Protect European Biodiversity!

CLIP:  GO WILD!  SEE EUROPEAN LOST SPECIES!

In Europe we have a wonderful and incredibly diverse nature. Did you know that in our continent there are deserts, dark and green forests, lakes, snowy mountains, islands and beautiful beaches?

There are plants and animals that exist only in Europe and which we should protect, because they are unique species. Some of them are in danger of extinction: they risk to disappear for ever, never!

We must protect our biodiversity! The video clip cannot turn into reality! Do you imagine Europe without wolves, eagles, bears or lynxes?

The European Commission helps European Union countries to take care of nature and offers special protection to some areas of great value, where it is forbidden to hunt wild animals and to pick flowers. What a good idea!

Let's explore Europe!

Hello!

Come with us and let's explore Europe together! We come from different countries and speak different languages, but we share a common home: Europe.

Do you want to become a medieval knight? A strong prehistoric girl? A frightful viking? You decide!

It will be an adventurous journey through time and space and you will find out loads of interesting things! Throw the dice and test your knowledge about Europe: Geography, History, European Union, Culture...  Only the fastest and wiser kids will be able to surpass this adventure!

You can play the game alone or challenge your friends or classmates.

Online Game: Let's explore Europe!

e-book   

European Union

Learning at the Euro School!

FIGHTING AGAINST THE INFLATION MONSTER!

You have just begun the school and probably you have heard mum and dad complaining like this: "How many expenses! You need new books, folders, sport shoes, a tracksuit… And in addition, some things are more expensive than the past year!"

Luckily, the European Central Bank works to avoid that prices in € raise too much and fights against the evil monster of the inflation, who is the one that causes price increase. But… How does it work? You will find it out in this funny cartoon!

The European Central Bank is the central bank for Europe's single currency, the euro. 17 European Union countries have introduced the euro since 1999.

At the Euro School you will discover many didactic resources : games, interactive displays, events and competitions. Tell your teacher!

First day of school in Europe

The summer ends and it is time to come back to school. Get ready! You have to organise your books, tracksuit and backpack… A new scholar year is waiting for you!

After so many days of vacation, returning the school is always a bit hard! It takes us a few days to get used to timetables, to get up early and to study. Do not worry, it is normal and it happens to everyone!

Think about the good things: the first day of school is also very exciting! You will meet your friends and fellows and you will play again with all of them. That's great! New teachers, many things to learn, fascinating adventures to live!

Do you know when do European children come back to school?

In most of Europe, the school begins on September 1. This is the case of Belgium, Slovenia or Poland, although like this year, as that day fallen on a Saturday, the first day of school was on September 3, Monday.  Schools in Russia historically begin on Knowledge Day, September 1st. In France schools opened on September 4 and in England many do on September 5.


In the south of Europe, where the summer is longer, the school begins in the middle of September. For example, in several Italian regions as Sardinia or Calabria the first day of school is September 17. The same happens in Turkey. In Spain, the majority of the children returns to school on September 10. In Portugal, the classes begin between the 10th and 14th of September.

However, in the north of Europe the autumn starts earlier and children come back to school in August, as it happens in some regions of Germany, Scotland, Holland or Sweden. Some dutch kids   began the school year on August 13!

Paralympic Games!

The London 2012 Paralympic Games take place between 29 August and 9 September in London.

You may ask yourself... Paralympic games? What is it?  They are the second largest sporting event in the world, a olimpic competition involving athletes with physical or intellectual disabilities, for instance blindness or mobility impairments. Despite having these problems they have fought very hard to turn into big sportsmen and sportwomen and overcome barriers. They are a great example for all of us!

The name ‘Paralympic’ comes from the Greek word ‘para’ which means ‘beside’ or ‘alongside’. It means a competition held in parallel with the Olympic Games.

London 2012 will be the biggest Paralympic Games ever featuring 4,280 athletes from 166 countries all over the world, who will compete in 20 sports, like athletics, wheelchair basketball, cycling, judo, football 7-a-side, swimming, tennis in wheelchair, archery or sail. Wow, that's impressive!

Like the Olympic Games, Paralympics Games were born in Europe: 

After the World War II, a European doctor called Ludwig Guttmann was working with war soldiers with spinal injuries when he started to think about using sport to help them. He was convinced that making them more active would help re-motivate them after serious injury. So, at the same time as the London Olympic Games in 1948, he organised the first wheelchair games at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, in England. It was a big success and four years later international competitors started to come to the event and interest grew. First Paralympics Games took place in Rome, in 1960, and some years later Sweden hosted the first winter games in 1976. Since then Paralympics Games are celebrated every four years.

Did you know that Mandeville is the official Paralympic Mascot for London 2012? It is inspired by Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the wheelchair games. Mandeville loves sports and thinks that paralympians are amazing. Its one eye is actually a video camera so that it can record everything that it sees. It has also a light which reflects London taxis. Mandeville is aerodynamic to represent “Spirit In Motion”, the Paralympic motto. It's always ready for action!

Paralympics athletes fight every day to improve themselves and to overcome barriers. They are very brave and love challenges;  if at first they do not succeed, do not lose heart and go forward.

They are admirable!

Become an undercover Agent !

Become an undercover 'eco agent' and save the planet! 

You can now learn about ways to protect the environment, while chasing eco-villains on the 'Eco Agents' website, available in 24 languages.

The European Environment Agency's  invites 9- to 14-year-olds to become undercover 'eco agents'. After creating a personal profile, each new recruit appears in an online comic strip alongside permanent characters.

Special missions will be assigned to the player, such as infiltrating a 'wind farm' in the Netherlands, which is a cover-up for a natural gas extraction facility. Each mission includes games where children earn points towards a general score. Several storylines on climate change, water quality, sustainable lifestyle, biodiversity and air quality are already online.  

Teachers can access educational material as well as a list of local websites where they can find more information about environmental issues. Each storyline has a corresponding quiz. Correct answers provide feedback and further information on that particular issue, whereas incorrect answers first provide a hint and then invite the player to try again. The quizzes can also be downloaded and used in classrooms.

Wanna save the planet? Just click!

Travel the Universe of Greater Europe

Ready for the adventure? Yes?  Let's go!

The Council of Europe has entrusted you today a big space mission: "Travel the Universe of Greater Europe".   Your target is to release from a magic box a very important message for all the nations of Europe.  To make your adventure a success, you must first travel

across several galaxies and solve all the clues to find 12 hidden gold stars. A real challenge for the most audacious kids!  Once you have collected all gold stars, you could reach the space station and the secret message will be released.

In each galaxy you will discover lots of things about Europe, its culture, languages and nature, which we must value and protect.  You will also learn the rights of the children and a big secret, which we can not reveal to you here: you will discover it yourself taking part in  "Travel the Universe of Greater Europe", this fastastic adventure story that the Council of Europe has written for kids. Download it for free!

Good luck!

European Languages Game

LinguaGo Game

Hi!  Ready for a new adventure? 

You have turned into a gold star and you live in the planet EuropaGo. How exciting! But don't think that is going to be easy.

You are trapped on the languages maze... and awful spiders run after you! Help!

To overcome this challenge successfully, you need to answer  questions on European languages. Go as fast as you can to avoid the spiders who want to eat you; if they touch you, you lose a life. Don't forget to collect the parcels you will find in the way, you will add points!

With the exciting game LinguaGo you will learn about the 23 official languages of the European Union, which are: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish.  Did you imagine that there were so many?

LinguaGo is a free online game for kids, made by the European Union.

It's time to play!

What is the European Union?

The European Union is a big family of ... 27 countries!!!

Souce: European Union 2012

Like many families, it was small at the beginning, with only 6 members that had the idea to create a club of fellow countries, more than 60 years ago: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

But... How it began everything? In that period Europe was sad and broken. Two big world-wide wars had destroyed schools, houses and especially lives, dreams and illusions. All was grey. The Europeans deserved something better! And they decided that it was time to overcome the problems and to begin a new way together in peace. And the family of fellow countries was born!

Little by little the European Union has gone growing and new members have joined to the club. Now we are 27 countries; each one of us is different: some are big, other small, ones are richer and others no so much. Each country has its own culture and its languages, but we shared many things and… most important: we want to work together to have a better future in Europe!

If you want to know more about the European Union, visit the EU Kids Corner. It's a great site for children!

You can also download a colourful map of the EU and put it in your room.

The legend of Europe

Do you know the legend of Europe?

A legend of the old Greece says that the name of "Europe" comes from a beautiful princess who lived thousands of years ago. Zeus, the Greek gods' father, was fascinated by her beauty and devised a plan to get her love. As Europe liked animals very much, Zeus, who had big powers, transformed himself in an attractive white bull. One day, when Europe was taking flowers and walking with her friends along the beach, she saw the precious white bull and approached to caress him. Seeing that he was good and tame, she climbed up to his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. There, he recovered his human form and offered three magic gifts to Europe: a giant man of metal who was the guard of the island, a javelin that always hit the focused target and a dog who never failed to catch what he was hunting. Finally Europe did not marry Zeus, she married the King of Crete and became the Queen, but this is another story...

In honor to beautiful Europe, our continent takes her name.

In ancient times there was not television, neither online games, internet or movies. To entertain themselves, people liked listening to legends as this one. Every evening, after the daily tasks, the family gathered and the elderly used to explain exciting stories about heroes, warriors, kings, princes and gods. These tales, magic and religious, were told from parents to children. They all knew these legends that we still remember in our days !!!