Host: PLAYING NGO

The kick off meeting of the MLO program took place in Athens on the 16th and 17th of November 2017.

The meeting was held at the Melina Cultural Center in Athens. Mrs. Maria Iliopoulou, the Vice-Mayor for the Child of the Municipality of Athens, welcomed the partners and opened the meeting. Following, each partner presented their organization. Rodrigo Romalho, as the coordinator of the project, gave partners a break-down of the project and each partner's role and responsibility.

During the break partners had the chance to visit  the “Haridimos Shadow Puppet Museum - Theatre”.  The museum hosts over 1,000 items that belonged to the Haridimos family, renowned shadow puppet masters from the previous century. Partners were very fortunate to meet Mr. Haridimos and to experience playing puppet theatre.

After the break, all partners discussed how to improve the pedagogical competencies of preschool teachers and caretakers working with children in the outdoor environment, adapting physical activity and play based strategies.

On the second day, partners visited the 7th Municipal Day Care Centres of Athens, where they were warmly welcomed by the teachers and were shown around the indoor and outdoor facilities. Mrs Poulakida, the manager for all the day care centres of the Municipality of Athens attended the visit and had a chance to converse with the partners. Prof. Ougrinis (Associate Professor in Architectural Design and Innovative Engineering at the Technical University of Crete ), talked about the importance of the outdoor and the educational environment in preschool education and presented projects run by the University.

The partners then visited the Myrtillo Social Cooperative Enterprise, were partners discussed the organizational aspects of the project as well as the planning for the next meetings.

This was the first time many of the partners had met each other and it is good to report that all who came together as strangers later departed as friends!