The Wild Week coming up in June (Monday 9 - Friday 13) will be the fourth run by our Youth Action group, when our team goes into schools with fun activities for children to take part in. The aim is to help them re-connect with, learn about and appreciate aspects of Nature; for example, the wildlife, flowers and plants found on their Moorlands doorstep.
Research shows that in this digital age children are losing touch with Nature. Our theme this year is the ‘Lost Words’. These are the ‘Nature’ words that have been removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, as they are considered to be ‘no longer used by children’!
Our workshop leaders include Anthony Hammond (artist, wood and willow sculptor), Lorna Stoddart, Greenwood Growth (CIC) Forest Schools and Louise Taylor, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust ‘Wild Child’ Officer, plus another four volunteer workshop leaders from MCA. They aim to provide enjoyable and engaging activities to help children become familiar with some of the missing ‘Nature’ words and to help them recognise, name and value the flora and fauna they discover. (All 20 words chosen from the ‘Lost Words’ book represent wildlife and aspects of nature found in the Moorlands.)
We are grateful to the Wildflower Society, Outside Arts and Nature in Your Neighbourhood for financial support in running these sessions and also for donating a new copy of the beautiful ‘Lost Words’ book to each of all the participating schools.
6 schools taking part
7 workshop Leaders
9 workshop volunteer helpers
22 separate classes will attend the workshops across the whole week
Approx 500+ children will be involved
Schools had the following workshops to choose from:
Adder, Newts, Bramble, Heather, Fern, Dandelion, Magpies, Starlings and Willow.
There will also be A Lost Word Hunt in the school grounds and poetry creation from any or all of the lost words.
