Who are we?
Play Up! has been working with children in Athens since 2017, running learning-through-play sessions with marginalised and displaced children. The key aims of our sessions are to:
Bring some fun and joy into kids' lives
Improve literacy
Assist in the development of key cognitive and motor skills
Practice soft skills in preparation for mainstream education and future life.
What's happening in Greece?
There are currently over 12,000 children living in camps in mainland Greece, and many thousands more living in island hotspots. Only a third of these children are enrolled in mainstream school. Often, children living in camps have not been in education for a number of years, or have actually never been enrolled in school. Without access to resources or education, and cut off from society in remote camps, many children become under-stimulated and frustrated, and face serious barriers to their development.
To make matters worse, there is a lack - or often total absence - of educational facilities and support for children within camps, and very little support for parents enrolling children in school. In the absence of government support, the provision of children's services often falls to grassroots organisations such as ourselves.
The Children’s Book Project: ‘Elephant’s New Friend’
Most recently, we have been running learning through play sessions in camps near Athens in collaboration with the Echo Mobile Library. We noticed that these short sessions were often the only time that children had access to books, literacy support, or basic things like pencils and paper. So, we decided to create something that we could not only use in our sessions, but that children could engage with and learn from independently, and that was also tailored to their specific needs and circumstances.
From here, we went on to write and illustrate a children’s book and pack of accompanying resources which has been translated into 12 languages. These will be distributed to over 3,000 children living in migrant & refugee camps throughout Greece.
All materials will be open resource, meaning anyone around the world can access both the book and resources for free.
Ultimately, our aim is to support children in their literacy in English, Greek and in their mother tongue; to provide children with fun and educational exercises to help with their development; and to give children a book that they can cherish, enjoy independently and with their families and continue to use as their language and literacy skills develop.