Summing up and preparing for the Christmas holidays
At the end of November, a meeting of the local initiative group of the project "PlayHub in Ukraine" was held to discuss the results of the project and plan Christmas holidays for families with children who visited in the Play Hub. The meeting was attended by 14 experts and representatives of organizations participating in the project — NGO "Labour and Health Social Initiatives", employees of social service centers and non-governmental organizations.
It was decided that for older children (4-10 years old) from December 6, the Reception of St. Nicholas will work, where the child will also receive a gift and attend a master class on making a toy. The results of the project were also presented.
"There are many displaced families with children in the Play Hub," comments Natalia Lukyanova, project coordinator, "so it is important for us that young clients feel kindness, care and a homely atmosphere. And so that the New Year holidays give good emotions and a sense of joy".
The Play Hub provides a variety of services: from organizing and conducting interactive readings for children with the involvement of parents "Fairytale Time", creative classes (master classes) for children and parents, a free communication club for mothers "Mom for Mom" to the services of a speech therapist-defectologist, massage services for children, a physiologist-rehabilitation therapist for adults and the organization and conduct of a psychological club for mothers "Women's Circle".
Over the past three months, 198 children have visited the Play Center, including 94 girls and 104 boys.
We already have our success stories. For example, the story of a 2-year-old boy who does not attend kindergarten, but attends the Play Hub. He was constantly silent, not even pronouncing sounds, to which the teachers of the Play Hub drew attention and suggested that his mother visit the center at the time when his peers came. The first results appeared a couple of weeks later: the boy began to speak short words.
Recall that with the support of the charitable organization Porticus, the public organization Labour and Health Social Initiatives (LHSI) in cooperation with the International Child Development Initiatives (ICDI, the Netherlands) launched the opening of the first Play Hub for children in Ukraine. This model of working with children and their families who were forced to move was developed and exists in 8 other EU countries, including since 2022, after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, six new Play Hubs have been opened for Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia thanks to UNICEF support to provide children and their parents with opportunities to play and learn. TOY for Inclusion Gaming Hubs are inclusive, non-formal educational spaces for young children and community-based families. They take special care to attract young children (0-10 years old) from vulnerable groups who grow up in difficult life circumstances.
