TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Kostas Simitopoulos
Young people nowadays spend half of the hours that they are awake in computers, cell phones, TVs, and monitors for video games. The consequences of this phenomenon (called “videophilia”) are especially negative for their psychological, mental and physical health. Major role to combat this phenomenon are considered to have outdoor activities.
The project “Come Out & Play!” has an aim to outline the importance of outdoor activities and street games as means of dealing with young people’s addiction to internet and the “videophilia” phenomenon.
The main idea of the project will be based on outdoor games that are or were played in various countries and how these can contribute to foster healthy behaviours.
Some of the most important goals of the project are the following:
• To encourage outdoor activities as means of promoting healthy behaviours and way of living and as a means of reinforcing the mental, psychological and physical health of young people.
• To create intercultural learning and to discover cultural elements and identities of participants and their countries.
• The intergenerational approach of youngsters with older people.
• The development of social, personal, group skills amongst participants and to reinforce their self esteem and self confidence.
• To sensitize and provide knowledge about the side-effects of modern technological means, about the dangers hidden in getting addicted to internet and about the phenomenon of “videophilia”.
38 participants took part in this project, from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovak Republic.
Group work, Role playing, Storytelling, Simulation, Games, Questions & answers, Group discussion, Brainstorming, Presentations.
Some of the most important achievements were that this project managed:
• To encourage outdoor activities as means of promoting healthy behaviors and ways of living and as a means of reinforcing the mental, psychological and physical health of young people.
• To create intercultural learning and to discover cultural elements and identities of participants and their countries through the street games played today and in the past.
• The inclusion and active participation in the project of young people with fewer opportunities.
• The intergenerational approach of youngsters with older people.
• The development of social, personal, group skills amongst participants and to reinforce their self esteem and self confidence.
• To sensitize and provide knowledge about the side-effects of modern technological means, about the dangers hidden in getting addicted to internet and about the phenomenon of “videophilia”.
Additionally, the participants’ team created a Handbook, which contains all the outdoor games from various countries that were played throughout the project, with description and detailed guidelines on how they are played.
At the same time, a Mini Movie was created, with audiovisual material from the moments that participants were playing the outdoor games of various countries, together with some people from local community.
https://www.salto-youth.net/tools/european-training-calendar/training/come-out-play.4958/
I was one of the two full-time trainers of the program, facilitating the learning activities throughout the project.