BuildERS is a project funded by the European Union’s largest transnational research and innovation programme – Horizon2020. On our mission to help towards the increase of social resilience and disaster-responsiveness, we developed numerous tools and innovations.
One of them is the BuildERS game aimed at teaching children 5 to 10 years old, who are likely to be vulnerable in case of disasters, how to react and how to spread information to their peers. This free and interactive game is what we would like to introduce to various schools, hoping that it would spark interest to teach about the steps that need to be taken in case of emergency situations. Teaching about horrendous scenarios like fires, earthquakes, pandemic, or floods, is not always easy, which is why this game-based learning might prove to be an effective approach.
The four scenarios of the game are all downloadable and printable – our idea was that any teacher or educator can afford to print out papers within the institution and later engage children in assembling them. Additionally, the board is semi-coloured with the intention that after assembling it, the children can personalize it (colour it, potentially making it look like their own school/town/village) and connect more to the game itself. There are pairing cards for younger children (5-7 years) and questions and challenges for older ones (8-10 years), but you can also combine and add new levels of difficulty if the pupils are learning fast – the board is yours to create!
We are open to feedback - please send us a note with your thoughts and comments, should you decide to try out the game with your pupils!
For additional information, you can always contact jelena.kajganovic@geonardo.com
Good luck with the game and let’s build resilience together!