The latest project by the ICDP Antioquia team of trainers, which has been planned with the Culture Secretariat of the Municipality of Medellín, was started in September and will end in December 2021. It involves the “Deambulantes” theatre company, whose artists are trained as ICDP facilitators.
The project consists of developing experimental laboratories for early childhood. These creation laboratories focus on “learning by creating” and seek to promote meaningful practices in child-adult interaction, by using different modalities of art and play (the body, sound, image, movement, literature, etc.) for cognitive, behavioural and emotional development in line with the ICDP programme.
This process is carried out in six areas, namely in the communes 2,9,14,16 and 80 (San Antonio de Prado district) and in the commune 90 (Santa Elena district). The project beneficiaries are the children who attend the Buen Comienzo preschools (the Good Start Programme) which is aimed at children aged between 3 and 5 years.
Each laboratory is attended by twenty (20) children, that is in total one hundred twenty (120) who will benefit from the project.
As a strategy, there are didactic materials, materials from the environment, organic elements, toys, recycling material. In addition, a backpack is used containing a booklet designed for the development of creative experiences of each child, including the topics and guidelines of the ICDP programme, as well as a puzzle game with the central message of each laboratory.
At the same time, trainers will be working with the children’s parents introducing them to the programme with its eight guidelines for good interaction.
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The ICDP team in Antioquia has been sending encouraging messages to facilitators and parents all throughout the pandemic using various social networks. These positive ICDP messages reached a large number of families over the past months.