IBBY-Yamada 2020: Peru

IBBY Peru: Storytelling and workshops for children by the sea – Vengan los niños y niñas a pescar historias en el mar de Chorillos – Children, come and fish up stories at the sea in Chorrillos

Chorrillos is a district in the Lima region of Peru that is directly on the coast and the beaches and fisherman are an essential part of its history. This project seeks to emphasise this setting while introducing pre-school children to stories and encouraging them to tell their own stories. Workshops and visits to the fishing villages and the local wildlife swamp were planned. However, because of the pandemic, the two workshops could not take place in-person, but were adapted while keeping the goal that children could discover and learn about the beauty and richness of the sea and its surroundings. The project was led by teachers of three class groups, 3, 4 and 5-year-olds. A series of films was uploaded to Youtube to permit viewing by teachers and parents when time permitted: Las enseñanzas de Barbotas el viejo pescador (The teachings of Barbotas the old fisherman), Playa de Pescadores (Beach of the fishermen) and Humedales de Villa (Wetlands of town) for the five-year-olds; Periquito el Bandolero (Parakeet the bandit) and Pedro Pollito (Peter chick) for the four-year-olds and the story of Pez Arco Iris (Rainbow fish) for the three-year-olds. The activities included a family visit to the beach to observe the animals and plants which increased the children’s knowledge and awareness of the environment and the engagement of parents with their children. The children then created drawings, stories and rhymes with their teacher online.

Read about the project (in Spanish, including links to videos) here.