2017

4497 Preschoolers have Successfully Graduated from LVM Eco-programme "Pigman's Detectives"

As the school year has come to an end, also the third season of eco-programme for pre-school children "Pigman's Detectives" (Cūkmena detektīvi) organised by JSC "Latvia's State Forests" (LVM) is over. The programme's patron Pigman, a fighter for green forests, visited 40 the most active kindergartens, and all the participants from 159 kindergartens in Latvia earned a diploma of a Pigman's detective.

Being asked about her overall impression about the LVM eco-programme and the results achieved, Irēna Cine, Teacher at Viļķene Pre-school Education Institution, says: "The content was very good, it was easy to understand by children, it was attention-catching, as well as developed children's fantasy, imagination. The programme materials taught children to think about waste management. The interestingly created stories about waste transformation, about Pigman and the accompanying worksheets were simply wonderful. Thank you very much!"

Sarmīte Bluķe, Teacher at Blome Elementary School Pre-school Education Group, shares her experience: "Children had the opportunity to explore the role of forest and nature, secrets for growing and tending forests, and their wide range of options for use. The story of the emergence of Pigman was very exciting. There were also a lot of practical activities: painting, cutting, gluing, sorting, paper making, planting of own tree, and many more."

For the school year to be active and fun, the participants were given a number of tasks. Despite the fact that the programme focuses on kindergarten students, also the teachers had to take an active part: provide details on the progress made, publish news on the Pigman's website, as well as in other social networks. These activities were decisive in finding out, which 40 kindergartens will be visited by Pigman himself. Also in the autumn of the next school year, every kindergarten in Latvia will be invited to participate in the eco-programme by filling in an application form, which in September will be published on the website of www.cukmens.lv.

The eco-programme "Pigman's Detectives" is based on four themes; with the help of games, dance and songs, fairy tails, different types of visualisation (such as Pigman dolls and other mayerials) children perform certain tasks of a detective to assess the good and the bad things that happen in the forest. Each theme is built according to the principle: See, Hear, Listen, Do; it also foresees an active involvement and participation of children in different fun-classes.

The eco-programme "Pigman's Detectives" is organised with the support of the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund.