Start Small Dream Big

"Start Small Dream Big" was initiated by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) to encourage pre-schools to create authentic platforms for children to innovate, problem-solve and tap on their unique strengths to help others. It was first launched in 2015 as part of SG50 and the 15th anniversary of President's Challenge, an annual series of fund-raising and volunteer activities. ECDA works with participating centres to design and implement community projects over a period of six months.

As a society, we aspire to nurture each child holistically, including character building, so that they are well-prepared for life-long learning, active and responsible citizenry and success in later life. Through "Start Small Dream Big", we hope to encourage young children to use their own resources and creativity to give back to society, and in the process, instil the spirit of giving and good values such as care for others, humility, kindness and compassion.

The children are mainly from the K1 and K2 levels (i.e. 5-6 years old). The pre-schools are encouraged to involve and guide the children in developing, planning, and implementing the community projects. Under the guidance of teachers, the children should play an active role in deciding who they want to help and what they want to do. Parents will also be involved in supporting their child's community projects.

"No one can do everything but everyone can do something."

START SMALL DREAM BIG 2019

‘Start Small Dream Big’ is back for the fifth year! In support of the Singapore Bicentennial commemoration, this year’s ‘Start Small Dream Big’ is themed “Learn from our Past, Dream of our Future”. Children are encouraged to learn about Singapore’s past, and to dream and aspire towards the Singapore they want to contribute to.

SSDB 2019 Finale Video

This year, a record of 49,000 children from 820 preschools participated in the movement – six times more than the number of preschoolers who took part in the initiative in 2015.

SSDB Commemorative Book 2019

The SSDB 2019 Commemorative Book is a selection of SSDB projects done by various preschools, curated from the SSDB Portal. Download the SSDB 2019 Commemorative Book here!

BRIEFING SESSION 2019

ECDA held a briefing session for preschools on 15 Feb 2019, to share with our teachers more about this year’s theme and events to look forward to. Our partners also shared their programmes for potential collaborations, through a mini exhibition.

Download the briefing slides here:

1. Briefing Slides by ECDA
2. Briefing Slides by President's Challenge

LAUNCH PARTY

We encourage participating centres to launch their SSDB projects in April with their own parties to get the children excited! Invite your parents to introduce them to SSDB and your centre’s community project so that they can be involved.

Post your launch parties and share about your projects with the SSDB community through our Facebook Event Page at http://bit.ly/SSDB2019Launch!

E-RESOURCES

Here are some e-resources developed specially for ‘Start Small Dream Big’ for preschools to download and use to conduct their service learning activities.

The Educator’s Guides are prepared by educators, for educators!

An Educator’s Guide on “Inclusivity begins with me!”
by MOE Kindergarten @ Springdale and AWWA
Link:http://bit.ly/EduGuideInclusivity

An Educator’s Guide for “The Curious Garden”
by Kidz Meadow, AECES and Preschool Market, with NParks and Lifelong Learning Council
Link:http://bit.ly/EduGuideCuriousGarden

An Educator’s Guide for “Karung Guni Boy”
by Salvation Army Childcare Centres
Link:http://bit.ly/EduGuideKarungGuniBoy

Introduction to SSDB for Parents and Children
Link:http://bit.ly/SSDBBrochure

Start Small Dream Big – A Service Learning Guide
Link:http://bit.ly/SSDB-ServiceLearningGuide

Curious about what our preschoolers have done over the years? Click the links below to be amazed at what little hands and feet can accomplish!

START SMALL DREAM BIG 2018

Some 39,000 children from over 670 preschools participated in the ‘Start Small Dream Big’ movement, almost a 5-fold increase from the 8,000 children from 150 preschools in 2015.

Click here for more on SSDB 2018!

START SMALL DREAM BIG 2017

More than 34,000 children from over 550 preschool centres contributed over 1 million hours of community service for SSDB 2017! Over $200,000 was raised for charity!

Click here for more on SSDB 2017!

START SMALL DREAM BIG 2016

Some 20,000 children from over 300 preschools contributed over 500,000 hours in the past 6 months to plan and participate in 316 community service projects for SSDB 2016! Together, the children raised more than $150,000 for charity!

Click here to read about the children's 2016 efforts!

START SMALL DREAM BIG 2015

Interested to know what our centres did for SSDB 2015? Click here to find out more!