The fairy tale “Grandmother, be careful online” wins the October 2022 Insafe resource competition

The winning resource 

The most efficient way to educate small children on online safety is through fairy tales. Based on the Greek SIC’s experience in educating small children, topics such as how to protect oneself from online risks should begin long before children start having their own online experiences, and this approach will also help in the creation of more responsible digital citizens in the future.  

The winner of the Insafe resource competition was the fairy tale “Grandma, be careful online!” and it is the third book in the series with Athena. The target audience includes small children, educators, parents and carers. In the story, Athena embarks on new adventures to teach young kindergarten and primary school children how to use the internet safely.  

The issues that are addressed in the fairy tale are excessive online use, fraud, grooming, online gaming, personal data protection, disinformation and other online risks.

The story is accompanied by an activity book where children learn by playing. This activity book was created in order for children to have a more interactive experience with the story and test their knowledge after reading the main book.  

The advantage of creating this kind of educational material is that they cover a wide variety of online safety concerns, while at the same time being creative with beautiful illustrations capturing the interest of small children. Moreover, it allows to learn through fun activities, and promotes the cooperation between parents/educators and children. In addition, it can be used beyond a simple reading: it could be useful for theatrical plays, role playing, video reading, etc. Finally, the activity book provides games and activities for small children that can be used from educators as a lesson plan in the classroom. 

Vivi Fragopoulou, Greek SIC Coordinator, states: 

In the challenging digital environment of our days, young people need to develop special skills to keep safe online and benefit to the max from the opportunities offered. The Greek Safer Internet Centre is a great succourer in this effort, developing resources and providing education to all youngsters and their supporters in Greece. The Greek SIC operates since 2016 with the invaluable support of the European Commission and, as a member of the Insafe/INHOPE network, exchanges knowledge and expertise that allows us to stay at the forefront of developments at the European and international levels, thus assisting the Greek public to the maximum.

“To keep young people safe in the online world, combined efforts are necessary. We are glad to be part of a network that's equally resourceful and supportive! Τhe EU funding allows us to develop and expand resources so that every child in Europe can benefit from them”. Katerina Psaroudaki, Communication Manager of the Greek Safer Internet Centre. 

You can find the English version of the fairy tale and the English version of the activity book in the BIK Resource gallery here. Equally, the video with narration can be accessed here. Safer Internet Centres are welcome to translate and/or localise the materials. Any SICs wishing to do so should contact Katerina Psaroudaki in the first instance for further information and guidance. 

About the resource competition 

A resource competition usually takes place as part of the Insafe Training meeting. All EC co-funded SICs are welcome to take part in the competition with the chance of winning €5,000 which must be used to make the resource accessible to the wider Safer Internet Centre network. Typically, the funds would be used for translation and/or adaptation. The resource could be a video, brochure, book, research report, learning materials – anything that would be of interest and use to the wider network, bearing in mind the focus topics of each Training meeting when submitting resources.