After months of dedicated work, we’re pleased to announce the publication of “L’Université des Enfants en vadrouille,” a collaborative project between the Children’s Universities of ULB (Brussels), Charleroi, and Mons. Our goal was straightforward yet ambitious: to make academic knowledge accessible to children wherever they may be.
The project emerged from our shared observation that children naturally ask profound questions about the world around them: “What is energy?” “Why are we stardust?” “What is war?” We wanted to provide answers that would be simultaneously playful and scientifically rigorous.
The format we developed is a box set containing 15 independent activity cards, each designed for children aged 6 and up. The activities accommodate various levels of difficulty and reading ability, ensuring inclusivity for all types of learners. Children can engage in these activities alone, with family, or with friends – anytime and anywhere.
For example, one card poses the question, “What would you be watching if there were no cinema, no Netflix, and no YouTube?” This activity guides children through the history of the magic lantern – cinema’s ancestor – and provides instructions for building a lantern at home. Another card invites children to “explore the world and become a naturalist like Darwin” by observing living organisms in their surroundings.
This project benefited from the expertise of 24 professors from the Université libre de Bruxelles and the Université de Mons. Their contributions span life sciences, exact and technical sciences, and human and social sciences, providing a comprehensive educational experience.
We’re particularly honored that our work has been recognized with the Wernaers Prize by the F.R.S.-FNRS, acknowledging it as a media initiative that meaningfully contributes to science outreach. This recognition affirms the academic quality and educational value of our publication.
For those interested in seeing the box set in action, we’ve created a short video demonstration available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwQS6SORj7E
We hope this resource will inspire curiosity and a love for learning in children across Belgium and beyond.