2018

3687 Children from All over Latvia Take Part in the LVM eco-programme "Pigman's Detectives"

This school year, 3687 children or 169 kindergarten groups from all over Latvia have become committed to become Pigman's detectives. The programme's patron Pigman (Cūkmens), a fighter for green forests, has already visited the young detectives to bring them a secret bag with study materials. It contains everything necessary for children to reveal the dirty secrets of forest.

In order to raise children's sense of responsibility towards the environment and help them deepen their understanding of the processes occurring in nature, the programme participants are given a number of tasks. Everyone, both kindergarten students and educators, have to be active. The works that can inspire every nature friend are published on the Pigman's website www.cukmens.lv and other social networks.

Pigman continues his fight for clean forests both in educational institutions, as well as in various public events in all parts of Latvia. The hero throughout the year could be seen in such ambitious sporting events as the "Stirnu buks" trail race and the MTB cycling marathon; he also attended children's camps and the event "Sporto visa klase" (Sporting Activities for the Whole Class), where the huge audience in the "Arēna Rīga" hall sang together the hymn for clean forests and solemnly gave the Pigman's oath, promising not to litter the forest and stop others from doing so.

The eco-programme "Pigman's Detectives" is based on four themes; with the help of games, dance and songs, fairy tales, different types of visualisation (such as Pigman dolls and other materials) children perform certain tasks of a detective to assess the good and the bad things that happen in the forest. Each theme is built according to the principle: See, Hear, Listen, Do, which also foresees an active involvement and participation of children in different fun-classes. In the second year of the programme, children are encouraged to go outdoors in the forest to discover and explore the forest in all seasons.

The eco-programme "Pigman's Detectives" is implemented with the support of the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund.