Credentials of little ambassadors

On February 6, 2025, the eighth festival of children’s talent and pedagogical discoveries “Little Ambassador of the Big World” was held in the capital’s Gostiny Dvor. It was attended by preschoolers from three to seven years old, many of whom are pupils of Mosmetrostroy kindergartens.

The event was traditionally organized by the Russian Committee of the World Organization for Preschool Education OMEP under the auspices of UNESCO - its president is the director of the unifying Metrostroy kindergartens, ANO Preschool Organization "WORLD OF CHILDHOOD", Larisa Shevchenko. According to her, the annual festival is an important step for the development of the educational system of our country and the strengthening of international and interregional communications.

“We are very closely involved in cultural heritage and participate in programs to achieve the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. One of them is the quality of education. It is we, Russian teachers with a rich professional heritage, who need to constantly make our own contribution to education through culture and respect for history and traditions,” noted Larisa Shevchenko.

The central event of the festival was a large-scale gala concert of children's creativity, thanks to which the audience was able to immerse themselves in various cultures of the world - preschoolers prepared songs, dances and poems in the traditions of India and China, African and Central Asian countries, not forgetting their original Russian roots. It was these bright and memorable performances by the guests of the event that became a kind of credentials of little ambassadors of the big world, who learn the diversity of the unique cultures of our planet and transmit this knowledge to adults. Of particular interest to the guests and participants was the performance of kindergarten students from the city of Grozny - young residents of the Chechen Republic demonstrated to their peers from Moscow and adult guests of the festival the depth and richness of the heritage of their ancestors in the form of folk dance.

Another focus of the festival is a pedagogical art project dedicated to dolls as guardians of cultural heritage. Teachers took part in their creation and restoration, using dolls in national costumes as teaching material in the educational process. Guests were able to see the results of their work at the exhibition, which brought together more than 150 designer dolls in traditional costumes from Russian regions.

“The doll is one of the key tools of our work. The uniqueness of the collected collection lies in the fact that each doll comes with educational material for preschoolers: how to play correctly, how to talk about it correctly, and so on,” explained Larisa Shevchenko.

As a result of the festival, children and their parents received a lot of pleasant emotions and learned more about other cultures, and preschool teachers exchanged professional experience and discussed practical issues of industry development. In addition, all preschool participants and the best teachers received awards from the organizers.