ESC: Long-term volunteering at Tihase Kindergarden

The main purpose of our organisation is high-quality pre-primary education for children. It is important for us to know that every child feels welcome, safe and positive among us throughout the day and is happy taking part in everyday learning activities. Our priority is learning outdoors. In addition to the daily learning activities taking place in kindergarten, we also have music and sports. Children can participate in different activities in kindergarten like dancing, music and English lessons. If there is more interest, there is also a possibility for small zither lessons. Traditions are implemented into kindergarten’s work, e.g. Christmas fairs, kindergarten’s birthday and Estonian Independence Day. In addition to celebrating traditional activities in kindergarten, national and international health days are very important, e.g. Heart Week, Bread and Milk Week etc. It is important for us to communicate and cooperate with the child’s family, thus the teachers have annual conversations with parents to provide feedback on the child’s development. The teachers are open-minded and want to extend their knowledge by getting to know people of different cultures and nations. Also, the culture and customs of our own nation are of great importance to our organisation. We also cooperate with other organisations, such as nearby kindergartens, different theatre groups and our district government. Since June 2016 Tihase kindergarten belongs to a network of kindergartens aiming to educate children on health. Principle activities: developing a healthy environment; developing a healthy way of living; developing and strengthening cooperation between children and personnel.