“Krenimo zajedno” ECEC Play Hub and Toy Library: important meeting place for children and families

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Play Hub and Toy Library in Orehovica, in the organisation of UNICEF's implementation partner, the Open Academy "Step by Step", is part of the pilot programme Phase III: Testing the Child Guarantee in Croatia, funded by the European Union.  

The European Child Guarantee in Croatia aims to ensure equitable chances in life for every child, so no child is left behind. This begins with addressing the underlying causes of child poverty and social exclusion so that all children can have access to key quality services: child protection services and family support, access to preschool education and access to early intervention services.

In Orehovica, a municipality in Međimurje, not all children are included in early or preschool education. Some of them only attend the compulsory preschool programme prior to starting school. Around 18 percent of Roma live in the municipality, and some children do not speak Croatian at home with their families. 

“Krenimo zajedno” ECEC Play Hub and Toy Library in Orehovica has recently become an important meeting place for all children and their families, particularly those living in disadvantaged conditions. On their own or with their family members, children can spend quality time here, socialise with other children, develop their skills or borrow didactic toys to play with them at home. The informal setting of the Centre also allows parents to “open up” more easily and discuss problems and challenges that they are facing. The coordinators and associates then work on trying to find experts, who can organise workshops on these topics, and on including and supporting other parents. Activities in the Hub are created and implemented on  ‘TOY for inclusion’  principles.

 

 

The coordinator of the ECEC Play Hub and Toy Library Monika Horvat, a preschool teacher, and her colleague Valentina Balog like to talk about why they enjoy working with children and how they try to provide support to families in the Centre through various content, workshops, advice and games.  

Valentina is a professional cook, but in her search for work she found an opening for an assistant in a preschool, where she now helps children with disabilities. With time, she also started working in Play Centre, and is responsible for the Toy Library where children can play with and borrow didactic toys. The Play Centre is located near a Roma neighbourhood. Valentina is Roma herself, which facilitates her approach to parents and children, users of the Hub's services, who trust her completely and like talking to her. She helps many of them to communicate as not all of them speak Croatian well. Monika also speaks Bayash and often joins them.  

“When preparing and considering each activity I pay special attention to ensuring that no child, regardless of the conditions they live in, feels excluded or unable do something or participate in something. This is why I try to think of activities that parents can do with their children at home and to include the whole family. I always make sure to use materials that are accessible to everyone, such as pen and paper”, said Monika and continued: “The importance of the Play Hub for the community and its acceptance among parents is perhaps exemplified the best by a dad who, several times upon coming home from work, hurried to make pancakes so that he could bring them to the Play Hub for everyone. I am happy that the programme “Phase III: Testing the Child Guarantee in Croatia” will enable the ECEC Play Hub and Toy Library to further strengthen its important role in providing support and serving as a meeting place for children and families in Orehovica”, she concluded.  

Denis decided to put household chores aside and spend time with his sons Mihael (9) and Karlo (6) participating in an art workshop. Denis describes his sons Karlo and Mihael as happy, playful and active boys. Talking to them, we learned that Karlo is especially interested in drawing, while Mihael prefers playing with toys. Since Mihael is already a second-grade student (belonging to the second B class), he pointed out that he is interested in informatics, but also in math, in which he excels. We were not surprised at all when we learned that he was already considering his future occupation. Possible options included an astronaut, an IT specialist or a criminalist, although he was a little worried about the distance from his parents should he choose the first one. Karlo has yet to start school, but he mentioned that tigers were his favourite animal and that he liked to play with toy cars the most. 

“I have autism”, said Mihael at one point and explained that he would rather not be an astronaut after all, since it was too dangerous. After talking to the boys, we can only confirm that their dad was right: Mihael and Karlo are truly wonderful children with incredible potential. 

Dubravka also visited the ECEC Play Hub and Toy Library with her three daughters. The eldest Tihana (14) likes going for walks and cats are her favourite animal. She wants to practice medicine when she grows up, and she has excellent grades. While we are talking, Tihana pays attention to what her younger sisters, Elma (6) and Zijada (5), are doing. Elma is getting ready for school by attending a preschool, and her favourite activity is playing with her friend Dunja. Their mother Dubravka is happy that they have a place where both children and parents can spend time. She says: “They enjoy it, and so do we.”

We found Tatjana and her daughter Leona (3.5) painting. We interrupted them shortly to learn their impressions. Tatjana explained that, before the pandemic, they would come to the Hub to play every week, leaving with a toy they borrowed. “Leona is a really good girl”, said her mom, and Leona answered our questions without a hint of shame. Not only that, but she corrected us when we left something out or said something wrong. Most of all, she likes to play with her mom, dad and grandparents, and she has a lot of friends in kindergarten.

 

 

While we were washing paint from our hands, Lora told us that her older brother Noa had chosen her name. We learned more about their bond in a conversation in which 8-year-old Lora told us that she liked to spend time with her brother, but also shared that she liked all school subjects and that rabbits were her favourite animal. She named her grandmother’s rabbit Gricka. In the workshop, Lora was happy to help younger children and spend time with them.   

Filip (8) told us that he also liked to spend time in the Hub, most of all to play, but that he liked school as well. His favourite subject is Croatian. Since we interrupted him while he was playing, we tried not to bother him much, but we could not miss noticing that Filip helped the workshop leaders clean up after the workshop ended. Good job, Filip!

Although they were a little shy at first, Zara (7) and Zita (5) shared with us that they loved roller skating. Their roller-skating abilities are already excellent, and while they skate, they are often accompanied by their grandmother Ana, who was also with them in the Centre today. Admittedly, Ana has been spending less time on roller skates recently, but Zita is working on perfecting her own skills and often skates to the Centre. Ana is also in charge of culinary treats. While Zara likes to cook and bake cakes with her grandmother, Zita likes to eat muffins. Zara prefers peach cookies breskvice and the layered cake mađarica. Their grandmother said: “They can eat fruit and vegetables for the whole of Orehovica”. While Zara’s favourite fruit are blueberries and watermelon, Zita prefers strawberries and bananas.