By Ekaterina Janashia | 2026-06-30

Russia's youngest citizens are getting a new fixture in the school day, tucked between naptime and snacks: lessons in patriotism. Starting September 1, every kindergarten in the country must teach children as young as 3 a state-approved version of Russian history. The vehicle is coloring pages, mazes and cartoons.

The Ministry of Education calls the program "Dobrye Igry," or "Kind Games." It is the preschool version of "Razgovory o Vazhnom," or "Conversations About Important Things" -- the mandatory patriotic classes Russia introduced in schools in 2022, months after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now the state wants to reach children before they can read.

Deputy Minister of Education Olga Koludarova said in April that every preschool organization in the nation will launch the program at once this fall. The activities will focus on "spiritual and moral values," she said. The ministry is writing the guidelines and toolkits that help teachers fold patriotic concepts into the daily routine.

Cartoons, coloring and the Kremlin

Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov said the program will run as standalone classroom projects. It will introduce small children to national cultural and historical topics through games, with a close focus on the history of the country and of their own families.

Alexander Tsvetkov, head of the Institute for the Study of Childhood, Family and Education, said the curriculum is a full packet of materials. The institute split it into two age groups: children 3 to 5, and children 5 to 7. The packets hold guided discussions, creative workshops, reading lists and assignments such as coloring pages, mazes and mosaics.

Developers built the curriculum around six themes: "My Favorite Kindergarten," "Seasonal Safety: Autumn," "Agriculture," "Grandparents," "Peoples of Russia" and "A Corner of Russia -- My Native Land."

The materials reach into the home, too. They tell parents how to reinforce the themes and even recommend viewing, approving domestic cartoons such as "Prostokvashino," "Fixies," "Three Cats" and select episodes of "Luntik." The guides supply questions for parents to ask afterward.

Some parents want no part of it. Olga, a 31-year-old mother in Saint Petersburg, opposes her 3-year-old daughter's participation.

"I want her to spend her early childhood playing with dolls and learning to share, not absorbing political slogans disguised as 'kind games,'" Olga told Kontur, asking that her real name be withheld. She and her husband are seriously weighing whether to keep their daughter home, even if it means reworking their schedules. She refuses to let the state dictate the girl's values before she can read.

Putin's push starts in infancy

The policy traces to October 2024. A finalist in the "Teacher of the Year" competition proposed expanding school patriotic lessons to children over 5 during a televised meeting with President Vladimir Putin. Putin endorsed the idea on the spot. He cited the Russian proverb about absorbing knowledge "with a mother's milk" and argued that the state must instill its values in the earliest years.

Kindergartens in several regions quickly staged pilot sessions of the lessons. Regional monitoring groups counted more than 100 online institutional reports of these trials in a single week in mid-October 2024. The coming nationwide rollout turns those scattered efforts into a strict federal requirement.

Russia first introduced the weekly school hours in 2022 to foster patriotism, love for the Motherland and collective pride in the country's achievements. The preschool curriculum frames several topics neutrally, such as farming or honoring grandparents. Critics see an ideological subtext meant to build early nationalism. Directives require teachers to introduce toddlers to state symbols, patriotic holidays such as National Unity Day, and a curated story of Russia's past. The ministry finalized the materials after public feedback and internal revisions.

Psychologists warn of lasting harm

Child psychologists and independent education experts worry about the effect on toddlers. They warn that small children cannot defend themselves against political messaging.

"Children under seven years old view their teachers and parents as absolute sources of truth," Inga, a Moscow psychologist, told Kontur, asking that her name be withheld. Putting ideology into the playroom slips past a child's natural defenses because toddlers cannot yet question adults. The approach hardwires obedience into early development, she said.

Yuri Lapshin, a psychologist and former head of a Moscow school psychological service, told Current Time in April that the effects last into adulthood. Citing studies of post-war Germany and the Soviet Union, he said people exposed to heavy state messaging as small children later struggle to resist it. Even adults who shrugged off Soviet ideology in their youth slide back into those narratives when the political climate shifts, he said.

The preschool program is part of a wider drive to militarize and ideologically align Russia's youth. The ministry is also compiling a federal registry of approved commercial toys and games that match "traditional values." Independent analysts see a coordinated effort to lock in domestic support for the Kremlin's political and military goals from the ground up.