The day care center in Ivano-Frankivsk has returned to its regular schedule after the summer break. Every day, art therapy and educational classes as well as group psychological classes are held. From Monday to Friday, throughout the afternoon, children can enjoy a wide range of development activities. A new course, “Your Online World,” has been launched, teaching 10-year-olds the basics of digital hygiene and safe use of the Internet. Young people, on the other hand, can take part in a series of classes on Ukrainian traditions and art. Among the topics covered is the fascinating subject of how culture influences our thinking about the world.

During the summer months, St. Nicholas Day Care Center continued its work. From June to August, children at St. Nicholas Day Care Center in Ivano-Frankivsk participated in five-day camp sessions. In July, there was also a week-long camp in the Carpathians.

The St. Nicholas Day Care Center in Ivano-Frankivsk is located in the vicinity of a beautiful park. This location makes it a perfect spot for summer day camps. Most of the activities were conducted outdoors, surrounded by greenery.

The days were filled with fun, exercise, and artistic projects. The fantastic staff of the Day Care Center offered art therapy classes and group psychological activities focused on integration, communication, and teaching teamwork. During the day camp, the teachers organized a series of workshops using music, dance, artistic techniques, and theater. Broadly understood psychological support is a permanent feature of the Day Care Center’s activities. In addition to group activities, day camp participants could take advantage of individual meetings with a psychologist. Although Ivano-Frankivsk is located in an area considered safe, children here also feel a sense of danger. Sounds of alarms are heard more and more often. Many children are anxious about their loved ones, and many are afraid for their fathers who are serving on the front lines. During the July session, Ivano-Frankivsk also experienced a wave of attacks and air raid sirens. Despite this, the Day Care Center continued to operate normally to provide care for the children and allow them to take a break from the tension.

The importance and necessity of the Day Care Center is illustrated by the story of one of the girls participating in the day camp, whose father, serving in the air defense unit, was wounded while on duty in July. The Day Care Center was the only place where the girl’s mother could leave her safely and go to visit her wounded husband. The girl was looked after by teachers and a psychologist and spent a day filled with fun and carefree despite the serious concerns that affected her family. The day care center is an important place on the map of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Holidays at the day care center are primarily an opportunity for free play and interesting activities with peers, such as educational trips, visits to museums, open-air museums, and the cinema. The three oldest groups had the opportunity to visit the Science Museum in Lviv. It is a modern facility that uses interactive methods to teach various scientific topics. The young people spent several fascinating hours exploring topics related to water, air, the human body, optics, acoustics, electricity, and robotics.

The trip to Lviv and the visit to the Science Museum were co-financed by the Association for the Development of the Gen. Józef Kustroń School Complex in Lubaczów, which made a donation to support Ukrainian children. Thank you for that!

SEE HOW YOUNG PEOPLE FROM IVANO-FRANKIVSK DISCOVER THE WORLD OF SCIENCE

WATCH THE REPORT FROM THE DAY CAMP IN IVANO-FRANKIVSK

The Foundation’s volunteers play an important role in the activities of the Day Care Center. Young leaders, often graduates of the Day Care Center, underwent training in the spring to prepare them for the implementation of their own projects, learning the principles of teamwork, proper goal setting, and team building rules. The educators and psychologists working at the Day Care Center also familiarized them with the logistical and organizational aspects of the projects, and the last, extremely important thematic block of the classes consisted of workshops on the mental well-being of children and the leaders themselves.

The young people participating in the leadership workshops – often forced migrants from cities and villages affected by war – learned to define and understand trauma, the principles of working with children after traumatic experiences, how to select appropriate team activities, and how to take care of themselves in the process of volunteer work.

Thanks to the skills they acquired, young volunteers carried out their own projects for the children attending the day care center during the summer.

Solomiya and Marta organized an active Children’s Day, which was attended by about 60 children aged 6-13 and 30 children and young people aged 13-18. The day was devoted to promoting information about children’s rights and responsibilities and, in addition, to joint activities, tasks, and games. The children also had an educational meeting with a psychologist. An outdoor game was prepared for the older age group. The day ended with an integration evening with singing along to guitar, watching a movie, and spending the night in the day care center on real camp beds!

Jaryna, Angelina, Vlad, Vytalyk, and Katia worked at a summer camp for 90 children in the Carpathians, under the supervision of the Day Care Center psychologist. The team planned and conducted a block of evening activities for the participants. The children were involved in competitions and games related to memes, and then invited to reflect and talk in a specially prepared yurt by the fire. The evening ended with singing together.

Katia, Vlad, Daria, and Alysa joined as assistant animators at an international camp in Germany organized for 100 Ukrainian children. They developed and led evening activities for the children, and Katia and Vlad also prepared a bicycle trip for the older camp participants and volunteers working at the camp. The joint trip took place in July and was combined with promotion of physical exercise and activity as well as health prevention.

The team coordinated by Angelina has planned sports competitions for wheelchair users. The event will take place in the nearest days, in October.

Thanks to the donors of the St. Nicholas Foundation, thousands of children in need have been helped. However, we must not forget that the war is still going on and the sea of needs is growing. We appeal for help and ask for your generosity. How can you help?

1) Make an on-line donation via: www mikolaj.org.pl/Ukraina

2) Donate to:

SWIFT Code: PKOP PL PW

IBAN (EUR): PL95 1240 6003 1978 0010 8524 6705

IBAN (USD): PL30 1240 6003 1787 0010 8524 6561

IBAN (GBP): PL02 1240 6003 1789 0010 8524 6965

PayPal: [email protected]

In 2025, the operation of the St. Nicholas Day Care Center in Ivano-Frankivsk is co-financed from the state budget under Polish development cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, as part of the project ‘Providing psychological assistance to children harmed by warfare in Ukraine’, in the amount of PLN 493,400.