Safe holidays with the MultiSport Foundation
During the holidays, children have more free time and independence, and they also undertake more spontaneous activities, which is why special care for their safety is essential. The MultiSport Foundation, which implements numerous programmes aimed at children and young people, has launched a publicly available educational programme called “MultiSafety.” As part of the initiative, addressed to children and their guardians, as well as teachers, the foundation has created a special manual and lesson plans for primary schools focused on recognising threats and teaching safety at home, in the city, and outdoors with particular emphasis on physical activity. The programme is in line with the current goals related to ensuring children’s health and safety, set by the Ministry of National Education for the 2025/2026 school year.
For children, holidays are a time of freedom, intense physical activity and discovering new spaces, which unfortunately is associated with a significant increase in the number of accidents. According to UNICEF data, children are most often injured at home and during their free time.
– Analysing changes in the way children spend their time, we noticed how much they have changed over the last few years. Spaces such as shopping malls have become new “backyards” for children. Technology and the world of the Internet, which today serve as additional distractions and sources of risky ideas, are also important. At the same time, there is a lack of modern tools and language that would help children understand threats in an accessible and intelligent way. That’s why we created a programme that, instead of simple prohibitions, says: “understand what can happen.” We are launching the MultiSafety initiative just before the holidays, which are a special moment in children’s everyday lives, burdened with additional risk. Nevertheless, it will be a long-term project that can be used at any time of the year – explains Jolanta Rycerz, Management Board Member at the MultiSport Foundation.
Six risk areas – a contemporary map of children’s activity
The “MultiSafety” programme focuses on places and situations where children and young people spend the most time outside of school. These included both classic places of activity, such as local sports fields, swimming pools and green areas, as well as shopping malls. The authors of the programme placed particular emphasis on the social and emotional context. Children learn to recognise impulses that can lead to risky decisions, such as boredom, the desire to impress friends or the need to be noticed on social media.
– The fundamental value of the MultiSafety programme is developmental awareness – understanding that cause-and-effect thinking is a process that requires experiences, questions and, above all, the presence of adults who do not moralise, but explain. Children will not understand the dangers if the message is too abstract for them. The programme shows the mechanisms, not just the effects, using the language of comparisons and images that stimulate thinking rather than enforcing obedience. This is a fundamental change – from education through control to education through awareness and presence – says Dr. Zuzanna Jastrzębska-Krajewska from the Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education, who issued an opinion on the “MultiSafety” programme.
Instead of warnings and prohibitions, the programme offers children an understanding of the mechanisms behind their decisions and safe alternatives to satisfy the need for movement, contact with peers or challenges. Thanks to this, children gain not only knowledge, but also agency and a greater sense of security without building fear in them.
“MultiSecurity” game materials
“MultiSafety” is not just an idea, but a complete educational tool that the MultiSport Foundation provides free of charge. The programme includes a manual for parents and teachers, as well as ready-made lesson plans, exercises and teaching aids that can be easily used during form time, physical education lessons or social education classes. The materials are based on the principles of multi-sensory education and have been developed for children aged 9–14.
They can be downloaded for free at www.fundacjamultisport.pl/nasze-programy/multibezpieczenstwo.
The programme created by the MultiSport Foundation responds to the most important priorities of education policy for the 2025/2026 school year, announced by the Ministry of National Education. It focuses especially on developing responsibility for one’s own safety and the safety of others, promoting a healthy lifestyle and physical activity, counteracting peer violence and strengthening students’ mental health, as well as educating them on digital hygiene and online safety.
– The MultiSafety programme materials can be used flexibly at home and at school. However, the lesson plans will also be sent directly to 14,000 primary schools across the country. When creating lesson proposals, we focused on ensuring that each of them was a new, engaging adventure for children. For this purpose, we have introduced specially designed games and multi-sensory methods that support knowledge acquisition and facilitate memorisation. Thanks to this, teachers gain ready-made tools to conduct modern, attractive classes – says Ilona Gregorczyk, a sensory integration therapist, deputy headmistress of a primary school and author of educational games used in the programme.
The materials for schools have been designed to be useful to teachers throughout the school year, regardless of when they are implemented. The MultiSafety programme is the largest direct outreach campaign addressed to schools ever implemented by the MultiSport Foundation.
Marcin Walendziak
The MultiSport Foundation is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to promote a healthy and active lifestyle among all social groups, with particular emphasis on children, youth, seniors and people with disabilities. The foundation implements educational and sports programmes such as “Active MultiSport Schools” or “Full of Sport,”, which annually engage tens of thousands of participants throughout Poland and support health prevention and social integration. The organisation cooperates with research centres, schools, athletes and business partners, constantly developing the offer of programmes that respond to the current health challenges of society.
