Play and Move activities (Leiki ja liiku) awarded as the Collaborative Act of the Year at Espoo Sports Gala
Espoo Sports Gala honoured the most successful athletes, sporting achievements and supporting forces in 2024. Awards were given in 11 different award categories.
Play and Move activities is developing and expanding
The pilot was launched in Leppävaara in autumn 2023 and expanded to Tapiola and Keski-Espoo a year later. At the beginning of 2025, activities also started in Espoonlahti and now there are a total of 93 early childhood education units, 163 groups of children and 2,648 children participating city-wide. This next autumn, the activities will expand to Matinkylä. It is estimated that more than 3,000 children will be participating in total by then.
Play and Move activities promotes the well-being of children in early childhood education and care, increases their physical activity, provides them with the joy of physical activity and creates the basis for a physically active lifestyle. Participating in these activities develops the motor skills of children and encourages their social development. The activities are designed to be inclusive, so that everyone can participate according to their own abilities.
Read more about Play and Move activities.
Read more about the other sports achievements and athletes awarded at the Espoo Sports Gala.
The City of Espoo's award category, the award for the Collaborative Act of the Year went to the Leiki ja liiku (Play and Move) activities, in which children between the ages of 5 and 6 years regularly participate with their early childhood education groups. The activities are organised in close collaboration between Finnish- and Swedish-language early childhood education, sports clubs, facility owners and the city's sports and exercise unit.
The sports clubs involved in the activities are Espoon Telinetaiturit, Olarin Voimistelijat, Tapiolan Voimistelijat, ESVOLI, Grani Tennis, Bounce Espoo and Funky Team Espoo.
The whole extensive collaborative network and the new model of partnership in action deserves praise for its smooth implementation and purposeful development of the activities. All the partners are committed to common goals and plan and evaluate activities together.
Early childhood education and care enables participation by bringing children to weekly activities, and sports clubs provide a wide range of different activities with high quality and professional guidance. All of Espoo's major districts also offer a sufficiently large space for partnerships to deliver on their objectives and guarantee the quality of their activities.