Venice’s first Kindergarten of the Lagoon is born: the outdoor educational experience on the island of Torcello, a project by IOC – UNESCO in partnership with the Prada Group for active and conscious citizenship starting from kindergarten
Venice’s first Kindergarten of the Lagoon is born, an outdoor education initiative for kindergarten children promoted by IOC, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission UNESCO together with the Prada Group.
Groups of approximately 120 students aged between 3 and 5 years from six kindergartens in Venice, involved from February 2 through the end of June in the Kindergarten of the Lagoon project, will travel twice a month with their teachers to Torcello, the island of Vignole, and the Lido of Venice to study the Venetian ecosystem, observing plants, animals, and natural elements of the lagoon, its characteristics, similarities, and differences to one day become the “ambassadors” and “spokespersons” of this heritage.
An educational program based on the principles of Ocean Literacy, which teaches how the ocean influences our daily lives and how we humans influence the ocean with our behaviors.
The objective is to learn about sustainability and the natural and human ecosystem of one’s own territory while outside the classroom, thus raising awareness among new generations about their future to become conscious and respectful adults of the Planet.
“Many children don’t even know what’s in their city. Helping them discover their own territory also means educating them about a sense of belonging – emphasizes Francesca Milan, the environmental education expert who collaborated on the educational plan – which is why not only lessons through play will be proposed: children will learn about who lives on the islands, how fishermen work in the fishing valleys, the women who embroider in Burano, they will discover the variations of the tides on the beach at the Lido and why climate is important for the sea, especially in a city like Venice. We want to teach them to observe the environment around them and also respect for the community. The lessons of the Kindergarten of the Lagoon, which will become part of the school curriculum of participating schools, will not only take place among the islands and on the water, but also in museums, churches, and around monuments“.
In Torcello for International Education Day
Tuesday, January 24, 2023 forty students from the six kindergartens participating in the project began the “school of nature” on the island of Torcello and attended lessons with outdoor educational activities discovering the territory and its natural rhythms.
The event was attended by Environment Councilor Massimiliano De Martin and Education Policy Councilor Laura Besio, together with Lorenzo Bertelli, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility of the Prada Group and Francesca Santoro, Senior Programme Officer of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission UNESCO, who stated: “working outdoors increases children’s social capacity. It’s about linking the environmental aspect to the cultural one.”
Promoting Sustainability and Care for Marine Environments Through Education
“The international community must make education one of the pillars of Ocean protection” assures Ana Luiza M. Thompson-Flores, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Culture in Europe in Venice “and if we want to protect it, we must teach it”.
At her side during the presentation of the project at Ca’ Corner della Regina, the Venetian headquarters of the Prada Foundation, Lorenzo Bertelli, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility of the Prada Group, explained: “Sustainability is now an integral part of a brand’s values. – referring to the processes he has supported on the green evolution of the family company – It cannot remain just a statement of intent; we must translate this conviction into concrete actions. We wanted to connect with the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and we hope that our experience will convince other brands to come on board with us.”
The Kindergarten of the Lagoon and training on environmental sustainability themes for the 13,000 employees of the Prada Group are initiatives supported by revenues from sales of the Prada Re-Nylon collection (garments made from regenerated nylon) and are part of the SEA BEYOND program conducted since 2019 by the company and IOC-UNESCO, aimed at promoting education for the preservation of the sea and its resources, involving to date over 300 secondary school students worldwide (including Brazil, Peru, and Namibia).
Venice: A Model for Other Kindergartens in the World
Venice and its Lagoon is a pilot in this project for its values, which since 1987 have placed it on the UNESCO World Heritage list: its uniqueness, its historical, archaeological, architectural, artistic, artisanal, and traditional heritage, combined with the environmental context, represent an integrated ecosystem symbol capable of inspiring other similar contexts.
Venice is also part of the Natura 2000 network: a set of protected areas within the European Union and safeguarded by an international convention, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, for the conservation of biodiversity and various human activities.
Active Citizenship Is Learned from an Early Age
On the island of Torcello, the oldest settlement in the lagoon where Venice traces its origins, Tuesday, January 24, children between 3 and 6 years old from six kindergartens in Venice were able to develop various skills: a sense of personal identity, communication through body language, movement, music, drawing, painting, and exploration of reality.
Using materials and tools, expressive and creative techniques, they were supported in understanding the facts of the world by comparing their own hypotheses with the interpretations proposed by adults, and cooperating with other children.
One of these activities was created with Sofia Sarria, an artist, illustrator, and mask maker who created the workshop Atelier Volante that combines craftsmanship, sustainability, and creativity through the traditional Venetian papier-mâché technique.
For one day, the historic family mask workshop moved from Rialto to the island of Torcello where Sofia showed how old newspapers or cardboard boxes can still be useful, giving life to an aquatic world populated by surprising creatures, ready to tell a new tale.
The images are by Marta Formentello, Igor Sedyukov, Tania Sarria and courtesy of the Municipality of Venice. The photo by Lorenzo Cinotti taken in Torcello at Casa Museo Andrich is in memory of Paolo Andrich.
