Held under the threat of rain, with our eyes on the weather forecast and with the hope that we would manage to give the "little bees" a day in nature in which they would enjoy eco-educational games, one of the activities of the ECO JUNIOR 2014 project was organised by the "Drumeții Montane" Association in partnership with the "Constantin Săvoiu" General School in Târgu Jiu, the "ALBINUȚELE" (Little Bees) group, primary school teacher EREMIA GEORGIANA.
As every time we are the organisers, we set off for the venue of the event in the early hours of the morning and prepared the course.
Just as we were going through the checklist: personalised name badges, binoculars, rucksack, orienteering flags, score cards, binoculars, tents, diplomas, prizes, background music … the coach stops, the doors open and a buzzing fills the whole glade!
We appreciate the involvement of the parents, who accompanied the pupils in significant numbers, some of them on their first trip.
With the help of the teacher, the swarm of little bees forms a semicircle and we start the first game, which aims at finding out the pupils' attitude towards the environment and raising awareness of the problems.
The children get involved, the parents are active too, and that is how we find out that one pupil looks after his pet at home although his mother doesn't know they have a pet!!
The pupils receive their personalised name badges and begin to talk quietly about the colour and the little bee printed on them, then they find out that there are four colours and each has to find their teammates.
With the teams already formed, the CATERPILLAR RACE begins, and the four caterpillars are at the start line!
The race is thrilling and has everything: winners, unhappy ones (because they didn't win…), ambitious ones who want the event repeated, and optimists who state firmly "what matters is to take part and have fun, not to win"!
Next comes the game "GUESS THE PLAYER"; the pupils are involved and have great fun, and the make-up of the teams changes rapidly, the contest being very close.
The "ORIENTEERING – THE SPORT OF THE FOREST" event consists of the children covering a course along which they have to reach the marked points. The excitement of the competition is present in the "WAITING" area, and at the "START" point concentration reaches its peak. With the score card in hand, each child waits to set off onto the course: 10 seconds, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, "START" and off they go, accompanied by the applause and encouragement of their teammates.
The event ends and the well-deserved break comes, when the children hurriedly have their meal and try out the mountain equipment in a photo session in which the rucksack and the binoculars were not missing.
What's next? That is the question of the "little bees" when a few packages come onto the scene, out of which come the tents. With the help of the parents, the children put up the tents, which they turn into veritable fortresses and castles … and the battle to conquer or defend them begins.
On the occasion of the prize-giving ceremony each pupil is congratulated by the organisers, awarded a prize in front of the other participants and applauded, at which moment they receive Touch Antibacterial products offered by Apollomod Distribution and the ECO JUNIOR 2014 diploma.
