Completed projects

"Book as a cure" is a project born from the collaboration between the de Agostini Foundation and the Municipality of Milan with the aim of giving comfort to the little ones, who have suffered the most from the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 epidemic, through the use of reading.

Because through books, children better understand not only the world around them but above all their own inner world, thanks to the images and words they read and which give voice to thoughts and emotions.

The project included a training course for teachers of the nursery schools of the Municipality of Milan and the creation of webinar dedicated to parents. Through reading, the objective was to support the growth and processing of children's emotions, especially those that the pandemic has brought to light (fear, separation, loneliness), activating a real healing process.

Scheduled webinars

The project, developed in the two-year period 2018-2020 and aimed at combating child educational poverty, aimed to offer greater educational opportunities to girls and boys aged 0 to 6 and their families, as well as strengthen services dedicated to children; all through a network of stimuli and opportunities that connects school, territory and families.

“First Steps” consisted of strengthening contexts and stimuli for children inside and outside school, as well as the acquisition of lasting skills in adults through the involvement of all actors (public and private) of the educational community. To best finalize these objectives, activities have been carried out and following the best practices: laboratories in the area and within schools; bridging actions with families, to promote access to public children's services and other local resources; implementation of the care network and social and health prevention; cultural mediation and promotion of active participation of parents in the school and in the area.

The services directly involved in the implementation of the project were the nurseries and nursery schools in via S. Erlembaldo, S. Mamete, Russo, Ragusa and Giacosa, in addition to the Tempo per le Famiglie Giacosa supplementary service and the state nursery school of via Pontano.

The leader of the project was the Municipality of Milan (Children's Services Area - Project Office), which worked together with some territorial partners (ATS and eight Third Sector entities).
The project was selected by the social enterprise “Con i Bambini” as part of the Fund for the fight against juvenile educational poverty, created with the aim of eliminating economic, social and cultural obstacles that prevent children from fully participating in educational processes.

First Steps brochure

Open the door to reading is a project promoted by the European Commission within the Erasmus Plus Program and fully financed by the European Union.

The Municipality joined in partnership with Gothenburg (leader), Brussels, Bristol and Turku.

The project has a duration of 24 months starting from September 2017 until October 2019, the month in which the final conference organized by the city of Milan will be held. 

Project objectives
The objective of the Open the door to reading project is to strengthen and improve the cognitive and linguistic skills of children between 0 and 6 years old through the promotion of reading, reducing inequality in the living and health conditions of children in their early years. years of life.

To this end, the project aims to promote reading in schools, with the involvement of their families, in order to prevent situations of hardship and social exclusion.

The target of the project is professionals (childcare educators, librarians, health service workers, etc.) who deal with children aged 0/6 years and their families from different angles.

The beneficiaries of the project are families who present multidimensional problematic situations given by their migratory background, difficult socio-economic conditions, specific cognitive or relational development problems of children.


Planned actions

International shares
The project includes: 

the creation of 5 moments of transactional exchange of good practices; 
local workshops for professionals;
the implementation of specific tools and the production of a booklet that supports early childhood professionals in promoting reading;
the holding of two conferences on this topic in order to encourage mutual improvement of skills and their systemisation.

Local actions of the Municipality of Milan
In particular, thanks to this membership, the Municipality of Milan intends to implement its knowledge and practices regarding the use of reading for children aged 0/6 with a view to preventing discomfort.

To this end he is committed to:

share with the project partners the practices currently underway in some schools (laboratory practices, settings, materials..),
create 3 laboratories in schools to test the materials and tools developed by the project
organize training courses and exchange of practices between educators, librarians and healthcare workers
disseminate the materials that will be project outputs to educators and service managers
participation in transactional meetings for the exchange of practices
organization of the final international project conference in October 2019 in Milan.

Expected results

Improvement of internal processes at partner institutions to support reading practices, which have a key role in the development of the pedagogical approach based on inclusive teaching and divergent thinking;
a positive impact on the well-being of children and their families in a broader sense such as the ability of adults to care for children and their capacity for autonomy;
an increase in opportunities for all children, even in culturally disadvantaged contexts and children with difficulties.

Open the door to reading

Updated: 20/03/2024