Madrid is reopening all 68 of its nursery schools, while taking into account new health and safety measures, such as ensuring that schools do not exceed 50% capacity at any one time. This means organising children and teachers into smaller groups that should remain stable over time. Read more here
Contact: Ana Buñuel
With Municipal nursery schools will reopen their doors to students from 0 to 3 years old from July 1, Madrid is also looking to organise urban summer camps that will be operating from the second half of July. Read more here
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Düsseldorf opened kindergardens and daycare facilities regularly again on 8 June. In cooperation with the youth and health departments, the virology division of Düsseldorf’s university hospital will conduct a clinical model study in local kindergardens. It’s the first study of this size and concept in Germany. 5,000 children and child care workers will be regularly examined and tested for the coronavirus in order to obtain results concerning the spread of the virus among children.
Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld
Bristol City Council has launched #WeAreBristol Kids, a new online resource to better connect children with the city during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond. Building on Bristol Children’s Charter, it aims to bring kids together in an entertaining and informative way. The interactive hub includes a growing range of content to encourage reading, cooking, physical activity and art, based on the input of children from across the city.
You can view the latest stories, tips, challenges and activities here.
Contact: Paul Davies
The University Hospital of Dusseldorf in cooperation with the Youth and the Health Department will conduct a clinical model study testing 5,000 children and childcare workers in June, when Kindergartens are reopened after the corona lockdown. The results of the voluntary tests shall inform the research concerning the dissimination of the coronavirus through children. It is the most extensive study of its kind in Germany. You can read more here (in German)
Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld
Madrid is curbing the return of cars to its streets by cutting traffic on several roads to allow children to play and exercise on the road on their bikes, scooters and rollerblades. More information (in Spanish) here.
The city has also opened a new car park reserved entirely for shared vehicles. More information (in Spanish) here.
The addition of 45km of new bus lanes is expected to further support residents who want to avail of public transport rather than turning to using cars. More information (in Spanish) here.
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Guimarães has begun the the disinfection of the kindergartens of the public preschool network, through a specialized company, with a view to reopening next Monday, 1 June. This process started last Monday and runs throughout this week, covering around 50 schools in the municipality, in all school groups.
The Ministries of Education and Social Security have issued guidelines for the reopening of kindergartens, which open doors for children aged three to five again. The document for kindergartens indicates that “under no circumstances can masks be put on children.” These personal protective equipment will only have to be worn by adults. More information (in Portuguese) here.
Contact: Adelina Pinto
The city will distribute 20,000 visors to people and entities that need them, but don’t have the means to buy them. These will be distributed for example to daycare, kindergartens, health centres, parish councils, volunteer firefighters, hospitals, and schools. Read more here (in Portuguese)
Contact: Crisália Alves
Step by step, and with special regulation, museums and other cultural institutions in Dusseldorf, Germany, are opening again after the corona lockdown. The number of visitors is limited and hygiene measures have to be obtained. It is recommended to wear a mask. You can read more here (in German) about the institutions already open and here about the next ones to follow. Also the municipal music school, which went to online lessons during the lockdown, opened its doors again. And the department of culture, in cooperation with local artists, has handed out 600 ‘Art Bags’ with materials and instructions for making crafts and arts to kindergartens and refugee homes.
Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld
The Teylers Museum in Haarlem (Netherlands) is physically closed due to corona, but the museum is virtually open. Visit the museum from your own living room, wander through the building and discover the collection in detail. Children have dedicated tips available for nice activities and the stories of the employees of the Teylers Museum. The museum also gives live tours via Instagram, the recordings of these Teylers Home Tours can be viewed on YouTube. Read more here (in Dutch)
The city of Milan has announced plans for the gradual reopening of public museums, exhibition spaces and libraries under specific sanitary measures. In addition 1,100 police officers are being deployed to oversee that measures are heeded in around 400 newly reopened playgrounds. The city council is also discussing to distribute the remaining monies raised through the city’s Mutual Aid Fund. Read more here
Contact: Olimpia Vaccarino Aureli
The team at the Glasgow City Council’s Blairvadach Outdoor Education Centre in Rhu have produced an online workbook which could help parents and children to learn about outdoor education during lockdown.
The centre normally hosts a five day outdoor education residential for pupils from across the city, providing outdoor learning opportunities for young people using activities including hillwalking, canoeing, rock climbing and more. Katie Mackay an Outdoor Education Instructor from Blairvadach said: “Because of Covid-19 and lockdown many schools are missing out on their planned trip which is a big disappointment for the pupils
Contact: Joe Brady
As the weeks go on children and adults are looking for ways to stay entertained at home. The Glasgow Science Centre is continuing to share an exciting programme of lessons online.
Each day the team from #GSCAtHome are sharing a video with an experiment or task. This week includes ‘The Monty Hall’ problem, making oboes from straws and using coat hangers to learn more about soundwaves! In 2020, as our world becomes more and more invested in digital technology, we need more than ever to crack codes and to write them.
Contact: Joe Brady
‘’Fast and Clean’’ is the game that Sultanbeyli Municipality has designed for the families to play at home while educating their kids on safe habits during the pandemic. Games will be delivered to the first 1000 families who participate in the campaign to be held on corporate social media channels. Read more here (in Turkish)
Contact: Ferzan Aşik
During the Covid epidemic Kartal Municipality is helping citizens to recycle and reuse old materials to create handmade decorative or household materials. Within the scope of the Environmental Protection and Control Directorate – that recycling textile waste since 2016 – textile piggy banks are placed at various points in Kartal District, and citizens are encouraged to put their old clothes and fabrics in. Now the municipality is producing Youtube videos to teach their citizens to use those materials and find an indoor entertainment.
Contact: Hüseyin Güler
Florence parks are again accessible to families, although in compliance with the still necessary safety standards. Thus, the city of Florence has started a family support project called ‘Pollicino.Zero’ providing educators and volunteers in eight city parks and gardens. The operators will be there to answer the parents’ possible questions and suggest them creative activities to be carried out with their children.
Contact: Alessandra Barbieri
Ljubljana’s Home Care Institution is providing home care services during the COVID-19 epidemic, including help to the elderly, chronically ill and people with disabilities with their everyday core activities, chores and establishing or maintaining social connections. Field caretakers visit the most vulnerable people who urgently need help and cannot receive it from their families or have no relatives, and take care of the most urgent daily activities, such as maintaining personal hygiene and feeding.
Continue reading “Ljubljana – Home care”The municipality of Besiktas, Istanbul, has shared a video with a digital version of the traditional parade on Turkey’s National Sovereignty and Children’s Day on 23 April. Every year, this holiday is celebrated by children with various activities. Due to the corona pandemic, it was decided to digitalise the celebration. Parents were invited to send photos of their children for a digital parade which was shared via social media.
Contact: foreignaffairs@besiktas.bel.tr
Ljubljana is increasing its offer to all age groups; from working with volunteers to keep the elderly company and offering free counselling via telephone; to digital services for the young and
telemedicine by telephone or other telecommunication means introduced for all.
Further measures adopted by the city include providing additional space for the homeless and working with volunteers from Ljubljana’s firefighter association and members of Ljubljana’s mountain rescue association and civil protection on public communication. Read more here
Contact: Polona Novak
Ljubljana’s city library is offering a postal service for students and high schoolers seeking study material. This is further facilitated by a wide array of online material, including films and documentaries, and an easy remote registration.
For children and their parents as activities include listening to or reading fairy tales, taking quizzes, drawing and solving riddles. Videos of past cultural events are also available on the library’s YouTube channel.
Contact: Polona Novak
At the request of the mayor, Vitaliy Klitschko, a new centre is coordinating community, volunteer, and other organisations’ efforts to assist individual vulnerable sections of Kyiv’s population in the spread of new coronavirus infection.
Increased measures taken by the city include heightened sanitation of roads, bridges, public transport, as well as public utilities and public parts of municipally owned buildings. Further actions include the closure of all children’s playgrounds.
Contact: Maria Adomaytis
Cardiff’s historic multi-artform venue Chapter presents: ‘Chapter from home’. The initiative offers fun film study, a Young Reporter’s Club, Watch parties, Instagram quizzes and much more, finding new ways to experience the arts. Chapter also organises educational activities with children, for example the ‘News Reporter’s Club’. This initiative empowers them to make their own radio news show about the world they see around them using only pen, paper and a mobile phone. Read more here
Contact: Beverley Watson
Kartal made sure its children could still celebrate this year’s National Sovereignty and Children’s Day and the 100th anniversary of the opening of Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The Kartal Children’s Council Special Session was moved online and Mayor Gökhan Yüksel met and listened to 20 children, representing their neighbourhoods. In addition, open deck busses took superheros and bands paying popular anthems and children songs on a tour of the district. The mayor payed a visit to the neighbourhood of 9-year-old twin sisters Nida and Eylül İlgöz to grant them their wish to celebrate together this day.
Contact: Hüseyin Güler
Cardiff has developed a website to support children and young people with emotional and mental health and wellbeing issues in this difficult and challenging time. The city also launched ‘The ‘Diff Diaries’, a platform giving youngsters and children the opportunity to document their activity, thoughts and feelings during the global pandemic by submitting video recordings, photo collages or written diary entries. Music education has also gone digital as Cardiff delivers music tuition, one to one lessons and rehearsals opportunities online. Read more here, here and here
Contact: Beverley Watson
The city will be paying the full amount of the subsidy for non-public nurseries, and asks of them to reduce to a minimum the fixed fees charged to parents. This measure will affect a total of 1,267 places in 31 non-public nurseries. Public nurseries will also be adapting their fees to support parents. Read more here (in Polish)
Contact: Judyta Etmanska
Brest’s population has digital access to books, films, music, cartoons, art collections, and sport and language courses. The city’s cultural sector was also mobilised for educational purposes, such as creating educational online games, or scientific experiments. Read more here, here, here and here (in French)
Contact: Anne-Marie Cabon
From ‘Mummy Bubble’ to ‘Cosmic Kids Yoga’ – a series of fun and free online activities to keep residents of all ages active and busy during the coronavirus lockdown has been devised by one of Edinburgh’s Schools and Lifelong Learning officers. Callum Mcleod and colleagues came up with the idea of putting together activity packs for children, young people and families to use at home to keep them physically and mentally active during the lockdown. Read more here
Contact: Karen Lloyd
The city of Nicosia, Cyprus, has compiled a summary of the municipality’s measures in the corona crisis, from confinement regulations over ‘solidarity baskets’ for the elderly to creative activities for kids, painting their vision of ‘Nicosia 2030’ while at home. The document also provides contact names for further information. You can download it here
Contact: Charis Theocharous
To allow pupils who lack mobile devices to follow online classes from school, the Spanish city of Fuenlabrada is giving out smartphones with internet connection to families in need. The first 70 phones have been distributed, up to 300 more will be given out. The aim of the measure is to prevent students in compulsory stages from being disconnected from the course due to a lack of technological resources. You can read more here (in Spanish)
Contact: Juan Carlos Hernández Navas
The Italian city of Genova has compiled a summary of the city’s measures in response to the corona pandemic. The presentation describes a stepwise approach to care for people, jobs and services first, while preparing for reboot and resilient and sustainable growth after the crisis. You can download the document here
Contact: Corrado Ragucci
With music in the streets, the municipality of Kartal, a district of Istanbul, entertains and supports people at home during the corona crisis. A marching band played a series of concerts in ten neighbourhoods and was greeted with flags and applause. The municipality also developed a video programme for kindergarten kids. You can read more and find an overview of measures here (in Turkish and English)
In cooperation with Rey Juan Carlos University, Fuenlabrada’s students volunteer to help pupils from primary and secondary schools with their homework through Whatsapp and video calls. Read more here (in Spanish)
Contact: Juan Carlos Hernández Navas
Dusseldorf’s Youth Department has initiated a free online parenting program which helps parents who struggle to balance teleworking while also taking care of their children. Read more here (in German)
Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld
The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, is inviting children to send in questions about their experiences during the confinement period. The mayor will reply to the messages in a weekly programme which will be broadcasted online first this Saturday, 11 April. The goal is to give children a louder voice, listen to their concerns and make their perspective visible to all. Read more here and visit a special site dedicated to artistic expressions of kids: ‘Barcelona through the eyes of young children‘.
Contact: Marta Puchal
The Cardiff based organisation Flying Start has gone online to continue delivering services to pre-school children and their parents. Appointments, group parenting as well as health and therapy services have all been moved online. While ‘Stay and Play’ sessions have been replaced by a range of fun activities to do with children shared on social media. Read more here
Contact: Beverley Watson
Stuttgart is helping to keep its youth entertained and hopeful through art. An Easter painting competition for three age brackets below 14, and one over, is being held by the city. Read more (in German) here.
The city is also collecting rainbow pictures drawn by children, following the trend of children drawing rainbows and putting them up in their family windows by asking children to also draw rainbows for the windows of the Town Hall. Read more (in German) here.
Contact: Claudia Schulcz
Nice is supporting its Conservatory in giving effective lessons. The dance department offers courses in fitness, ballet history and anatomy, the creation of a chamber ballet, and the exchange of videos of international ballets. The Music department has created a youtube channel for students on the alert. It also offers video exchanges, daily tutorials and skype lessons. Finally, the Theater department has set up a discussion forum. It also offers remote debates on shows, or even video exchanges. Read more (in French) in the attached press release.
Contact: Jérôme Sieurin
Nice is extending the childcare which it has been providing for health workers and other providers of necessary services to include the children of those involved in the food industry. The city already organises daycare for the children of many types essential personnel whom the national education system does not provide any service for. Read more (in French) here.
Contact: Jérôme Sieurin
With families spending unusually much time together bound in their homes, the incidents of domestic violence have spiked in the past weeks and days. The German city of Dusseldorf has therefore extended its accommodation facilities, shelters and protection services for women and children in need. For people suffering emotionally as a result from the corona restrictions, psychological counselling is offered via telephone hotlines.
Continue reading “Dusseldorf – Protection for women and children”
On the Besiktas Municipality YouTube channel, programmes filled with educational and colourful content specifically for children are now being broadcast. Programmes include theatre and puppet shows, storytelling shows and films. See more here:
Contact: foreignaffairs@besiktas.bel.tr
The city of Amsterdam has announced a 50 million emergency fund to take necessary measures during the Corona crisis. With this fund the city can provide things like laptops to children who lack these facilities at home and free parking licenses for health professionals. In the coming weeks more actions will be announced. Read more here
Contact: Julia Robeer
Madrid has launched an online platform ‘Conecta Juventud 2.0’ which now has almost 80,000 participants. The project has more than 40 activities available for young people to carry out from their homes under themes such as art, health, sports, personal care, solidarity, legal advice, science and new technologies. Read more (in Spanish) here.
Madrid has also joined the # PHEdesdemibalcón campaign. The PHotoESPAÑA International Photography Festival encourages citizens to send snapshots they take during these weeks from their balcony. Read more (in Spanish) here.
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Since Espoo turned to distance learning, the city and teachers have learned the importance of clarity, the best methods, the role of the teacher and wellbeing of the child. Read about the city’s experience here.
Contact: Annika Forstén
Bamberg – educational resources on the internet
While schools are temporarily closed, Bamberg has established an online platform that contains exercises and working materials for students. These materials serve a dual function, as they also relate to Bamberg’s cultural heritage. Read more (in German) here.
Contact: Patricia Alberth
The museum StadtPalais in Stuttgart is going fully digital. Under the title ‘Online for you’, a varied programme of interactive live tours, digital visits and media guides for home are offered, as well as online workshops for children and families, speed runs and live guests. The whole programme is for free.
Continue reading “Stuttgart – Digital art tours”The City of Espoo encourages residents to enjoy a wide variety of online culture and sports services offered by the city and its partners.
Continue reading “Espoo – Sports and culture in your home”Rome’s libraries are making their catalogue available online for free with the #cultureathome campaign. People can subscribe for a free membership that will give them access to over 7100 periodicals from 90 countries in 40 different languages, the main national and international newspapers, and widely circulated magazines. Users will also be able to borrow from 2 to 4 e-books. Read more here
Contact: Tamara Lucarelli
Warsaw launched several virtual broadcasts showcasing the natural world, serving both educational and recreational purposes. The videos show how employees of the city zoo take care of animals, or teach interesting facts about the animal world. People can also take a digital stroll in Lasy Miejskie, the City Forest of Warsaw, and teach their kids how to behave when in the forest. Read more here
Contact: Natalia Boitot
When the Slovenian Government banned closed all organised child care, Ljubljana sent a request to kindergarten and elementary school principals to find out if any of their teachers and educators would be willing to volunteer to take children into care, either at the volunteer’s home or the child’s home. 53 educators from Ljubljana’s kindergartens and 26 teachers from Ljubljana’s elementary schools responded to the request. Due to the virus’ specificities, the volunteers can only be healthy people under 50, with no chronic illnesses and those who do not have small children at home. In this way the city has managed to guarantee child care for the children whose parents are obliged to work in extraordinary circumstances.
Contact: Polona Novak
Ljubljana has organized home food delivery for children from at risk families and elderly citizens. Drivers of city buses are volunteering to perform the deliveries. Over 100 people have volunteered at the Ljubljana Public Transport (Ljubljanski potniški promet) public company.
Bus drivers have also started helping with urgent non-scheduled transport of people, organized by the Slovenian Red Cross. The transport is intended for people who urgently need access to essential services or errands.
Contact: Polona Novak
The librarians of the Tallinn Central Library are reading books via Skype or phone for children who have to stay at home because of the COVID-19 crisis. A child only needs to choose a book from the library list and call the librarian, who will then read the book for him/her. One session lasts maximum 30 minutes.
The library, which has already had a large stock of e-books available since it opened eight years ago, is also now uploading tonnes more e-books to keep people engaged during the coronavirus, and is providing free online registration for those Estonian citizens who are not yet readers in order to grant access to e-library ELLU.
Read more here.
Contact: Kerttu Märtin
Students of Tallinn’s schools will be able to continue to get a daily free school lunch under a special arrangement approved by the city’s authorities. Normally, school lunch is free in Tallinn for the students, but due to the emergency situation all schools are closed in Estonia. As for some children the school lunch is the only hot meal during the day, the Tallinn has decided to continue to make free school lunches available to students who need it.
Schools will inform families about the availability of a free meal and where the students can get it via the eKool (e-School) online environment and the schools’ web pages. To start getting free school lunches, the family must inform the school, as the number of meals prepared will depend on the number of those who wish to get them.
“Since for some children the school lunch is the only hot meal of the day, we do not consider it possible to deprive the children of it. Therefore the Tallinn crisis committee decided to arrange for the provision of hot school meals for the children in need of help,” Deputy Mayor Vadim Belobrovtsev said. “The most important thing in the current situation is caring, and for aid to reach the children who need it most,” the deputy mayor said, urging schools and families to work together on this. Read more (in Estonian) here.
Contact: Kerttu Märtin
Leipzig’s natural history museum is creating videos for children to replace its exhibition on the deep sea, which was supposed to open at the end of March. A carpet of rubbish swirling above a shipwreck, the installation, and subsequently the videos that the museum is creation, will explore areas such as evolutionary history, biodiversity and environmental protection, until the museum can be opened again. Read more (in German) here.
Contact: Christin Rettke
’10 ways to run your business operations remotely’ – the city of Tallinn gives advice for companies under the restrictions of the corona crisis. Estonia has already digitalised many public services. It is also leading in digital education and offers its tools for free to support other countries. Read more here
Contact: Kerttu Märtin
Motivating kids to move at home – that’s the idea of ‘Fit with Clips for Kids’, a series of short video clips inviting for jumping and skill games and other movement ideas which easily can be done at home. You can read more here (in German) and find the video clips here.
Contact: Claudia Schulcz
Madrid’s new online exercise channel includes games to play with children, aerobic training, challenges to exercise as a family, yoga and pilates, and more. The councilor delegate for Sport, Sofía Miranda, has stressed the importance of continuing to do sports at home to keep people’s immune systems strong. This is also being hosted on a municipal Instagram account ‘I train at home’.
All the content that is published is developed by the professionals of the municipal sports centers of the City Council. Read more here.
Contact: Ana Buñuel
With all municipal kindergatens still running, despite schools being closed, the Tallinn City Government has used emergency measures to enact changes in the organisation of kndergartens, giving more parents an opportunity to continue working.
Read more here
Contact: Kerttu Märtin
