Creative designs with children for urban diversity

 In the excitement of everything I forgot to take any photos ! But we have everything (nearly) ready for tomorrow  Materials -checked  Examples of what to make and what story idea might look like  to show the kids - done  Plan of timings and who is doing what - done   Translations from English to Vietnamese of above - done  Pack and ready to go for tomorrow  And this morning started with a lovely dance with some women in the side of the lake - I don’t think I could match the m (or anywhere near!) but maybe I will have another go another day !   

Today, staff from TPG and I met with some of the partners from Chuong Dong School , Blue Dragon and Mr Hao (the biologist).  We met early and it was great to see the place for the first time, having seen it in photos and videos before.  One big reason was to check for safety and to do another round of the risk assessment.  We walked along the trail and Mr Hao talked about how different leaves can be eaten by humans. There is competition for what to use the land for - some people want to clear the land so that they can farm on it.  We saw how a pond had disappeared because someone had made a ditch so that the land could drain bettr for farming - but perhaps not so good for the wildlife.  We saw bird traps which are used to trap birds which are sold at pagodas and other spiritual places, so people can buy them and release them..  I also thought about questions or ideas the kids to think about, like:  who eats who (rats dig holes in the riverbank, sna...

 We ran the workshops yesterday with around 30 kids from the local area and school.  They arrived in good time and lots of energy and received their Eco Trail Design Detective notebook and a lanyard. After some great icebreaker games we set off on the trail. The children were in 4 different groups each with a couple of adults and we gathered together as a whole group 2-3 times. As we went along, the children used their senses, focusing on one at a time - what they could hear, see and feel. There were so many surprises along the way and it was great to see what the children found interesting. Mr Hao shared some of his knowledge too.  Highlights seemed to include (and there were many more than this!): finding the ant and wasp nest; eating mulberries (even if they were not that ripe!); finding out about the caterpillars and worms that live in the leaves and make bumps in them; seeing the kingfisher and heron. I think they really loved seeing the birds on the river.  At ...

 Wow! So 14 hours or so in a metal box from the UK gets here!  Loving Hanoi - the vibrancy and hurly burly. And so much to buy - it’s head spinning!  But nearby is a lovely lake which brings some calm and the hotel is lovely too with a swimming pool on the roof!