A free section offering audio-format stories for Ukrainain children is available on the superscoala.ro platform, according to organisers who filled in a special form set up by the EduCare platform on Edupedu.ro. The stories have been initially conceived in Romanian and have now been translated so that they help children feel “safe, stronger and able to cope with emotions”, as the administrators of the online platform recommend.
It is a succession of stories in audio format initially created in Romania by Ina Ilie, psychological educator and author of the Personal Development module for parents and children which is provided by SuperScoala. They were later translated in Ukrainian by Anya, herself a refugee whom the war forced to leave for Romania.
Each story, while soothing by itself, incorporating breathing and relaxing techniques for children, is a tool aimed at helping children feel a bit better, safer, stronger and better able to cope with emotions, find balance, trust and courage, authors say.
They describe them as therapeutic stories, each representing a trip to a magical realm. They can be listened to before going to bed at night or whenever a bit of comfort is needed.
Recommended (but not limited to) age: 3-12 years.
The stories are provided free of charge on SuperScoala and can be listened to on the phone or any other device.
“The stories include breathing and relaxing techniques for the children and are a tool that can help them find more balance, trust and courage. The themes of the audio stories have no direct connection with the war”, Superscoala.ro representatives say.
Poveștile sunt oferite complet gratuit pe SuperȘcoala și pot fi ascultate de pe telefon sau orice alt dispozitiv.
The platform can be accessed here: https://ukrayina.superscoala.ro/
- Humanitarian organisations and associations can promote their initiatives to help Ukrainian refugees by Amintim că organizațiile umanitare și asociațiile își pot promova inițiativele de ajutor pentru refugiații ucraineni filling this form conceived by Edupedu.ro in partnership with Fundatia Bosch Romania. Edupedu.ro can promote them in a centralised manner to potential beneficiaries on the educational and informational section EduCare.
Says Anna, a collaborator with SuperȘcoala who helped with the translation and recording of these guided meditations for children:
„Hello, my name is Anna, I am from Ukraine, now living in Romania. I’d like to to share with you a proiect which is Very dear to me, that my wonderful Romanian friends created for our Ukrainian children: the guided meditation for children.
Several words about this proiect – it was born to help children. Some of them are very scared, others can’t sleep or rest, others find it hard to communicate or manage their emotions. This is a burden for children as it is for parents.
Guided meditations help children find a better mood by providing peace, balance and courage. These meditations are an easy way for children to learn to be healthy again, to find happiness and joy.
The guided meditations were created as therapeutical stories – bedtime stories that a child can listen to when they go to sleep or any other time: they soothe while also teaching the child several things: how to breathe in order to calm down, how to cope with unpleasant emotions, who to regain strength and courage in difficult times; they will help them to fall asleep more easily, rest better, communicate more and find a better balance. Most important: the guided meditations will help the child feel protected, safe, and certainly loved.
The author of the meditations is Ina Ilie, a Romanian psychological educator specialised in cognitive sciences and children and family counselling. She allowed us to translate her therapeutic stories in Ukrainian and publish them for free use.
The whole team who worked on the project homes the meditations will help our children find peace and emotional balance”.
The Secret Garden story, in Ukrainian:
The Rocket to the Moon story, in Ukrainian:
Colouring book in Ukrainian – available as a PDF download
Organisers also provide a colouring book in Ukrainian – a therapeutic story created especially for refugee children: it is the story of Soricica, who is forced to flee with her mother while the father defends the forest they were living in.
The book was written by a Polish psychologist in collaboration with several child therapists, according to the press release. It is a resource available on the EuroChild platform.
The book in PDF format here:
The colouring book with text in Romanian language, here:
The SuperScoala platform provides video lessons for mathematics, Romanian and English languages. They are structured and taught according to the current Romanian curriculum. It covers the subject for which most home tuition is requested in Romania, but to which most children in rural or disadvantaged areas do not have access to. Interactivity is increased through games, quizzes, tests, with personalised recommendations according to the correctness of answers.