Kindergarten of the Lagoon gets underway

To mark the International Day of Education, 24 January, UNESCO-IOC and Prada Group are launching “Kindergarten of the Lagoon”, an innovative outdoor education experience for pre-school children in Venice, taking place today on Torcello Island. The initiative is an important step for children to understand more about the ocean and the central role that it plays in sustainable development. Presented in May 2022 at Ca’ Corner della Regina – the Venetian headquarters of Fondazione Prada – Kindergarten of the Lagoon is part of SEA BEYOND, a 2019 project led by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the Prada Group to promote education for the preservation of the sea and its resources. It also supports the IOC/UNESCO-led UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, as part of the “Ocean Literacy With All” (OLWA) Ocean Decade Programme, a global initiative to build a greater understanding of the ocean. Today’s programme includes outdoor activities throughout the morning for 40 pupils from six schools joining the project, with attendance from Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, UNESCO representatives Vladimir Ryabinin, Ana Luiza M. Thompson-Flores and Francesca Santoro, as well as local institutions, Massimiliano De Martin, Councillor for Urban Planning, Environment and Private Building and Laura Besio, Councillor for Education Policies of the Venice City Council. The Kindergarten of the Lagoon’s lesson programme is based on the principles of outdoor education, a didactic approach whose pillars are experiential learning, the environment, and the well-being of those involved, with the aim of creating a link between children and, in this specific case, the lagoon ecosystem.

In addition to placing nature and science at its centre, this project strives to preserve and enhance the local culture and tradition of Venice which, together with its lagoon, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a witness to the effects of climate change. The educational plan contributes to the development of children and their learning processes by gradually getting them interested in observing fauna and flora and discovering the characteristics they have in common. It is an accessible way to discover and nurture a love of natural sciences.

The outdoor lessons will cover different thematic areas, including the relationship between plants, animals and the natural elements of the lagoon, their characteristics, similarities, and their differences. Children will explore the beaches, learn through drawing activities, collaborative games, and small science experiments, to recognise and value the lagoon habitat. This will help them to become, one day, “civil ambassadors” and “spokespeople” for this heritage. An open dialogue with schools and families was key in the active involvement of all the children, and fundamental in defining the actual programme. A strong relationship with the Venice Municipality was integral to the success of the project.

An open dialogue with the local departments for Environment and Education has led to support for the initiative since its announcement. Venice City Council provided a water bus and a tram dedicated to the children’s transfers and the support of the Emilia Bosis Foundation lent the spaces of its villa on the island of Torcello to host the first lessons’ cycle. The bond with local culture and traditions is also expressed through the work of a Venetian artist, Sofia Sarria (Atelier Volante), who will support the children’s educational workshops, helping them make papier-mâché masks inspired by lagoon animals, as well as Elisabetta Mitrovic, a natural scientist and artist, who will work with the children on the design of a “nature notebook”.

“I am proud to attend this first day together with the children of Venice, wishing that the Kindergarten of the Lagoon will continue to grow and that a larger number of young explorers and families will have the pleasure to be part of it. Our ambition is to see the programme growing over time and to develop the project in other cities in the future,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Head of Corporate Social Responsibility. “IOC of UNESCO believes that childhood ocean education can become a foundation for lifelong emotional well-being. Finding a way in which humanity could learn how-to live-in harmony with the Ocean is one of the pillars of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. I am very happy to inaugurate today, together with Prada Group, a project that brings the ocean into kids’ lives. And we can dream that they will grow happily, will live sustainably and in peace, and that some of them will become future ocean stewards,” said Vladimir Ryabinin, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and Assistant Director-General of UNESCO. The first cycle of classes will end in June 2023; the new programme will start again in September, coinciding with the schools’ calendars.