Support a Pre-School for Low-Income Families

Children from 1 ½ to 5 years are cared for in the public kindergartens and day-care centers where our volunteers help in Costa Rica. Depending on the institution, the number of children varies between 50 and 150 children. The groups are usually divided according to the age of the children. The older children are in transition to elementary school and are taught in pre-school classes, even in subjects such as art and English.

Our volunteer programs enable you to show social commitment abroad. The aim of our projects is to enable the volunteers to experience the Costa Rican culture up close. From years of experience, we know that volunteering abroad enhances one's personal horizons and provides a decent portion of life experience.

In an increasingly globalized world, knowledge of Spanish is extremely important and gives you a huge advantage over others in the job market. And nowhere else does one learn the language better than in the country where it is spoken.

Furthermore, our volunteer work projects in Costa Rica have an optimal on-site support. Our volunteers have access to our so-called Volunteer Center. There you will always find a contact person and can surf the Internet for free, make local calls, or participate in cultural activities such as dance and cooking classes or even Spanish converstations workshops.

On the first day of volunteering, the volunteers will be welcomed to the Volunteer Center for an orientation session. Afterwards, they will be escorted to their volunteer work places and introduced to the project team.

Volunteers do not have to have prior knowledge or work experience with children, but they should be able to work independently and on their own responsibility. Working with children often involves unforeseen situations and as a volunteer, you are expected to be spontaneous, tolerant and creative in your work. Always lead the children as a good example and always be aware of your role model function.

• Playing games and doing recreational activities
• Organizing sports and outdoor games
• Maintenance of the facilities
• Giving attention and care
• Helping the educators to feed and wash the very young children
• Sleeping the little ones in the afternoon
• Supervise the children as they play, eat and sleep

It is also appreciated when the volunteers bring their own skills and experience to work. Ideas and suggestions are always welcome and can be discussed with the supervisor on site.

In some kindergartens, especially in pre-school classes, the following tasks may be added:

• Teaching of art, music, simple math
• Teaching basic English skills
• Preparing additional materials for teaching

Note: The tasks may vary. They depend on factors such as number of volunteers, weather, season, current needs of the project, as well as self-motivation. Not every volunteer may be fully involved in all these tasks.

Being in the vibrant city of San Jose, there are many activities to do in your spare time. There are regular concerts, and a wide range of sports to participate in. Weekends are the perfect time to enjoy an exciting hike through Costa Rican nature since the main attractions of Costa Rica is its system of national parks and protected areas, which cover around 25% of the national territory, in order to protect the rich variety of flora and fauna, which is estimated to contain 5% of the world's biodiversity in less than 0.1% of the planet's land mass. In addition, Costa Rica has countless amazing beaches on both the Pacific and the Caribbean Ocean. 

Costa Rica is the perfect place to combine volunteer work with tourism, enjoy activities like:- Adventure sport
- Dream beaches
- Ecotourism
- Local culture
- Bird / wildlife watching
- Visits to unique National Parks
- Rural tourism
- Sightseeing and history in San José