SR 
In our effort to promote healthy lifestyles and activities that combine play and learning in nature, Ekonaut, along with partners, collaborators, and other associations, will organize an event for children on May 25th at the Faculty of Forestry Arboretum on Banovo Brdo. From interactive nature walks to practical workshops, the event will create opportunities for children and parents to discover the magic of outdoor play. The event, which runs from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, will feature various workshops and activities for children where they will learn about plant identification, their uses, natural materials, wild animals and their habitats, overcoming natural obstacles, and will be encouraged to creatively express themselves in the environment, with the aim of actively exploring and having fun.
The event is part of the activities of an informal network of organizations and individuals led by Ekonaut and KidHub under the name "Outdoor Games" to develop and spread the idea of school gardens and non-standard play elements in outdoor spaces as an integral part of education and children's leisure activities. In this way, we aim to start a traditional event that promotes outdoor play for children. The event marks the beginning of a long-term transformation we wish to work on with everyone who shares our goals and values, to create and promote concrete examples of child-friendly spaces and activities, and to educate and empower relevant stakeholders to participate in the development of spaces for free children's play.
PROGRAM
Workshop "Nature Arrangements" by the "Nature Games, Risky Games" Seminar Team
1st Group: 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
2nd Group: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
This workshop is for groups of up to 15 children aged 7-14, accompanied by parents or teachers, and will be held on the Arboretum lawn.
We will create natural arrangements on cardboard frames, finding flowers or leaves during a walk and attaching them with clothespins or threading them around yarn on the cardboard. We will make arrangements with our bodies, growing like flowers from the ground, swaying, spreading out, making wreaths and bouquets, and drawing on tree bark. "Nature Games, Risky Games" is an accredited pedagogical seminar created by Tijana Bogovac, an educator, and Milijana Gajić, a preschool teacher, who have years of experience working in a preschool in Belgrade. They believe that time spent in nature awakens the inherent traits of a child's personality, encouraging them to take action, explore, and contributing to holistic child development.
The workshop is free. Registration is required via THIS LINK PRIJAVE SU ZATVORENE
Workshop "The Forests Call Us" by the KidHub Team
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM, for a group of up to 20 children aged 3-6, location: Arboretum lawn.
"The Forests Call Us" is a creative workshop through which we will explain natural processes to the youngest children through a series of playful activities. The goal is to expand the knowledge and interest of the youngest in constructive outdoor activities through exploration, and to encourage sensory-motor development using unstructured, natural materials in play that have multiple uses compared to commercial toys. The workshop will be led by Tatjana Radaković, an educator and KidHub collaborator.
The workshop is free. Registration is required via THIS LINK PRIJAVE SU ZATVORENE
Workshop "Yoga with Sonja" by Sonja Ivanišević
12:00 PM - 12:45 PM, for a group of up to 15 adults, location: Arboretum lawn.
The yoga workshop is a platform where we meet, accept, and improve ourselves. Through the process of self-awareness, we recognize various forms of imbalance and spontaneously strive to overcome them and achieve harmony. Yoga offers a wealth of techniques, and participants will practically experience their effectiveness. This workshop is part of the "Healthy & Fit" program designed for moms and all busy women who struggle to balance work, private obligations, and personal needs, and who have back pain issues. The program is based on Sonja's experience working with hundreds of women, numerous trainings, and personal experience with back problems. It is intended for all adults and no prior yoga experience is necessary. The workshop will be led by Sonja Ivanišević.
The workshop is open. Registration on-site.
Workshop "Koba Yagi Stories – Adventures in the Arboretum"
Start: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, for a group of up to 15 children aged 6-10, location: Arboretum lawn.
With Koba Yagi puppets EnimalZ and MonsterZ and with the help of Koba Yagi cards, we will create Koba Yagi stories together. We will bring the puppets to life and invent our unique stories. We will entrust our feelings to the puppets, put them in different situations, and send them on various adventures in the park, forest, desert, jungle, ocean, or Mars! We will also ask them what they think about ecology on our planet Earth. Come to imagine adventures and new Koba Yagi stories together. The workshop will be led by Ivana Koraksić, a theater director, and Milica Dodić, an educator and KidHub collaborator.
The workshop is free. Registration is required via THIS LINK. PRIJAVE SU ZATVORENE
Radionica „Čarobna bašta“ sa Vladimirom Milutinovićem
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM, for a group of up to 20 children aged 6-12.
The theme of the workshop is the origin of life, from seed to plant. The program goes through four stages of plant cultivation, where participants actively engage in sowing seeds while learning about the types and forms of seeds. They will have the opportunity to choose seeds, prepare containers for sowing, mix substrates, and later transplant the young plant. Participants will receive a plant to take home as a gift. The workshop also includes discovering a plant under a magical cloak.
Radionica „Vrt u bojama“ sa Vladimirom Milutinovićem
12:30 PM - 1:15 PM, for a group of up to 20 children aged 6-12.
The theme of this workshop is introducing participants to different types of vegetables and fruits in various colors. Participants will learn the names of vegetable and fruit species and the importance of greens in the diet. A small quiz on plant identification (seedlings) and recognizing the fruit as the product of the plant later in the season will be organized.
The workshop is free. Registration is required via THIS LINK PRIJAVE SU ZATVORENE
Workshop "Medicinal Plants Our Neighbors" with Momčilo Antonijević
1. grupa 11:00 – 11:45
2. grupa 12:00 – 12:45
Participants will learn about the medicinal plants that surround us, which we may not have noticed. We will talk about how they work, what they are used for, and how to use them correctly. Momčilo Antonijević is a journalist and folk herbalist, author of the book "Wild Chef" and the school of medicinal plants "Biljarnica". The workshop is for groups of up to 25 children, aged 7-14, accompanied by parents or teachers.
The workshop is open. Registration is required via THIS LINK PRIJAVE SU ZATVORENE
Open Acting Class in Nature "Wings for the Journey" with Nataša Tapušković
1st Group: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM, for ages 7-11
2nd Group: 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM, for ages 11-15.
Applied play is the idea and method of the school "Wings for the Journey", created by drama artist Nataša Tapušković. Curiosity, imagination, and enthusiasm are unleashed and multiplied through dramatic play. By applying play within different spaces, we discover and nurture the most authentic in each of us. Recognizing the beauty of nature and the possibility of our creation within it, we strengthen our connection with it, recognizing its importance and incredible diversity of its gifts. Come to discover new spaces within us and around us through play.
The workshop is free. Registration is required via THIS LINK PRIJAVE SU ZATVORENE
Workshop "Recycling with Music" by JRJ "My Publisher"
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM, for a group of up to 20 children aged 6+, parents can join the workshop.
During the workshop, participants will make musical instruments from natural materials and then have a musical session with the instruments they created. This workshop is based on the book "Help the World – Save the Planet". JRJ My Publisher, founded in 1992, was the first private publisher of children's books in the former Yugoslavia. They have published a large number of editions: picture books, coloring books, workbooks, creative books, encyclopedias, significant works of domestic authors, mythologies of various cultures, and are especially known for dictionaries, required readings, and various manuals for students and educators. The workshop will be led by expert collaborators from JRJ.
The workshop is open. Registration on-site.
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Numerous studies show a discrepancy between the importance of play and outdoor time for children's development and well-being and the opportunities for children to practice it. The predominantly sedentary lifestyle, media exposure, and underdeveloped social networks are circumstances that surround childhood today. Kindergarten and school yards, as well as standard playgrounds in highly urbanized areas, are mainly concrete or asphalt surfaces without features that would provide children with a pleasant and green environment for play and learning. There are few opportunities for children to master their bodies and see themselves as competent beings, to build peer relationships and develop play in the most stimulating environment, nature.
All programs are open and free, although some require registration via the provided forms. Visitors are advised to bring their mats or cushions for sitting or lying on the grass to enjoy the environment comfortably during the workshops that take place in one location.
Visitors are expected to behave responsibly towards nature and dispose of waste in the provided bins on site. Please do not bring pets, as the rules of the Arboretum, a protected natural area, do not allow it! We also ask that you refrain from using tobacco and electronic cigarettes during the event, especially near children. For adult visitors, a coffee corner will be provided with the support of DonCafe Strauss Adriatic, where they can stay during children's workshops or take a coffee to go. Visitors are free to explore the Arboretum outside the scheduled program or simply enjoy the ambiance while respecting the rules of good behavior.
ABOUT THE ARBORETUM:
The Faculty of Forestry Arboretum in Belgrade is a unique landscape-architectural space and a valuable archive of domestic and foreign tree species, located at the Faculty of Forestry premises on Banovo Brdo, at Kneza Višeslava 1. It was established between 1956-1959 on an area of 3 hectares. In 2011, the Arboretum was declared a protected natural area in the category of natural monuments. Today, it is home to over 300 woody and shrub species, represented by over 2,000 specimens, including 218 deciduous species and 24 coniferous species. There are a total of 77 autochthonous tree and shrub species and 146 allochthonous species growing here.
The project is supported by the Secretariat for Environmental Protection of the City of Belgrade and is implemented in partnership with the associations Kidhub, the creative hub Nova Iskra, the informal group "Outdoor Games," and others.
The project is implemented with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Government of the United Kingdom as part of the public advocacy support program "Explore – Empower" conducted by the Trag Foundation..
