innovative framework of the TOY4Inclusion Play Hubs: community-based, inclusive, non-formal education and participation spaces for young children and families, that specifically ensure the inclusion and engagement of young children from vulnerable backgrounds, including migrants, refugees, Roma, and children with special needs.
The overall objective of the TOY4Participation project is to promote the meaningful participation of children aged 0-10 from diverse and vulnerable backgrounds in their local contexts by enhancing the role of TOY for Inclusion Play Hubs as effective platforms for civic education, community engagement, and transformation. The project aims to reach directly at least 2400 children, 30% from vulnerable backgrounds.
ICDI, along with partner organizations in the Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Latvia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Ukraine, will develop, pilot, and disseminate the TOY4Participation Toolkit, a Toolkit on Meaningful Child Participation in ECEC, which will include a conceptual framework and a collection of approaches and methodologies specific to early childhood that can be adapted and adopted in non-formal and formal ECEC, as well as in community organisational, civic and institutional spaces.
MATERIALS
This Toolkit is designed to support practitioners working with young children in non-formal early childhood education and care settings to embed meaningful participation into everyday practice. Whether you work in a Play Hub, a parent-child group, a mobile outreach van, or an intercultural community centre, this Toolkit is for you. It is also a valuable resource for practitioners working in formal ECEC settings who want to deepen their knowledge and understanding of child participation and find inspiration on how to promote it in their daily work with young children and families.
In this section of the TOY for Participation Toolkit, we describe 16 educational practices and initiatives that showcase child participation, the majority from different countries in Europe (and one example from outside Europe). Whilst their context, format, and delivery may differ, they share the common ambition to foster meaningful child participation in early learning environments. Most of the featured initiatives have already been implemented for several years and have led to positive and tangible outcomes for children and their families.
This resource contains five Pedagogical Cards and thirteen Activity Cards that promote meaningful participation. They are part of the TOY4Participation Toolkit: How to promote child participation and democracy in formal and non-formal early childhood settings. The Pedagogical Cards and Activity Cards are designed for hands-on use by early childhood practitioners (staff, assistants, volunteers) in everyday practice in non-formal and formal ECEC settings.
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