Educational Game

The REFUGE Project

A cooperative game to build resilience in young people

REFUGE: an acronym with meaning

Inspired by real-life stories — historical, contemporary or local — the game transposes these experiences into situations close to young people's everyday lives: school anxiety, social exclusion, family pressure, attention difficulties and more. The aim is to create a space for discussion, identification and the development of resilience strategies, in a playful and cooperative way.

The game: a powerful tool for exploring resilience

Games are a particularly well-suited medium for tackling sensitive topics with teenagers. They encourage engagement, lower inhibitions, and allow young people to put words to complex emotions without feeling exposed. Through cards, scenarios and guided discussions, REFUGE becomes a structured educational resource — one that enables players to explore personal strengths, coping mechanisms and the importance of collective support.

Thanks to its flexibility, REFUGE can be facilitated by teachers, educators, school counsellors or community workers. No specialist training is required — it offers a structured framework, well-suited to small group discussions. The game adapts to a variety of settings: citizenship education sessions, prevention workshops, individual support programmes or after-school activities. It provides a concrete starting point for topics that are often difficult to verbalise, opening up a space where everyone can speak freely and feel understood.

This game offers a safe experience — serious and playful at once — that can trigger lasting awareness.

The cooperative approach: a pedagogy of mutual support

REFUGE was designed as a cooperative — not competitive — game, to celebrate the dynamics of mutual support, solidarity and co-construction. Every player has a role to play in the group's success. This approach encourages inclusion for all, including young people who are struggling or withdrawn. It also reflects an essential truth: resilience is often collective, carried by human bonds, external support and a capacity to stand together. By playing together, participants learn to listen, support and act as one — key skills for life ahead.

Real-world testing

The game will be piloted from September 2025 at CFA Trotters Training, a partner apprenticeship training centre in Mérignac, in order to test its impact and refine its content as needed. The prototype is already finalised: mechanics, cards, stories, scenarios. All that remains is to fund its physical production — to take a tested educational tool and turn it into a complete, replicable and distributable board game.

Local ambition… then national and beyond

REFUGE is destined to become a go-to resource for:

• —educational institutions (secondary schools, sixth-form colleges, apprenticeship centres)
• —parent-teacher associations
• —local authorities and councils
• —and more broadly, any educational or community organisation working with young people

It can be used in after-school activities, prevention programmes or classroom projects. REFUGE fits naturally within health education frameworks and responds to the goals of national strategies for developing psychosocial skills in young people.

The ambition of Poppies and Daffodils is clear: to roll REFUGE out nationally, so that every educational institution or structure that wishes to can benefit from this innovative tool.

Listing or referencing the REFUGE game on official educational platforms would allow the initiative to reach a much wider audience and introduce it to teaching teams across the country — facilitating its integration into educational practice and giving it institutional legitimacy.

But the ambition does not stop at national borders: REFUGE also aims to be shared internationally, with all countries and organisations working towards resilience, mental health and wellbeing in young people. The game has the potential to become part of European or international educational partnerships, and to inspire other committed educational projects around the world.

Want to find out more?

Are you a teacher, educator, potential partner or simply curious about the REFUGE project? Let's talk.