29 November - Workshop day!

 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 the end it was time for a quick snack and recap of all that we saw and then we all went our separate ways for lunch....


And then in the afternoon, the children were tasked with making models which told stories of who and what they had found living along the Red River in the morning. 










There were some fabulous stories including; 

A tree which had lost many of its branches so found some more 



an imagined future where a landscape filled with trash becomes a beautiful  forest 










A giant mulberry 



 A beautiful clean river 



A kingfisher, ants and a wonderful scenery 


Making a fishing rod from the bamboo 

A house in the forest to show that nature and people can live together 

All the children's work together looked like this 

Wow - what a day! 

The models were packed up and will be kept safely till the exhibition next Saturday

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