On June 2-5 in California there will take place the NAEYC 2019 Professional Learning Institute forum, one of the most significant international conferences in the field of the preschool education, organized annually by the National Association of the United States (NAEYC). Experts from Russia will present at this conference an innovative project in the field of the preschool pedagogy – a “4 D Game” (by the first letters of the words “children”, “movement”, “friendship” and “outdoors” in Russian), which is designed to revive the culture of children's outdoor games. The project has been created by Russian specialists in preschool education together with experts from the “University of Childhood” at the Rybakov Foundation.
The annual NAEYC Professional Learning Institute conference brings together thousands of early childhood education professionals from around the world. In more than 200 sections of the forum, representatives of the professional community get acquainted with the latest research in the field of preschool pedagogy, new methods of working with children, developments and services, in order to subsequently adapt them and integrate them into their practice. NAEYC Professional Learning Institute is a global platform for presenting the world's best practices, sharing ideas and experiences. The themes and the content of the speeches on the forum are carefully selected and independent peer review.
The “4D Game” project was selected by the NAEYC organizing committee from two thousand applications. This project has already received great popularity in Russia, bringing together kindergarten teachers, children and parents across the country. Now foreign participants are gradually joining it. Thanks to the “4D Game”, a community of like-minded people has been created who organize outdoor games with preschoolers, helping each child to fully and actively live this happy childhood period.
The “4D Game” project is implemented with the direct participation and support of the Rybakov Foundation – a private Russian philanthropic organization. “The preschool teacher plays a key role in the formation of the basic values of a person from early childhood. Lev Vygotsky saw a great potential in organizing an environment that allows each child to grow and develop harmoniously. The main task of the Rybakov Foundation is to create such a social and educational environment in which every teacher will discover the inner energy of transformation”, Ekaterina Rybakova, the President of the Rybakov Foundation, has commented.
Why are modern children playing various outdoor games less and less? How to take a child away from gadgets? How to attract the attention of children and parents to the active outdoor playing? How to organize such games and teach children to play on their own? These questions have been important and guiding the authors of the “4D Game” project.
A child of a preschool age tends to be playing around and active. However, modern children practically do not know outdoor games that can be played with their peers and prefer to play with gadgets instead. For childhood to pass in motion, it is necessary to instill the culture of such outdoor and active games, starting from the preschool age.
At the first stages, the adults will be the initiators of the children's game (teachers, parents, volunteers), and later, as kids gain more experience in socialization and communication, children will be able to organize the playing communities on their own and begin, engage in outdoor activities in the yard or on a playground, during the walks and children's holidays.
Any teacher who has sent their version of the game to the general pool of games can become a participant in the project. The project brings together more than a thousand like-minded people from all over the country and abroad; more than 500 games, 250 nursery rhymes and master classes have been collected in the projects pool. 6 co-organizers of the project and 5 experts examine the quality of all the games: Victoria Kuryshova (Murmansk Region), Alexandra Korniychuk (Arkhangelsk Region), Nadezhda Kulikova (Arkhangelsk Region), Lyubov Grab (Murmansk Region), Irina Solomennik (Sverdlovsk Region), Polina Sheina (Moscow Region), Daria Boriskina (Republic of Karelia), Irina Pereleshina (Murmansk Region), Nina Kobylskova (Vladimir Region), Oksana Tcheberda (Krasnoyarsk Territory), Tatiana Golovleva (Samara Region).
The “4 D Games” festivals are held in more than 130 locations throughout Russia in a flash mob format, when participants from different cities simultaneously play the same games.
More details about how to play in Russia, the experts of the of the project will tell on June 3: «Playing across Russia: The “4 D Game” project aimed to revive the culture of neighborhood and outdoor games»: Irina Bykadorova, the Rybakov Foundation; Anastasia Koshkina, the Rybakov Foundation; Galina Laponova, the Rybakov Foundation; Nadezhda Kulikova, a Municipal autonomous preschool educational institution № 174 “Yagodka”; Viktoriya Kuryshova, a Municipal autonomous preschool educational institution № 9 “Berezka”.
June 3
4:30–5:30 pm
NAEYC 2019 Professional Learning Institute
Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center,
room 202a
Long Beach, California
Additional Information
The Rybakov Foundation is a private Russian philanthropic organization created by Ekaterina and Igor Rybakov in 2015 to positively influence the social and educational environment. The mission of the foundation is to create a tradition of the independent development of a society in the country.
The University of Childhood is an initiative of the Rybakov Foundation for the support and development of a child-oriented preschool education.
"4 D Game” is a project developed by specialists in the preschool education together with experts from the “University of Childhood” with the support of the Rybakov Foundation. The goal of the project is to create a community of like-minded people to revive the culture of children's outdoor games and activities.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) – is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. The association comprises nearly 60,000 individual members of the early childhood community and more than 50 Affiliates.
Contacts:
Daria Bashkatova
PR manager at the Rybakov Foundation
WhatsApp: +79262683914