In the spring, students of the Mykolaiv Lyceum “Academy of Children’s Creativity” visited Kyiv region as part of the international project Blue Hearts. For three days, the students learned from the experience of their peers in Kyiv, who have been successfully developing the School Hive initiative, a social business based at the lyceum that combines beekeeping, eco-orientation, and charity.
During the visit, Mykolaiv schoolchildren not only learned the basics of beekeeping and the production of candles, honey, and aroma sachets, but also immersed themselves in teamwork, planning social initiatives, and discussing ways to implement their own business at school.
The joint experience of participating in the Good Deeds Forum in Kyiv, where students organized a fundraising event to support IDPs, was particularly important. In exchange for symbolic donations, visitors received handmade products: honey, candles, beaded jewelry, and embroidery.
🎨 Inspired by what they had seen and experienced, Mykolaiv students decided to create their own initiative, the Creative Beehive. The goal is to make creative products, engage peers in socially important topics, and support those in need.
The first step of the new project was a Day of Mental Recovery, organized together with the School Hive team for more than 50 children from the 7fields social and psychological project, most of whom are IDPs and children from families of killed or missing soldiers.
The event featured thematic workshops on folk art, apitherapy, and aromatherapy:
– creating motanka dolls,
– Tavrian decorative painting,
– making wax candles,
– creating Florentine aroma sachets.
The Creative Beehive project is more than just a school initiative. It is about how big things are born out of small ideas, and how ordinary teenagers become real agents of change in their communities.
📘 Read more about the initiative in the information booklet.
The study visits are implemented by Young Agents of Change (Ukraine)🇺🇦 as part of the Blue Hearts project in partnership with AY Institute (Lithuania)🇱🇹, Asociatia CPDIS (Romania)🇷🇴, Fundacja Nowy Staw (Poland)🇵🇱 and funded by the European Union.
