Childcare & Development Helper

The program

The mission of this program is to contribute to the children of Costa Rica, to promote education, and to ensure their proper physical, emotional, and social development. The early childhood centres on this program provide care and education for 20 to 40 local children, aged 3 to 6 years old, and provide a place where the children of working-class parents can have a place to be educated, have friends, and to feel comfortable. Some of the children also come from single parent families who would struggle without the help and assistance provided by these day care facilities. The children attending these projects require a lot of care, attention and most importantly, companionship. Volunteers spend their time caring for the children, helping with their schoolwork, playing games and arranging fun activities during leisure time, like sports or art. Attention and companionship is what the children in these projects need the most, and the attendance of international volunteers is always a highlight for them.

Goals of this Project:

• Provide childcare to vulnerable children in Santa Barbara de Heredia (20min from downtown San Jose)
• Improve the future prospects of the children of Costa Rica
• Allow impoverished families to place their children in childcare programs and allow them to work
• Enable inter-cultural exchange which benefits both students and international volunteers alike.

How you can help

Volunteers play an essential role in helping families in Costa Rica through this program. Participants will spend their time taking care of children and assist the local staff as needed. Volunteers will work Monday to Friday for at least 4 to 6 hours per day.

Volunteers spend their time assisting the local teacher with daily activities, and will spend time teaching and playing with the children. They will contribute in a number of ways and can expect to undertake the following tasks:

• Helping to teach children
• Attending to and interacting with the children
• Creating activities and entertaining the children with games and songs
• Teaching basic English, hygiene, and spiritual values
• Help with kitchen and other duties where required

A volunteer’s work day on this project will generally last between 4 and 6 hours and while we ask all volunteers to be flexible in this regard, a typical daily schedule is likely to go something like this:

8:00am Breakfast at the host family accommodation

8:30am Walk or bus to project site

9:00am Pre-start meeting with project supervisor

9:15am VOLUNTEERING DUTIES START

A tea break and lunch break will be fitted in during the day, but often the timing of breaks will change based on the needs of the local staff and number of volunteers on hand.

3:00pm VOLUNTEERING DUTIES END

3:15pm Debrief with project supervisor

3:30pm Walk or bus back to host family accommodation

Evenings Free time to relax and have dinner with your host family or explore the sights and sounds of the real Costa Rica!