More informationProject website:http://www.eurofolklore-erasmusplus.eu/

The Erasmus+ Project Results Platform:https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-project-details/

Erasmus+

Key facts and figuresErasmus+

Project titleSmall explorers in a magic world of the European folk culture

Field: School EducationAction: Strategic Partnerships

Lead organisationName: Szkoła Podstawowa nr 110Location: Łódź, Poland Website: http://www.sp110.info

PartnersOsnovna škola Donji Kraljevec, Croatia;Istituto Comprensivo L. Bassi - S. Catalano, Italy;Vilniaus r. Rakonių pagrindinė mokykla, Lithuania;IES Licinio de la Fuente, Spain;Agrupamento de Escolas Irmãos Passos, Portugal;50 Yıl General Refet Bele Ortaokulu, Turkey

How to spark the interest in cultural heritage and the feeling of belonging to a wider European community among school children? An EU-funded project tried to develop learning methods in this areaThe main priority of the ‘Small explorers in a magic world of the European folk culture’ project was to familiarise primary school children with the diversity of European folk traditions and cultures. The project lasted 2 years and involved schools from 7 European countries (Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, Poland, Portugal and Turkey).

‘Simultaneously in all 7 countries, we’ve researched the top-ics of folk legends, traditional dances, cuisine, or forgotten occupations. It created a feeling of unity and identification among children and raised their awareness about our com-mon European heritage,’ said Slawomir Rucinski, the project coordinator and the Principal of Primary School No. 110 in Lodz, Poland.

Project activities were divided into 4 modules: folk cos-tumes and material culture; folk music; folk traditions and rites; and folk motives in art and culture. Each module combined formal and non-formal education methods such as dance, drama, or crafts. The activities also included workshops of modern ICT tools.

Slawomir Rucinski, the project coordinator added:

‘ Children not only learned various cultural practices, but also prepared a printed folk magazine, cuisine book and a folk calendar. It was all learning by doing.’

The project also included 7 international meetings for teachers, school children and their parents, and each meeting brought together around 50 participants. The activities involved sightseeing, craft workshops, meet-ings with folk artists, trips to ethnographic and open-air museums.

As a result, the project schools gathered a broad collection of new teaching materials such as lesson plans, ICT tools, or multimedia presentations related to cultural education of the children.

Bringing European folk culture to school children

Photo: © Shutterstock

Participants:198

Countries:7

EU grant:€ 161,320

Project duration:2015-2017