For children from 7- 8 

With minor modifications the programme can also be adapted  to children aged 6. 

Duration: 1 hour Χ 30 days

Location: School. Visits are proposed to the Folklife and Ethnological Museum, the Sarakatsan Museum in Serres, the Sarakatsan village maintained by the Sarakatsan Association of Kordelio, Thessaloniki, or other local societies with collections of Sarakatsan items.
 

Purpose: acquainting the children with aspects and values of our traditional culture and making them more aware of their cultural heritage.

Objectives: Firstly, familiarizing children with the traditional way of life of the Sarakatsans, their nomadic animal-grazing, and thereby raising the children's level of environmental awareness

The programme is based on a work plan focused on the Sarakatsan stable and is taught using educational material available at the Museumshop. This includes: 

a. student's book (‘Danae and I in a summer's tale'),
b. teacher's book (‘The Sarakatsan Stable'), 
c. cassette with music and songs,
d. sheep bell

Editing-Texts: Foteini Oikonomidou
Illustration: Zisis Skabalis
Adaptation of fairy tales: Egli Brouskou 
Music: Yannis Chouliaras
Song: Katerina Naoum, Rena Frangiadaki, Chrysoula Gouda
Photographs: Yannis Papanikolaou

A few words about the programme: Danai and Anestis, the heroes of the programme, introduce the children to the life of the Sarakatsans, their movement from the plains to the mountains as they follow their flocks of sheep and goats.

The children are invited to participate in a host of activities, through which they learn about the life of the flocks, the stables and pens, the preparation of the cheese, the place and various roles of women and men, the upbringing and employment of their children. They ‘live' in the environment of the mountain, accompanied by Danai and Anestis, and through folk tales they experience nature in its animate and inanimate forms, its real and magical aspects; they paint this environment, they hear the singing of the birds, the cries of the animals and the sounds of the bells; they ‘play' with the sheep, the goats and dogs, familiarizing themselves with their needs and characteristics, learning how useful they are to mankind.
 
The programme is taught mainly in the classroom. Some of the activities may be covered through a visit to the Museum, after teachers have reached agreement with the Museum staff.

Planning-Implementation: Foteini Oikonomidou