The Art of Sneaking at the Festival of Outdoor Learning

Teaching a little foraging, sensory awareness, animal names, sneaking and fox walking at my Forest Schools workshop as part of The Festival of Outdoor Learning at Kippure Estate at the weekend, great weekend, so many amazing people working in the outdoors with young people!

Irish Times Article on Forest Schools

An article written by a journalist who came out to see us on our Forest School Training...interesting stuff!

Irish Times Article by Sheila Wayman - Why children need to go into the woods today.

An extract from Sheila Wayman's article on our Forest Schools Training Course:

'There are whoops of delight as seven grown adults pile into the “debris shelter” they have built from scratch in russet woodland in Co Wicklow. In the distance, the first snow of winter is sprinkled like icing sugar onto Lugnaquilla, lit by the low-angle sun in the clear blue, winter sky.

They were given 45 minutes to complete the task, starting with the picking of a suitable tree with a “V” on which to prop a sturdy “spine” that would, in turn, support a “rib cage” of branches. Armfuls of brush were gathered to fill in the gaps and then covered with forest floor mulch to waterproof the structure.

Mission accomplished, group members stand around and admire their handiwork. Okay, they are not going to have to sleep in it tonight but that doesn’t stop them clambering in to get a feel of it – the leaf-covered, earthy base and the scratchy, twig walls of the dim interior.

It’s the stuff of childhood – at least it should be. But within the space of one generation, a gulf has opened between children and nature as their freedom to roam and play outdoors has been drastically curtailed.

Instead they turn to television and the internet for entertainment while, in the words of Last Child in the Woods author Richard Louv, they are kept under “well-meaning, protective house arrest”.

By depriving children of the chance to negotiate outdoor challenges independently, we’re in danger of raising a generation of physically inept, risk-averse softies, with no wish to get their hands dirty.' 

by Sheila Wayman.

Forest Schools Training Course...in progress.

Serious concentration a happening during the first ever Forest Schools Training that happened in Wicklow last week, basically we got to play in the woods for the week!!!!

The week involved our immersion onto what Forest Schools can and should be, so we mixed it up between playing in the woods - fire making, natural art, mud art, campfire cooking and then sound child developmental theory and educational theory which to me was fascinating! there was a whole 6th sense that I never knew about before...

Forest Schools Training - first time in Ireland!

Starting 2moro....the first ever Forest Schools Training in Ireland..imagine the woods being a full time school!!!

http://www.earthforceeducation.com/courses/forest-school-level-three-training-co-wicklow-ireland/

Summer Camp with a twist...

Wildcraft summer Camp.

Your kids will finish this weel with a new curiosity about nature and have creative tools to go outdoors and make fun for themselves!
at Hunting Brook Gardens, nr. Blessington

Age: There are three age groups: Teens 13-15 yrs, 9-12 yrs, and 6-8 yrs.

Cost: Five days €120, three days €80, or per day €30 When: 10am–3pm daily, Mon 19^th – Fri 23^rd Aug

Wildcraft * Storytelling * Camouflage * Wildlife Tracking * Wild-Plant Identification * Games 

* Plant Food and Medicine * Folklore * Ethical Foraging & Eating * Indigenous tools * Camp-Craft

Travel: Drive via N81 or take No. 65 Bus, bus stops just a few minutes walk uphill to the gardens.

To Book: www.earthforceeducation.com or call Ciara 086 3199 515, or Lucy 087 650 8226

Woodland Education-getting our kids out playing in the woods!

Check out my friend Ciara's great coverage on Nationwide this week...
getting the kids out into the woods!

http://vimeo.com/65611610

Tree Nursery Project at Donadea Forest, October 2012

In the autumn of 2012 we carried out our LA21 funded project - Native Tree Nursery Project at Donadea Forest in North Kildare. We worked with three local primary schools, three different classes, 2nd class from Scoil Naomh Mhuire, 4th class from Rathcoffey NS and 6th class from Tir Moghan NS.

The schools came to Donadea for a full immersion in the woods, we gathered tree seeds from the sweet chestnut, maple, beech, sycamore, Hawthorne berries and rosehips from the wild rose, horse chestnut and a small amount of ash keys, there were no oak to be found this year, and we were too late for hazel.

We also played various sensory games to raise the childrens' awareness of their surroundings, we did bug hunts and pond dips, and had wonderful days all in all in the woods.



We followed this up with a trip to the schools to build and set up a tree nursery in the school itself. With the class we built a small raised bed, filled it with soil and leaf mould, and then put in our gathered tree seeds, in separate sections so we can identify the baby trees as they grow, this was topped with leaves to replicate the forest floor, a system called the Dunemann System.

To finish we made a wire mesh lid to keep the vermin at bay, mice especially love to eat tree seeds. And tree nursery beds done. The class have to keep an eye on the beds, water it in especially droughty periods and take the lid off in spring when the trees hopefully start to grow!

ONE MILLION TREES IN ONE DAY at The Acre Project

Earlier this year I put in an application to the ONE MILLION TREES IN ONE DAY Project for the ACRE Project in Celbridge. We were successful in the application! So, on Friday 26th April we will be planting over 1,000 native trees and hedgerow plants at the ACRE Project in Celbridge! If you're interested in getting involved just let me know, we'll have students from the Salesians, the TY's and LCA's and my adult  FETAC class involved on the day. Really excited to be involved and leading the planting project! Check out more about this really exciting project at: http://www.onemilliontreesinoneday.com/

Woodland Heritage Project in Wicklow

Early in 2012 we received LA21 funding from Wicklow County Council to run a  Woodland heritage Education Programme in Hollywood Woods,, Hollywood, Co. Wicklow. We worked with four different primary schools in the local area, bring them to the woods for a complete woodland immersion day. We played tracking and hide and sneak game, we deprived the kids of their sight by blindfolding them and leading them through the woods, we hunted for the bugs of the woodland, we tasted all the tasty edibles there are to be found in the ditches, looked at the trees talked about plants and their uses, we packed loads in and the day just flew, with the kids going home exhilarated and mucky and totally immersed in the woods! Job done!

For this project I linked up with my good friend and colleague Ciara Hinksman at Earthforce Education, you can check out what Ciara does here: http://www.earthforceeducation.com/

LOCAL AGENDA 21 - Donadea Tree Nursery Project!

GROW have been granted two Local Agenda 21 grants this year to continue on with our woodland education programme!! Yay! We've been successful for the first time in receiving a grant from Kildare County Council for this project, so finally getting stuck in locally with our beautiful North Kildare woods - Donadea Forest Park. We're hoping to be able to link in and work with the schools local to the area, and really make it a 'local' woodland education programme, with the main focus with this project being the development of a 'Tree Nursery Project', the idea being that in the autumn the kids will gather tree seeds from the woods, bring them to their school, build a nursery bed and plant the seeds in the bed. They will then be nursed and minded by the students and hopefully in the spring time then there will be a healthy bed of young saplings, with the idea that maybe in a couple of years time they might be able to plant the trees back into Donadea and plant a native woodland in their own school. Very exciting! If you're a school in the Donadea area please feel free to get in touch with us, we'd be delighted to hear from you! I'll be keeping the blog updated as the project develops!

Donadea woods woodland wander

Men's Group at Donadea Woods - Tree Seed Collecting

Last week I took my men's group to Donadea to go seed collecting. We found acorns, conkers, sycamore and maple helicopters, lime seeds and beech masts. And this little fella! Any thoughts on who he is?

Projects during the year: Woodland Education Programme

Woodland Education Programme - LA21 Project

GROW in conjunction with Earthforce Education (www.earthforceeducation.com) received funding under Local Agenda 21 this year, and we ran a woodland education programme for secondary schools in Meath and for primary schools in Wicklow. Myself and my friend, Ciara Hinksman, spent 6 days in the woods with the children and TY students, exploring the magic of the woodlands. We explored the woods using a variety of games, with nature themes, using blindfolds to test their senses, sneak and capture games, we did bug hunts and plant ID, and we introduced some survival ideas, such as using your senses, tracking, and how to light a fire in the wild! We had amazing days out with the kids, and they all went home covered in muck, which was for us a mark of a succesful day out in the woods! we're planning on doing this programme again this year, so watch this space...