In March the children in the kindergarten learned more about Easter in Greece. The Greek name for Easter is Πάσχα (Pascha) and it is the most important celebration of the Greek Orthodox Church.
In the first week of the Easter preparations the children learned more about the religious background. By watching short films and hearing little stories out of the Bible they got to know the Gospel. Afterwards they painted mostly their impressions.
In the second week they learned more about the Easter celebration in Greece. The teacher showed them different pictures from Easter traditions and explained them. This was also very interesting for us volunteers, and we got a first idea what we can expect. Moreover, we had the chance to tell the children a bit more about Easter in our home county, because Easter in other European countries was one of their topics, too. It was interesting to see how different and unique the Easter celebrations are, and we become very motivated to try also some other traditions.
A special highlight was to colour the eggs. Every child brought two cooked eggs. It was funny to see how different eggs could be. Some were very small and nearly round and others were long and flat. In the Greek tradition the eggs are coloured in red to symbolize the blood of Christ. Every child put its eggs in a big bowl with colour. After three minutes, we took them out again. The children were very happy about every nice red egg and the room was filled with enthusiastic “Oh” and “Ah” screams. Afterwards we put the eggs in a beautiful Easter basket.
But what happens if the basket would fell down and the eggs would break? What a luck that a big number is written on the top of every egg and the same number of dots are painted at the bottom of the egg. In one lesson the children helped to connect the eggs again and practised their mathematical skills.
Furthermore, with the help and the ideas of us volunteers the children crafted a lot for Easter. Out of their handprints we draw a chicken family and old egg cartons were used to make mobiles with flowers. Also the main entrance of the kindergarten got a new design to welcome the children in the kindergarten for a new and exiting spring day.
To see all pictures go into our gallery!
