Lessons Beyond Textbooks: How the Second “Easy Camp” Shift for 50 Children from Kharkiv Oblast Went
What makes lessons at “Easy Camp” different from school lessons?
Here, lesson topics are closely connected with children’s lives. Each lesson is an opportunity to catch up on learning gaps while also reflecting on their own experiences, developing critical thinking, learning to support each other and talk about the future.
At the educational catch-up camp “Easy Camp” organized by the EAST SOS Charity Foundation, Ukrainian language becomes a space for discussions about leadership and responsibility for one’s words, history becomes an opportunity to draw parallels between the past and present, mathematics becomes a tool for understanding the world, and English becomes a bridge to the future that children aspire to.
For 50 boys and girls from frontline hromadas of Kharkiv Oblast, this is not just an opportunity to experience engaging learning formats in the mountains, but also a chance to feel again that knowledge can be practical, learning can be exciting, and school can be a place where they are heard, understood and supported.
Below, we share how familiar school subjects help children discover new meanings.
Ukrainian language = rules + the power of words
“During the lesson, we tried ourselves in the role of leaders – we learned how to unite like-minded people around us through words. This gave me more confidence as the captain of a football team and a lyceum scholarship holder. I look up to my family, who have been donating and supporting our military since the beginning of the full-scale war.”
Kostiantyn Babachenko, 12 (Kharkiv).
History is not only about the past, but also about the right to plan the future
“We studied the military campaigns of the Cossacks and created prototypes of Cossack seagull boats from paper. Then we wrote our dreams on them and launched them into the water so that everything would come true as soon as possible. I brought gifts from my military father to the camp – a ‘mazepynka’ (a cap – editor’s note) and clothes. What I want most is for him to come home.”
Fedir Hryshchenko, 13 (Koziivka village).
Mathematics is not just formulas, but skills that help in everyday life
“I liked mathematics the most when it was gamified. We learned to find mathematical patterns in everyday things – from marketing techniques to banking offers. This knowledge will definitely be useful because I am currently focused on studying science and English and working on a cybersecurity research project.”
Zakhar Mykytiuk, 14 (Zlatopil).
English is not only about grammar and new words, but also an opportunity to say out loud: “I’d like to go home.”
“Before the war, Chuhuiv was a vibrant city where people from all over the country came to walk along the Siverskyi Donets River. During one of the English lessons, we studied the topic “I would like” – and my biggest wish is for Chuhuiv to become peaceful again.”
Veronika Chepiha, 14 (Chuhuiv).
The educational catch-up camp “Easy Camp” was organized within the framework of the project “Protection and Necessary Psychosocial Support for War-Affected Populations in the Frontline Regions of Ukraine” (2026–2027) with financial support from the German Federal Foreign Office.
How the first “Easy Camp” shift of 2026 went for participants from frontline Mykolaiv Oblast – we share the story here.
