How can we bring children and young people closer to the beauty of helping others, solidarity, and active participation in their communities? With this goal in mind, our association developed the volunteering education handbook for children and youth, "Experience Volunteering", as part of the project "Raising Young Volunteers", co-funded by the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth.

This cheerful, creative, and inspiring handbook is designed for children and young people and introduces them to the world of volunteering in a fun and accessible way. Through engaging quizzes, riddles, practical activities, and real-life examples, young readers can learn what it means to be a volunteer, why volunteering matters, and how they themselves can become drivers of positive change in their schools and local communities.

The handbook features numerous examples of good practice, ideas for volunteer activities, and practical steps that help young people take their first steps into volunteering. Its content is carefully designed to encourage empathy, togetherness, responsibility, and active citizenship.

Children can also draw inspiration from the achievements of their peers who, through Volunteer Clubs, have carried out small yet truly meaningful acts of kindness. One such example is the Tuškanac Volunteer Club, which brought together children with disabilities from the Tuškanac Centre for Education and Rehabilitation. These young volunteers visited nursing homes, helped maintain the Tuškanac Forest Park, and built birdhouses for local wildlife.

In Topusko, young volunteers from Topusko Secondary School improved their school surroundings and visited a nearby kindergarten, where they taught younger children how to tie their shoelaces. Meanwhile, students from Proložac became superheroes of their community by cleaning and revitalizing a neglected playground.

During the project implementation, the handbook has already traveled to eight schools across Croatia—from Zagreb, Imotski, and Proložac to Topusko and Rakovica—and has delighted students of all ages, from first graders to high school students. Their enthusiasm, curiosity, and engagement have shown just how ready young people are to contribute to building a better and more compassionate society when given the opportunity and inspiration to do so.

To ensure that this valuable resource reaches as many children, young people, teachers, parents, and interested individuals as possible, we are now making the handbook available online.

We invite you to download it, read it, share it, and use it as inspiration for new volunteering ideas and community initiatives. We believe that "Experience Volunteering" will help many discover how little it takes to brighten someone's day—and how much volunteering can enrich our own lives in return.

Experience volunteering – because every positive change begins with a small step and a big heart.

You can read the handbook below this post.