About the KidLe Project
Our mission is to support the inclusion of migrant pupils in new school environments through the engaging and educational medium of intercultural board games. The KidLe project will develop five unique board games, each co-created with the help of parents, children, and teachers across different countries. These games will be bundled into a comprehensive gaming pack, available both digitally and in multiple languages.
What We Aim to Achieve
Intercultural Board Games Co-Creation
We will co-create five intercultural board games (one per country) involving parents, teachers, and children in each country. This collaborative effort will ensure the games are culturally relevant and engaging for all players.
Multilingual Gaming Pack Integration
All the games will be integrated into a single gaming pack, translated into all partner languages and one major migrant language per country. A digital version of the game will also be created to ensure accessibility and widespread use.
Implementation Through Gaming Events
We will bring the KidLe gaming pack to life through gaming events in each country and transnationally, allowing groups from all participating countries to play together online, fostering a sense of community and shared experience.
Building Educator and Parent Capacity
The project will empower educators and parents with the skills and knowledge to use these games for enhancing their pupils’ and children’s learning, development, and social interactions.
Raising Awareness and Influencing Policy
We aim to raise awareness about the role of games in early childhood education and the importance of cross-cultural games in building inclusive educational systems. This knowledge will be shared with local and international audiences and will aim to influence policymaking.
Why games?
KidLe proceeds from the idea that playing is not an “empty hour”, a “blank piece of paper”, or “wasted time” in a child’s life. On the contrary, playing reflects everyday life, it is a coloured paper full of information on the feelings, thoughts, and the mental world of children, including the voices of children that we often do not hear or that we unwittingly ignore. Games, and in particular early-childhood games, are intrinsically useful for children. The significance of “play” as a central concept in the learning and development of children has had staunch advocates, with philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau noting in his book “Emile” that children learn best through play and exploration, rather than through traditional classroom instruction. Rousseau thus saw play as a natural expression of children’s innate curiosity and creativity, which should be nurtured and encouraged. Following Rousseau’s point as a theoretical point of departure, KidLe posits that children should be allowed to learn through their own experiences and interests, rather than being forced to conform to societal expectations.
Finally, the psychologist Bruner saw play as a means of experimenting and exploring the environment and Vygotsky emphasized that play is the means of controlling the environment through the child’s ideas about objects and not from the physical characteristics of the object. Therefore, through play, in addition to the other skills mentioned, an integrated approach to language teaching and learning is offered through the creation of equal and democratic opportunities, the exchange of shared values and beliefs and the equal involvement of all parties.