Activities for Elfins

Activities for Woodcraft Folk

Elfin groups

Contents 1

Introduction and welcome

2

A brief overview of the Woodcraft Folk

3

Safeguarding children

4

What you need

5

The session plans

6-14

- Ourselves

15-27

- Our natural world

28-47

- Our global community

48-49

Resources

50

Blank session template

51

The next step

51

Contacts

Written by Judith Fisher Produced by Woodcraft Folk Scotland With thanks to all those leaders, helpers and elfins who have given their ideas and helped with the testing of this resource.

With thanks to the National Voluntary Organisations Support Fund

Activities for Elfin leaders

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Introduction and welcome Welcome to this resource for elfin leaders and helpers. The aim of this resource is to provide you with ideas in addressing a wide range of suitable themes and issues with 6 to 9 year olds in the Woodcraft Folk. The resource should be used alongside The Elfin Leaders’ Handbook which includes guidance on group dynamics, group administration and involving parent helpers.

Woodcraft Folk Scotland secured funding from The Scottish Government through YouthLink Scotland to provide an updated resource of structured activities based on our aims and principles specifically for elfins. The activities were collated from past and present elfin leaders across the UK and are examples of what has worked well with actual elfin groups. The result is a sharing of ideas to help new and experienced leaders and helpers alike.

No two elfin groups are the same and flexibility is the key to using this resource. Groups meet in different places, with different resources, for differing lengths of time, with differing needs! A particular group’s circumstances may also change from week to week.

A typical elfin group session might consist of: • Game (10 minutes) – Always choose a game that all children know so they can join in as they arrive.

• Circle (10 minutes) – News time – Each child (if they want) tells us something from their past week. You may have to limit some children to only one piece of news and others will be reluctant to say anything.

• Activity (30-40 minutes) • Game/Discussion/Singing (15 minutes) • Many groups finish each group session with our song ‘Link your hands together’.

For ease of use we have set out each session with an introductory game, an activity and then some circletime discussion points with timings given as a guideline. This is not intended to be a format that your group must stick to and as you can see it does not include news time, further games or songs. The point is that you should adapt the sessions to your group’s needs; take what you need, mix and match, be creative! Some activities may take up the whole of your session and some you may feel you can separate out into two sessions. You don’t have to follow the resource in order (please feel free to dip in and out), but be aware that some activities will be outdoors and some should be timed around certain dates of the year. There should be more than enough sessions included for a year’s worth of group meetings, and then we hope to inspire you to go on and create your own.

A core part of The Woodcraft Folk is to develop children’s self-confidence and activity in society. In an elfin group, children should have the opportunity to take part in deciding themes, prioritizing and even leading sessions. It is therefore important to take this into consideration when using this resource.

At the back of the resource is a blank template. This is for you to copy and capture your own successful sessions as we hope that this sharing of ideas between groups will continue. We also welcome your feedback on what’s in here, how it worked with your group, suggestions for tips and variations, and any improvements that could be made.

Don’t forget our website at www.woodcraft.org.uk for further ideas.

We have also included a Resources section, which is a list of links pertaining to specific information for individual activities and some background information which we thought may prove useful.

We hope you and your elfins will enjoy using this resource.

Woodcraft Folk Scotland, 2008

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Activities for Elfin leaders

A brief overview of the Woodcraft Folk The Woodcraft Folk is a unique progressive educational movement for children and young people – both girls and boys – designed to develop self-confidence and activity in society, with the aim of building a world based on equality, friendship, peace, social justice and co-operation. Our motto is ‘Span the world with friendship’.

Through its activities, Woodcraft Folk tries to give its members an understanding of important issues such as the environment, world debt and global conflict, with a key focus in recent years being sustainable development.

We expect all new adult members to understand and accept the Woodcraft Folk’s aims and principles. It is important that new groups discuss these thoroughly, and remain constantly aware of their practical implications for how the group is run. You can find the aims and principles on the reverse of the adult membership form.

Unlike other traditional youth organisations, we do not have a set uniform; instead our members choose to wear clothing such as our ‘woodie hoodies’ or t-shirts designed by young people from our organisation.

The Woodcraft Folk was established as an educational movement and charity in 1925, and was run entirely by young people. We operate in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Contrary to the myths that surround our name, we do not under normal circumstances, hug trees or craft wood. The name ‘woodcraft’ was used by the influential writer and naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton at the turn of the twentieth century. Woodcraft in this context meant the skill of living in the open air, close to nature. The Woodcraft Folk, like other youth movements, traces its origins back to Ernest Thompson Seton’s pioneering work with North American young people.

For more information about the history of the Woodcraft Folk visit: http://heritage.woodcraft.org.uk:80/ Other resources you may find helpful and which are available from Folk Supply include: ‘The Starter Pack’ – for those interested in developing a new Woodcraft Folk group ‘The Elfin Leaders’ Handbook’ ‘Games, games, games’ ‘Craft, craft, craft’

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Safeguarding children Safeguarding is about promoting the welfare of children and young people and striving to keep them safe from harm. Fortunately keeping children and young people safe is largely common sense and can be overcome by simple planning.

To assist Group Leaders the Woodcraft Folk has developed a series of policies and procedures to enable groups to plan and prepare for their sessions. These policies give advice on recommended adult-to-child ratios and provide valuable tools for completing risk assessments, prompting Group Leaders to consider: • The needs of group members • The suitability of venue • The suitability of activities planned Each district should have its own child protection or safeguarding procedures based on the national policy. If your district does not have any procedures you should take some steps to ensure that the issue is discussed with other leaders in the district with a view to formulating an agreed set of procedures as soon as possible.

National policies are reviewed every two years. For your latest copy of Woodcraft Folk policies on Health and Safety, Child Protection and Safeguarding please contact head office on 0845 458 9535 or visit www.woodcraft.org.uk/policies This resource does not go into detail on the administration of a group but you should make sure you have a health form for each child filled out by their parent or guardian. This will help you decide on some of the activities such as those involving food if there are any children with a food allergy, for example.

You may also want to look at group dynamics and setting ground rules. The Woodcraft call can be used to gain a group’s attention. Everyone should know that when someone calls ‘Woodcraft’ loudly that everyone should stop what they’re doing and reply ‘Folk’ together and listen. There is further information on guidelines and organisation in The Elfin Leaders’ Handbook.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

What you need

Each session laid out over the next pages has a section outlining what you will need for that session. We thought it would be useful to list some of the general items so that you could think about your group’s overall resources. It can be useful to have a prepared resource box stocked with items such as: Scissors (several pairs of the safety kind for children) Paper and card – a variety of sorts, size and colours Glue

Wool/string

Coloured pens

Crayons

Pencils, sharpeners, erasers and rulers

Scrap material and buttons

Old magazines and newspapers

Poster paint

Fabric paint or crayons

Brushes

Face paints

Chalk

Sticky tape

Sticky tack

Sticky labels

Balls (Soft or hard, variety of size)

Parachute (You could think about applying for funding for one of these)

You should know what’s in the box and monitor it. There will be some activities that require more specific items.

Depending on your venue you may also want to think about: First aid kit and accident book Something to play music on Cups for juice or water Cleaning-up stuff

In addition you may want to get members of the group to save junk to reuse such as jam jars, plastic tubs, cardboard boxes etc. You may also have a local craft or reusing initiative where you can pick up more resources.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

The session plans

section 1 – Ourselves

Natural Pictures

23

Who are the Woodcraft Folk?

6

Nature Bingo

24

The Senses – Listening, Smell and Touch

7

Reusing

25

Debating and Making Decisions

8

Sea Creatures

26

Healthy Eating

9

Shampoo Making

27

Healthy Living – Exercise

10

Communication

11

section 3 – Our global community

Games Workshop

12

International Evening

28

Diversity Challenge

13

Australian Night

29

Children in Charge

14

Malawian Evening

30

Colours and Feelings

14

Chinese New Year

31

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 32 Section 2 – Our natural world

Child Exploitation

33

Food Miles

15

Child Soldiers and Landmines

35

Birds

16

Co-operative Values

36

Climate Change

17

Debt and Aid

38

Egg Drop Challenge

18

Fair Trade

40

Endangered Species

19

Peace and Conflict

42

Environmental Survey

20

Prisoners for Peace

44

Flour Trail

21

Trade Justice

45

Making Aeroplanes

22

Water

47

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Activities for Elfin leaders

SECTION 1: OURSELVES Who are the Woodcraft Folk?

Session Themes: Communicating about the Woodcraft Folk, Creativity Introductory Game: Notable Names

Duration: 10 minutes

How to play: Sit in a circle. One person begins by introducing themselves, prefixing their name with a descriptive word that starts with the same letter – for example “I’m Super Sarah”. The person next to them continues, “That’s Super Sarah, I’m Naughty Niamh”. This continues around the circle until the last person has to name everyone in the group.

Activity: Exploring the Woodcraft Folk

Duration: 50 minutes +

What you need: Picture of the Woodcraft Folk symbol, 2 black bags of scraps of yellow, red and green material, scissors.

What to do: Look at the picture of the Woodcraft Folk symbol. Talk about what the children think the symbol represents. Break the children into small groups and allocate a scenario to each group which allows them to communicate what the Woodcraft Folk are all about and ask them to present these as dramas. Examples are: Two parents come to ask the elfin leader what the Woodcraft Folk is all about, as they are worried about their six year old cutting themselves doing woodwork; a few elfins are going on a camping trip and friends at school ask what the Woodcraft Folk is and why you are involved.

Watch all the dramas.

Tell the children you would like them all to work together to create a large version of the Woodcraft Folk symbol in a circle on the floor using the scraps of material. Discuss with them how they want to organise the work, making sure they have a reasonably large picture of the symbol to work from.

If you can, leave the symbol on the floor for parents and carers to see when they arrive.

Circletime Discussion Points: How realistic were the dramas?

What are the most important things about being in the Woodcraft Folk?

How do they feel about telling their friends they are in the Woodcraft Folk?

Did everyone feel listened to during the group activity?

Where are there other groups?

Variation: If the group is new you may also want to decide a group name by vote, create a group t-shirt or badge.

Tip: You may want to discuss our motto: Span the World with Friendship.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

The Senses – Listening, Smell and Touch Session Themes: Understanding Ourselves, Co-operation Introductory Game: Chinese whispers

Duration: 10 minutes

How to play: Sit in a circle. The leader thinks of a phrase to whisper. They whisper it to the next person, who then whispers to the next and so on. The last person to be told the phrase tells the group what they think it is. Let the children take turns to start the message and seeing what happens to the message. Try sending 2 messages around the circle in opposite directions!

Activity: Smell and Touch

Duration: 50 minutes

What you need: Material for blindfolds, bowls or containers for putting the objects in to keep them out of sight, paper and pencils to make notes of guesses, a written list of what each object is, 40 objects (20 for smelling and 20 for touching). Some suggestions are: mango; apple; mint; lavender; an eraser; handcream; bread; cheese; metal; chocolate; candle; peach; ginger cake; crayon; pencil; earth; a baking tray; a small teddy; wool; a book; a feather.

What to do: Set up four tables or areas in advance, 2 tables should be for smelling and 2 for touching. Let the children get into pairs. One is blindfolded and is led by their partner to a table.

They will smell/touch 10 objects, and the ‘seeing’ partner writes down what they say. Check list at the end to see if they are right. They then swap and the new ‘seeing’ partner leads the blindfolded partner to a different table to smell/touch 10 different objects.

The pair then swap blindfold again and move to another table to try smelling or touching different objects. Having the objects set out in different areas allows all the pairs to be working at the same time and gives an opportunity for the blindfolded partner to get a sense of not having their sight and relying on someone else to guide them.

Circletime Discussion Points: What did it feel like not to be able to see and to have to rely on someone else?

Were there any big surprises with the objects?

What was everyone’s favourite smell/object to touch?

Tip: You may need to think about allergies.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Debating and Making Decisions Session Themes: Understanding Ourselves, Making Decisions Introductory Game: Let the children decide

Duration: Duration: 10 minutes +

How to play: When you let the children decide it can be a good idea to ask for three suggestions and then vote, otherwise deciding can take a long time.

Activity: Hat Debate

Duration: 40 minutes +

What you need: A hat or any other container, paper and pens What to do: Each child writes their ‘motion’ on a slip of paper, and then puts it in the hat. Motions can be on any topic, for example, ‘All shops should charge for carrier bags’ or ‘School should be abolished’. Each is then drawn out of the hat in turn and discussed by the group. A vote usually follows. Time for each motion limited to 5 minutes.

Circletime Discussion Points: What was it like to have people disagreeing with you?

Did everyone feel listened to by the group?

What could we do to become better listeners?

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Healthy Eating Session Themes: Understanding Ourselves Introductory Game: Fruit Salad

Duration: 10 minutes

What you need: A parachute How to play: All participants stand in a circle holding the edge of the parachute. Go round the circle giving the children a type of fruit to be for the remainder of the game in the same way as you would normally number them into groups, some children will be oranges, some pears, some bananas, some apples etc. Fix a position as the place where the caller stands, thus ensuring that different people get a turn to be the caller. The first caller shouts out at least one type of fruit, but possibly two or three. All children who are that type of fruit have to change places under the parachute. Whoever is now standing in the caller’s position is the caller for the next turn. If the caller shouts “Fruit Salad!” everyone must change position. This game can also be played without a parachute, if the children sit in a circle and run round the outside when their fruit is called.

Activity: Food and tasting

Duration: 1 hour

What you need: Cookery books with pictures, cards with pictures of various foods, food (depending on budget), tray for the food, somewhere to wash hands What to do: The children in groups divide the pictures of food into three categories: healthy; unhealthy and eat in moderation. They then look at the ordering chosen by other groups.

The children then look at the cookery books in pairs to find something that looks yummy and something that looks yucky, and share this with the rest of the group, giving their reasons.

The children then try foods that may be unfamiliar to them (olives, mango, figs, blueberries, tofu, asparagus, root vegetable crisps, gherkins).

Circletime Discussion Points: How do we decide if a food is good for us or not?

What should we do if we are offered unfamiliar food? Talk about refusing politely or trying the new food to see if it’s nice.

Tip: You may want to check with parents beforehand about food allergies and dietary requirements. You may also want to provide a drink of water to rinse flavours between tastings.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Healthy Living - Exercise Session Themes: Understanding Ourselves Introductory Game: Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Duration: 10 minutes

How to play: Do this action song forwards all the way through, singing along to every action in the first verse, then gradually cutting out a body part in each verse whilst continuing to do the actions until the final verse is silent, apart from the ‘and’. You may then want to try it backwards.

Activity: Healthy Living – Exercise

Duration: 40 minutes

What you need: Flipchart or similar, pens, card, scissors What to do: First, ask everyone to come up with a different form of exercise, and write these all on the flipchart sheet. Then spread out around the room and let the children take turns to call out a different type of exercise that everyone has to do i.e. running round the room, press ups.

After this, ensure every child has a sheet of card, have them draw round someone else’s bare foot, cut out the card, write a form of exercise on the card and decorate the rest of the cut-out foot. Get the children to arrange all the feet in a pattern on the floor.

Circletime Discussion Points: Why should we exercise?

What sort of foods do we need to eat to be able to exercise?

Variation: You may have your own idea of a suitable action song.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Communication Session Themes: Communication, Celebrating Diversity Introductory Game: Action Name Game

Duration: 10 minutes

How to play: Stand in a circle. One person begins by choosing an action to mime which starts with the same letter as their name (sliding Scott, tip-toeing Theresa etc). They say “I’m tip-toeing Theresa” as they do their mime. Everyone else responds by saying “Hello tip-toeing Theresa” and copying the mime. Continue around the circle until everyone has had a turn.

Activity: Communicating in different ways

Duration: 45 minutes +

What you need: Polystyrene, pencils, pens, paper, information on Braille and sign language (see under Communication in Resources section), plastic or paper cups and string, pieces of paper with TV programmes, films, or books written on them, a prepared message in Braille.

What to do: Get the children into three groups, each of which will move round each station. The three stations are as follows: • Braille - Make your name in Braille using the point of a pencil or pen and polystyrene tiles to make holes in. Decipher the message written in Braille already.

• Sign language – Each person mimes the book, film or programme written on one of the pieces of paper to the group. Look at the sign language alphabet and learn how to sign your name.

• Telephones – Make your own ‘string phone’ and test it out.

Circletime Discussion Points: Was the Braille and sign language easy or hard to understand?

Who would use Braille, and who would use sign language?

Is it important to be able to communicate?

Resources: See links under Communication in Resources section.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Games Workshop Session Themes: Empowerment, Co-operative Values Introductory Game: Dodgeball

Duration: 10 minutes +

What you need: A ball, a way of dividing the room (benches, chairs, a rope, or just a line on the ground) How to play: Choose two ‘catchers’ who stand on either side of the marked area and work together to try and roll the ball and hit people below the knee. Anyone who is hit with the ball then joins the ‘catchers’ to again work with the original catchers. A tip to make sure that you don’t always have the same people left at the end is to play the game until there are two left and they then become the ‘catchers’ for the next round.

Activity: Games Workshop

Duration: 50 minutes +

What you need: Flipchart or similar, pens and paper What to do: Use the flipchart to brainstorm how Dodgeball works. The themes you want to tease out are: • No-one sits out • No focus on competition – played for fun rather than winning • Easy to understand rules Consider how these themes affect most Woodcraft games.

Then split into groups of 3 or 4 and invent a new co-operative game in each group.

Try each of the games out.

Circletime Discussion Points: Did all the games meet the aims we identified?

Why do we play games this way in the Woodcraft Folk?

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Diversity Challenge Session Themes: Celebrating Diversity, Building Group Cohesion Introductory Game: Sticky Aliens

Duration: 10 minutes

How to play: Choose two people to be ‘the sticky alien’. They join hands and run around trying to tig people. When they do, the person caught becomes part of the sticky alien. The three people have to hold hands. When there are four people holding hands, they have to split into twos. These two pairs continue trying to tig people, and having them join on until they get to four people again, at which point they split into twos. This continues until everyone has been tigged.

Activity: Diversity Challenge

Duration: 50 minutes +

What you need: Paper and pens or pencils What to do: Set some tasks for the children to find out about their group. Examples might be: who is the tallest and smallest (which can be measured by getting everyone into height order); who can speak a language other than English and how do you say hello in that language; who has the longest hair; who has the biggest feet; who is the youngest; who has a party piece they can do; who has been to another country; who has the most brothers and sisters. Leave it up to the children to figure out how best to find these things out. Get the children to think up another couple of questions and find out the answers.

Circletime Discussion Points: Did anyone find out something they didn’t know about someone else?

Encourage the children to think about being different. Did they find out that everyone is different from everyone else and everyone has something special about them?

Do they think it would be a good thing if everyone was the same? Or is it more fun having everyone be different?

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Children in Charge Session Themes: Empowerment Activity: Children in Charge

Duration: Whole Session

What you need: Whatever the children need What to do: Two or three of the older elfins are briefed a few weeks in advance. Tell them they will be running the session and ask them to come up with activities to fill a session.

Circletime Discussion Points: How did it feel to have children in charge?

What are the responsibilities of being in charge?

How did the children in charge feel?

Tip: Have a back-up plan if things don’t run for the right amount of time.

Variation: The children running the session might be local pioneers or venturers from another group that you have invited to encourage links and for the children to think beyond their group experience.

Colours and Feelings Session Themes: Understanding ourselves, Co-operation Introductory Game: Colour Bingo

Duration: 10 minutes +

How to play: Everyone except one person sits in a circle. The person walks round the back of the circle patting people on the head. At some point they call out a colour. Everyone wearing that colour has to jump up and run round the back of the circle to a space left by someone else. As the person who called the colour has sat in a space, one person will be left standing. They become the person walking round the circle.

Activity: Colours and Feelings

Duration: 1 hour

What you need: Paper, yellow, red and blue paint, brushes, water and containers, newspaper to protect the floor in a few different areas.

What to do: Groups divide into yellow, red and blue, but everyone gets a chance to be each colour. They paint using one of the three colours. This can be either an abstract painting or topic suggested by the colour. They then move on to the other colours. Groups then divide into groups of three and they co-operate to produce a painting using all three colours without speaking or coming to blows. The colours can be mixed together at this stage, rather than everyone working separately.

Circletime Discussion Points: How did the different colours make us feel? How are the red, yellow and blue paintings different?

Was it hard to work together with two other people?

How did we communicate without speaking?

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Activities for Elfin leaders

SECTION 2 – OUR NATURAL WORLD Food Miles Session Themes: Natural Environment Introductory Game: Bat & Moth

Duration: 10 minutes

What you need: Two pieces of material to use as blindfolds How to play: Stand in a large circle holding hands. One or two people are the bats and are blindfolded and stand in the centre of the circle. Three to five people are the moths, they also stand within the circle. The bats have to try to catch the moths. To do this they must use their ‘radar’. Whenever a bat calls out “bat” the moths must respond “moth”, thus giving a clue of their whereabouts. Let all players have a turn as moth or bat.

Activity: Pizza Food Miles

Duration: 50 minutes +

What you need: Paper plates, a 6” pizza base for each child, paper and a pen, an atlas or world map, and a ruler or something to measure with, somewhere to wash hands.

What to do: Ask parents to supply foods from their cupboards that can go on a pizza. Make sure the food arrives in a packet or box that displays the country of origin. Allow for home produce too.

The children use their preferred ingredients. Then they make a chart of each pizza’s ingredients and how many miles the food has travelled, using the atlas to figure this out. Rather than cook them on site, the children can take their pizza home to cook.

Circletime Discussion Points: Whose pizza came from furthest away?

Which ingredient came from furthest away?

How do our ingredients get to this country?

What does that do to the environment?

Who do you think made these foods?

How can we reduce our food miles?

Variation: Make a cardboard pizza picture using a circle of card to represent the pizza base and then cut out from packets pictures of the ingredients you would use to make a pizza…then work out food miles.

Tip: Consider food allergies and cultural sensitivities such as the use of ham.

The group might think about covering the cost of the ingredients.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Birds Session Themes: Natural Environment, Creativity Introductory Game: Bird Parachute

Duration: 10 minutes

What you need: A parachute How to play: All participants stand in a circle holding the edge of the parachute. Go round the circle giving the children a type of bird to be for the remainder of the game in the same way as you would normally number them into groups, some children will be robins, some flamingos, some sparrows, some eagles etc. Fix a position as the place where the caller stands, thus ensuring that different people get a turn to be the caller. The first caller shouts out at least one type of bird, but possibly two or three. All children who are that bird have to change places under the parachute.

Whoever is now standing in the caller’s position is the caller for the next turn. If the caller shouts “Fly away”, everyone must change position. This game can also be played without a parachute, if the children sit in a circle and run round the outside when their type of bird is called.

Activity: Birds Creative Response

Duration: 40 minutes +

What you need: A short story about birds (see link under Environment in Resources Section), paper, colouring pens, pencils What to do: Read the short story aloud. Talk about how the different characters in the story might have felt. Ask the children to respond to the story in any way they like. They may draw a picture, make up a poem or a song, design a dance like a bird, or write a different ending or continue the story in their own way.

Circletime Discussion Points: Everybody shares the piece of work they have done.

Resources: See link under Environment in Resources section.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Climate Change Session Themes: Natural Environment, Global Issues Introductory Game: Polar Bears

Duration: 20 minutes

What you need: Ice cubes, globe (optional), newspaper, music to play How to play: If you have a globe, use it to show the group the North Pole. Explain that the North Pole is permanently frozen with ice, but as the global temperatures are getting warmer (because of climate change) the ice is starting to melt. If you have access to a freezer, make some ice cubes beforehand. Give each person an ice cube to hold in his or her hands, and let them see what happens when it gets warmer. Explain that as the ice is melting it turns into water. When the ice at the North Pole melts, the water goes into the sea, and it is starting to raise the level of the sea.

Play a game. Everyone has to pretend to be a polar bear. Polar bears live on the ice. Use pages of newspaper to represent ice. Everyone has to move around when the music is playing, jumping from one piece of ‘ice’ to another. When the music stops they have to get on a piece of ice. Each time remove a piece of ice - explain that the ‘ice’ is disappearing because the temperature is getting warmer. It will get harder and harder to find somewhere to stand and people will have to share pieces of newspaper until they are completely jammed together. Remove all the pieces of newspaper in the final round so everyone is ‘out’.

Activity: Sustainability Board Game

Duration: 1 hour

What you need: Large sheet of paper or card (maybe a flattened cardboard box), other coloured card, glue, counters and dice.

What to do: Ask the group what they understand by the world ‘sustainability’ and how they can live in a sustainable way - in other words, how to live in a way that respects others and the environment, and uses resources in a fair way with minimum impact on the world.

Explain that the group is going to design a board game, about living sustainably or what is sometimes called ‘being green’. You could design one game for the whole group, or several separate games. It is best to do this activity after you have already learnt a bit about living sustainably and protecting the environment.

The group need to think about positive and negative things people might do, which have an impact on the world. Each of these actions in the game will lead people to be rewarded (e.g. go forward) or punished (go back). Some possible examples: • You decide to walk instead of go by car - go forward 2 places • You drop litter in the street - go back 1 place • You fit energy-saving light bulbs - go forward 3 places • You forget to turn the tap off properly - go back 2 places Give people small squares of coloured card, on which they should write the different actions. They should produce about 20 cards. Before they go on further, discuss together if everyone agrees on the cards. Next draw out a winding game track of about 50 squares. Stick on the action cards about every 2 or 3 squares, mixing up positive and negative actions. Decorate the outside of the board with pictures. When it is finished, play the game. You could also lend the game to other groups to help spread the message about living sustainably.

Circletime Discussion Points: You won’t have time for much discussion at this point, so just ask the children how they feel about what they’ve learned.

Variation: The group could also make their own dice and counters and make the activity last 2 sessions. page 17

Activities for Elfin leaders

Egg Drop Challenge Session Themes: Science Introductory Game: Bad Eggs

Duration: 10 minutes +

What you need: A ball How to play: One player has the ball. They throw it in the air and call the name of another player.

The named player must retrieve the ball while the others try to get as far away as possible. Once the named player has the ball and shouts “Stop!� all the others must freeze. The named player is allowed three paces, from where they must try to hit someone else below the waist with the ball. If they succeed, that person retrieves the ball, throws it up in the air and calls a new name.

Activity: Egg Drop Challenge

Duration: 50 minutes +

What you need: At least 2 raw eggs per child, material for protecting the egg (cloth, wool, cotton wool, cardboard, padding of any sort, balloons to insert the egg inside then blow up), sticky tape, paper and pencils, newspaper for the floor.

What to do: Break into groups. Ask the groups to test out which materials best protect the egg and figure out the best way to protect the egg if dropped from a height. Suggest they experiment with different materials, wrapped in different ways. Ensure all groups drop the eggs from the same height and note down the results. Have all the groups come together with their final product to test the theories of the different groups.

Circletime Discussion Points: Which material was most effective?

Did everyone in the group feel included and listened to?

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Endangered Species Session Themes: Natural Environment, Creativity Introductory Game: Blue Whale, Blue Whale, Dolphin Duration: 10 minutes How to play: Everyone sits in a circle. One child is chosen to start off the game. They walk round the back of the circle, patting people on the head as they say “Blue whale, blue whale, blue whale” when they pat someone on the head and say “Dolphin”, that person has to get up and chase the other person round the circle. If the first person reaches the space left by the second person before they are caught, they can sit in that space and the second person becomes ‘it’.

Activity: Endangered Species Modelling

Duration: 40 minutes +

What you need: Pictures of endangered species and some background information (see link under Environment in Resources section), grey modelling clay, tools such as plastic knife, old comb etc, CD with animal/whale noises and something to play it on (optional), somewhere to wash hands, newspaper for the floor.

What to do: Pass round the pictures of the various endangered species and tell the children a little bit about them. Let the children pick which animal they are each going to make a model of, though don’t make them tell the others at the start, as sometimes the model can become something else as they work. Put on the background noises while the children work. Anyone who finishes before the others can make another animal.

Circletime Discussion Points: Have the children tell the others what they have made a model of.

Do they know of any creatures that have become extinct?

Why are some creatures becoming extinct?

Do they think humans could ever become extinct?

Resources: See links under Environment in Resources section.

Variation: The models may be painted another week.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Environmental Survey Session Themes: Natural Environment, Observation You need the full session for the activity Activity: Environmental Survey

Duration: 1 hour +

What you need: Clipboards, pencils, photocopied survey sheets, plenty of adult supervision What to do: Prior to the evening, make up a sheet with a list of things the children might see or hear in your local area. It may be helpful to break these up into categories, such as Creature Features (trees, animals etc), Noisy Nuisance (things they hear such as cars, trains, music), Land and Buildings (An old building, a new building, derelict land, a play park) and Activities (cycling, dog walking, ball games). Include the item, ‘Anything unusual’ somewhere on the list. Ensure both the children and the adults are aware which adults are responsible for which children. Set off on the walk, either together or in different directions depending on the size of the group and the number of adults, with the children marking off the things they see on their sheet.

Circletime Discussion Points: Did anyone see anything unusual?

Was there anything they expected to see or hear that they didn’t?

Were they surprised by the noises they heard?

Did anyone see or hear any wildlife?

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Flour Trail Session Themes: Natural Environment You need the full session for the activity Activity: Flour Trail

Duration: Whole session

What you need: You need a park area that is at least semi-woodland for the activity. Hilly and woody with lots of paths is best. You need a fair quantity of white flour (any cheap kind will do – old flour forgotten at the back of the cupboard is ideal), and plenty of adult supervision What to do: Following a welcome circle, the group is split into two teams. The first team takes half the flour and sets off into the woods, sticking closely together. They mark their route by dropping a small amount of flour onto the ground at frequent intervals. The other group gives them five minutes to get a head start, and then tracks them. Once the first group has either got through a bag of flour, or has found a good spot, they hide. The aim is for them to jump out and surprise the second team before they are spotted. The teams then swap, with the second team starting off in a different direction to avoid confusion with the two flour trails.

Circletime Discussion Points: Why is the trail we use made of flour?

How was it decided which direction to go in?

Did everyone feel included in the decision-making?

Variation: False trails can be set, for example – up the start of paths that haven’t been taken.

Tip: As well as keeping the groups safe, adults should encourage fair-play (not too difficult, not chasing too fast and successfully, etc). Adults with the second group can encourage the route back to near to wherever the meeting point for the end of the session is. At the end, a small snack is always welcomed by the children.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Making Aeroplanes Session Themes: Science, Co-operation Introductory Game: Transport Parachute

Duration: 10 minutes

What you need: A parachute How to play: All participants stand in a circle holding the edge of the parachute. Go round the circle giving the children a mode of transport to be for the remainder of the game in the same way as you would normally number them into groups. Some children will be trains, some buses, some planes, some bicycles etc. Fix a position as the place where the caller stands, thus ensuring that different people get a turn to be the caller. The first caller shouts out at least one mode of transport, but possibly two or three. All children who are that mode of transport have to change places under the parachute. Whoever is now standing in the caller’s position is the caller for the next turn. If the caller shouts “Traffic Jam�, everyone must change position. This game can also be played without a parachute, if the children sit in a circle and run round the outside when their mode of transport is called.

Activity: Co-operative Aeroplane Making

Duration: 40 - 50 minutes

What you need: Newspaper, plain paper, card, scissors, hoop, mat, piece of string, some adult practice beforehand.

What to do: Get each person to fold at least one plane. Try to ensure you have a variety of styles within the group and try to make some using the plain paper, some using newspaper and some card. Test the planes by holding a piece of string across the room; can the planes fly over and under it? Can the planes fly through a hoop? Can you land the planes on a mat or sheet of newspaper? Which plane can fly the furthest? Do any of the planes do stunts or come back?

Encourage the concept of this activity as a scientific experiment to minimise competition. Give at least one person the responsibility of noting down the results.

Circletime Discussion Points: What was the best material?

Was there one outstanding plane, or did different planes perform well in different categories: distance; precision; maintaining height?

Resources: See link under Crafts in Resources section.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Natural Pictures Session Themes: Natural Environment, Creativity Introductory Game: Bring Me Something

Duration: As long as you like

What you need: A park, wood or garden, plenty of adult supervision How to play: One person says “Bring me a…….” it could be a green leaf, a light coloured stone, something soft, something hard. Then children then all race to find a suitable object and bring it back.

Activity: Natural Pictures

Duration: 45 minutes +

What you need: Large sheets of paper or card, water pots and water, some wipes or somewhere to wash hands.

What to do: Get the children to have a look at the natural resources around them and ask them to paint a picture using these resources. A few ideas are: use pollen; mix mud with water; use grass as a paint brush; find a feather to paint with; bash leaves with a stone; make a dye with berries; try digging a twig or stone in mud; look out for rose hips; use your fingers.

Circletime Discussion Points: Let every child show their picture and talk through how they made it.

What does being resourceful mean?

Can we often do things without all the resources we think we need?

Tip: Remind the children to be careful about taking things from the natural environment. Some plants are protected and some are poisonous.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Nature Bingo Session Themes: Natural Environment Introductory Game: Stuck in the Mud

Duration: As long as you like

How to play: One person is ‘it’. That person chases the other people and tries to touch them. If someone is caught, they stand with their hands straight out at their sides and their legs apart. To get free, another player has to run under your arm, at which point the person can rejoin the game.

If you are caught for a third time, you then become ‘it’ and the original ‘it’ joins in as someone who is trying not to be caught.

Activity: Nature Bingo

Duration: 30 minutes +

What you need: A park, wood, or garden, cards for each group with pictures of the items to be found, a pencil for each group.

What to do: Have the children get into groups of 4 or so, with at least two adults per group. Hand out the bingo cards, which should have pictures of each of the items the children have to find.

The items will vary by season and by your location. Some suggestions are: a pigeon; tree trunk; bluebells; crocuses; roses; spider’s web; wheelbarrow; oak leaf; acorns; chestnuts; sticky willow; dandelion; a smooth stone; buttercups; an ant. Tell the children not to pick anything that is living, and then have them go off in their groups to find the items, marking them off on their card as they find them but leaving things where they found them.

Circletime Discussion Points: Which was the hardest item to find?

Did everyone feel part of the group?

Why was it important not to pick anything that was living?

Did any group see anything that should not be there?

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Reusing Session Themes: Environmental Issues, Creativity Introductory Game: Energy Efficient

Duration: 5 minutes +

How to play: Explain that there are different types of fuel we use to get energy. Some of these are called ‘fossil fuels’. These are coal, oil and gas. They are dirty to use, and the gases they give off are making the earth get warmer. There are sources of energy that produce less greenhouse gases.

These include power from wind, waves, the sun and rivers.

The leader should call out words, and the group should respond with actions as follows: wind (run around room blowing), waves (swim around room), sun (stand still, move arms in an arc), rivers (spin arms around each other in front like a turbine). Occasionally shout ‘fossil fuels’. At this everyone should sit down in a ball (as a piece of coal) and shout back ‘no thank you’. Stop when everyone gets tired.

Activity: Reusing – Making Musical Instruments

Duration: 50 minutes +

What you need: Washed out bottles, tubs with lids, jars etc. Dried peas, pasta, coffee and anything that would make a good noise such as two pieces of wood, corrugated card, pencils, paper.

What to do: Explain that it takes a lot of energy to make things like plastic, so it’s good to find ways to recycle things that are used, or find new ways to use them. Say that today everyone will be making musical instruments with used objects.

Break into groups and explain that the idea is to make musical instruments with different items and see how different they each sound. The group make a musical instrument for everyone.

They are then tasked with writing a song about reusing and recycling and playing a musical accompaniment. Listen to everyone’s song.

Circletime Discussion Points: What can we all do to save energy?

What other things can be reused / recycled?

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Sea Creatures Session Themes: Natural Environment Introductory Game: Musical Sea

Duration: 10 minutes +

What you need: A CD or tape and something to play it on How to play: When the music stops, call out an action: jump like a dolphin; wobble like a jellyfish; swim like a fish; be a star fish; wave like an octopus; clap hands like a seal; make claws like a crab, float like seaweed.

Activity: Sea Creatures Mobile

Duration: 50 minutes +

What you need: Scissors, colouring pens, garden sticks, string, glue or sticky tape, pictures of sea creatures, green wool or crepe paper for seaweed and background information (see link under Environment in Resources section).

What to do: Ask the children what they know about creatures that live in the sea. Show them some pictures of the creatures and give them some background information about how pollution can affect these creatures.

Then ask the children to make their own sea mobile, drawing and cutting out creatures and anything else to do with the sea. Have adults on hand to help with the cutting out of the more complicated creatures.

Circletime Discussion Points: Let each of the children display their mobile.

Why do we need to look after the sea?

What can we do to help stop pollution?

Resources: See link under Environment in Resources section.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Shampoo Making Session Themes: Natural Environment Introductory Game: Shopping Bag

Duration: 10 minutes

How to play: Get the children into at least two teams, more if you have over a dozen elfins. They sit in rows, one behind the other. Each of the children in the team is told to be a different shopping item, shampoo, eggs, bananas etc. You might want to come up with actions to go with each item.

The leader stands at the front and says “Martin went to market and all he bought was some…” then say at least one, but it could be two or three of the items. The person who is that item in each team must get up, run to touch the wall behind the leader, run to the back of their team and touch the wall behind them, and then run back to their place in the team. All the while they are running they should do the action given to that item. The leader should shout out all the items at some point in the game, this can be a good way to finish.

Activity: Shampoo Making

Duration: 50 minutes

What you need: Washed out empty plastic bottles (one for each child), large sticky labels, colouring pens, several funnels, several mixing bowls, olive oil, an egg for each child, lemons or lemon juice, a small amount of apple cider vinegar, whisks or mixing spoons, several measuring tools of some kind, newspaper to protect the floor, a shampoo bottle with the ingredients on the label.

What to do: Get the children into two groups, while one group mixes their ingredients together to make the shampoo, the other group can work on their label which will be stuck on their bottle to take home and try out or give to someone as a present. Tell the children that the shampoo will go off, so it should be used within a day or two and kept in the fridge until that time. Each child needs: 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 egg; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar.

After the mixture is thoroughly blended, they should use the funnel to get it into the empty bottle and stick on their label.

Circletime Discussion Points: Read out the list of ingredients from the side of the shampoo bottle and ask the children why they think there are so many chemicals in the shampoo and why it costs so much money.

Can you think of any other items that could be made more simply?

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Activities for Elfin leaders

SECTION 3 – OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY International Evening Session Themes: Span the World with Friendship Introductory Game: Eagle and Chicks

Duration: 10 minutes

How to play: Choose a child as the eagle and another child as the mother hen. The rest of the people will be the chicks. In the game, the eagle tries to catch one of the chicks so she/he will no longer be the eagle, and the mother hen tries to protect the chicks from the eagle. The chicks will line up behind the mother hen one by one. The first chick behind the mother hen will hold on to his/her waist or cloth, the one behind the first chick will hold on the first, and so on. The eagle can catch the chick by tagging the chick, and the mother hen can protect the chicks by spreading his/ her arms shoulder high. When the chasing begins, the eagle is free to run anywhere to catch the chick. The mother hen will try to be in front of the eagle to protect the chicks. The eagle has to go around the mother hen to catch the chick and she/he will try to avoid any contact with the mother hen. To help the mother hen, the chicks will try to run out of the way of the eagle. The chicks don’t have to be in the line all the time. They may run out of the line and play tag with the eagle. If the eagle catches a chick, this game will be over and that chick will be the eagle in the next game.

Activity: International Museum

Duration: 1 hour

What you need: Globe/map, paper, colouring pens or crayons, a book of flags, sticky tack, the children to bring materials with them, advance planning?

What to do: The week before, ask the children to think about a country they have visited or know a lot about, and to bring anything they like with them the next week which is related to that country.

Have the children draw and colour the flag of the country of their choice. Then sticky tack each of these up in different areas, along with the items the children have brought. Divide the children into two groups. The first group goes round to look at the second group’s exhibitions. At each exhibit, the person who has chosen that country will explain what they know about that country and why they have chosen it. The groups then swap.

Circletime Discussion Points: Talk about the Woodcraft Folk motto ‘Span the World with Friendship’.

Ask the children to discuss what they have learned from each other.

Tip: You could try to allocate countries in the previous week to prevent duplication.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Australian Night Session Themes: Span the World with Friendship Introductory Game: Simon Says Australian Style

Duration: 10 minutes +

How to play: Play Simon Says, but use Australian-related actions such as: Bounce like a kangaroo; sleep like a koala; go surfing; swim away from the sharks; pretend to be in a desert and it’s really hot; swat the flies; swim like a jellyfish; throw a boomerang.

Activity: Australian Culture

Duration: 50 minutes +

What you need: A map, face paints, colouring pens, card with boomerang shape outlines, scissors, flipchart or similar. If anyone has a didgeridoo then this could be brought too.

What to do: Start with a brainstorm about Australia. Find out what the group collectively knows about Australia and note it all down on a big sheet of paper. Talk a bit about the history of Australia, about aborigines and their treatment and about emigration (See under International in Resources section). Identify Australia on a map.

Show the children pictures of aborigines with their faces painted, and explain the meaning behind this (See under International in Resources section). Then encourage the children to paint each other’s faces.

Provide boomerang-shaped card for the children to decorate and try out.

Circletime Discussion Points: Why would people coming into a country treat the people who were already there so badly?

Why do they think so many people left Europe to move to countries like Australia and Canada?

Resources: See links under International in Resources section.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Malawian Evening Session Themes: Span the World with Friendship Introductory Game: Facts on Malawi

Duration: 10 minutes

What you need: List of facts (See under International in Resources section), large thumbs up and thumbs down pictures (optional).

How to play: Introduce the session by explaining that you are going to be learning about Malawi.

Explain that for this game, one end of the room is for true statements, and the other end is for false statements (you may want to use the thumbs pictures). Ask the group to run to a different end of the room according to whether each statement you read out is true or false. Tell them each time whether it was true or false, and if it was false, give the real fact. Get everyone back into the middle after each statement. Include facts about children.

Activity: Cartoon Response

Duration: 50 minutes

What you need: Print out of Malawian children’s photographs or lap top with photos downloaded (See under International in Resources section), paper and colouring pens What to do: Show the children the photos taken by children in Malawi. Ask them to imagine a typical day in their own life. Have them draw a cartoon strip illustrating the things that happen in their day.

Circletime Discussion Points: How were their days different from the day of a child in Malawi?

What was the same?

What is the favourite part of their day?

Resources: See links under International in Resources section.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Chinese New Year Session Themes: Span the World with Friendship Introductory Game: Dragon’s Tails

Duration: 10 minutes

What you need: Scarf for each team How to play: Split into two even teams. Everyone in the team should join up together in a chain by holding the waist or shoulders of the person in front. The back member of each team has a scarf tucked into their waistband or belt, which is the dragon’s tail. The object of the game is for one dragon to try to catch the tail of the other dragon while protecting its own tail. Keep changing the heads and tails of the dragons so that everyone gets a turn.

Activity: Dragon Procession

Duration: 1 hour +

What you need: Old sheets, 2 cardboard boxes, scissors, colouring pens, fabric crayons, scraps of coloured paper or material, glue, paper streamers, musical instruments (possibly those made in the reusing activity), background information on Chinese New Year (see under International in Resources section).

What to do: Have a discussion about Chinese New Year – what year is it, how do people celebrate?

Split into two groups to make dragons the group could get inside, with each group decorating a cardboard box head and a sheet for the body. They then use the musical instruments to work out a rhythm, and decide which of their group will be the dragon, and which will play the instruments.

They then perform this to the other group.

Circletime Discussion Points: How do we celebrate New Year in this country?

Why do people celebrate New Year?

Resources: See link under International in Resources section.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Session Themes: Children’s Rights, Global Issues Introductory Game: Musical Numbers

Duration: As long as you like

What you need: A CD player and a CD How to play: Players stand randomly around the room. When the music starts they can move around in any direction. As the music stops, a number is called out, and players quickly join with people standing near them to form groups of that number. Those children who cannot make up a group of that number, get together while the music restarts to choose the next number to be called.

Activity: Needs and Wants

Duration: 40 minutes +

What you need: UNICEF needs and wants cards (See under Global Issues in Resources section).

What to do: In pairs or groups of three, the children divide the cards into two groups, needs and wants. Tell them that needs are things you have to have to grow up healthy and strong, and wants are things that are just nice to have. Tell them to choose 11 cards for the needs pile and 9 for the wants.

Get one group to read out their list, checking if everyone agrees. If they don’t, stop and have a discussion. Then tell the children what the UN has identified as needs, and that all children under 18 in 191 out of 193 countries in the world have agreed they are entitled to these rights.

Circletime Discussion Points: Do all children in the world get the rights they are entitled to?

Which of these rights could the children ensure other children get? How do they take them away?

What can we do in this group to make sure we all get our rights? What about children in other places?

Resources: See link under Global Issues in Resources section.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Child Exploitation Session Themes: Global Issues Introductory Game: Rhythm Clap

Duration: 10 minutes

How to play: Sit in a circle with eyes closed. Players individually think of a rhythm to clap or beat, and are then asked to begin clapping/tapping their rhythms. Listen to see if people gradually begin to move in similar rhythms; from initial chaos, you may find a growing co-ordination about the sound.

Activity: Quarry Simulation

Duration: 1 hour

What you need: Old cardboard, card with hole, bucket, stones/bricks, large boxes/blankets etc to make tunnel, sieve, bucket of sand/soil, buttons, glass jar, flour/talcum powder, and resources page.

What to do: The leader should set up this series of activities in a room, to simulate different aspects of mining and quarrying. People should move around in small groups doing the different tasks. You can print or write out the instructions for each station. Ask people to put equipment back as they found it after they have finished.

Working in mines and quarries can be a very dirty, tiring, dangerous job for anyone to do, but especially for a child. An estimated one million children work in small scale mining and quarrying around the world. These children work in some of the worst conditions imaginable, where they face serious risk of work-related death, injury or chronic illness. They will carry heavy awkward loads, get dust in their eyes, be exposed to the sun for long hours, and do many hours of hard labour hitting stones to break them into smaller pieces. They may be working underground, with unstable support structures. They may be exposed to toxic chemicals like lead or mercury, or stand all day in water. Mining often takes place in remote areas without schools and social services, and far away from family and community support. Under International Labour Organisation Convention No. 182, working in mines and quarries can be defined as one of the worst forms of child labour – exposing children to severe occupational hazards and often depriving them of basic freedoms.

Activity stations: • Breaking up rocks – The children have to tear a piece of cardboard into small pieces, to represent breaking up a large rock into smaller gravel. They take pieces to the leader, who will tell them if the pieces are small enough. (If they fit through a hole on the test card). They will get sent away to make them smaller if they are not small enough. In real life, children would be breaking up rocks with hammers and chisels. This can give them cuts, and cause damage to their eyes from flying chips of rock. (The leader will need a piece of card with a 1cm hole cut in it - but do not tell the group the required size beforehand.)

• Lifting a heavy bucket - Fill the bucket with stones/bricks etc. Take it in turns to lift it up - be careful to demonstrate bending down properly (by bending your knees) so they do not damage their backs. Ask them to consider: would you be able to walk with the bucket? Can you imagine carrying buckets of rocks like this all day? Child miners often have to carry buckets weighing 1025 kg, for around 600m. This causes damage to their muscles and skeleton while they are still growing.

• Crawling through a tunnel – The children should take it in turns to crawl along the tunnel. How does it feel? Can you see? Do you have room to move? Imagine how it would feel to work in there all day. Children are employed in mines because they are smaller and able to fit through tiny tunnels. They are at risk from the tunnels collapsing or rocks falling on them. (Make a dark, narrow tunnel out of chairs/blankets/cardboard boxes, etc.)

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Activities for Elfin leaders

• Sieving sand/soil - Take a few handfuls of sand/soil and sieve them to find the buttons. How easy is it to do? How many buttons can you find? Imagine you had to do this same task all day, under the burning sun. Some children have to do this job to find precious stones or metals. The equipment is usually heavy because it is designed for adults to use. (Hide some buttons in a bucket of sand or soil) • Dusty air - Shake the jar, and look what happens inside. Ask the children to take the lid off and watch as the dusty air escapes, then imagine that this is the air they are breathing in. What would it be like to inhale dust and particles all day? Children working in tunnels underground are exposed to excessive amounts of dust, leading to severe breathing problems and eventually lung disease. (Put a few spoonfuls of flour/talcum powder into a glass jar with a lid).

Circletime Discussion Points: What did they find most difficult? Are there any activities they could do all day?

Point out that because the activities were ‘new’ for them, and they only did them for a few minutes, they might have been ‘fun’. However it is not fun for the children who have to do this kind of work every day. Many of them do not even directly earn any money, as it goes towards their parents’ earnings, and they may be unable to go to school.

Talk about some of the reasons why children might have to work in mines, and how it can be stopped (See under Global Issues in Resources section).

What are other examples of child exploitation?

Resources: See link under Global Issues in Resources section.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Child Soldiers and Landmines Session Themes: Peace, Global Issues Introductory Game: One-Word Stories

Duration: 10 minutes

How to play: The group, sitting in a circle, tells a story, but each person can only say one word at a time. Continue until everyone has had at least a couple of turns.

Activity: Child Soldier Poem and Landmine Avoidance

Duration: 1 hour +

What you need: Paper, pencils, material for blindfolds, paper or plastic plates What to do: In some countries children are recruited by armed groups, to fight as soldiers. Army chiefs like to recruit children because they are small, easy to frighten, require less food than adult soldiers and are less likely to rebel. Many children have no choice about becoming a soldier, because they are rounded up and forced to fight, or even abducted from school or home. Others join because they are so poor, and this seems the only way to get food and to survive. Some join because they think the group is fighting for something they believe in – like the freedom of their country. (See under Peace for more information) Imagine you have been abducted by an armed group to fight as a child soldier. Consider the feelings you would be experiencing – about the family and friends you have left behind, and what the future holds for you. Talk about your possible feelings as a group, and then individually write a poem expressing these feelings. Try to really concentrate and focus your mind. When you are ready, share your poems with the rest of the group.

Tell the children that in some countries, children who are not forced to fight can still be caught up in war, even after the fighting is over. Give the children some background facts on landmines and how they affect children (See under Peace in Resources section).

Then split the children into pairs and lay out a ‘minefield’ using the plates as mines. One child is blindfolded and the other has to guide them through the minefield using only their voice. If you step on a plate, you have been hit by a mine. Once the child gets through the minefield, they swap the blindfold and roles for the trip back through the minefield.

Circletime Discussion Points: What does it feel like to know children in other parts of the world have to deal with these issues every day? What can we do?

Resources: See link under Peace in Resources section.

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Activities for Elfin leaders

Co-operative Values Session Themes: Co-operation Introductory Game: Co-operative Chairs

Duration: 15 minutes

What you need: Chairs (one per person) or newspaper pages, CD or tape How to play: Begin with a classic game of ‘Musical Chairs’, by arranging a circle of chairs, with the chairs facing outwards. Alternatively, you could use newspaper pages, arranged on the floor in a circle.

Play the music and ask the group to dance around the chairs/newspaper pages. Tell everyone that when the music stops, they should quickly find a seat. The second time, remove one chair. When one person has nowhere to sit, challenge the group to find a way for everyone to have a seat.

People can sit on each other’s laps, stand on the rungs connecting chair legs, or squeeze next to someone else on the same seat. Continue with a few successive rounds in which an additional chair is removed each time. It will get more and more difficult. Every time the group accommodates someone who would normally be excluded in a traditional game of Musical Chairs, compliment them on their creativity!

At the end explain that you changed the rules to be more inclusive. In this game people were not deliberately excluded. Instead the aim was to co-operate together to ensure that as many people as possible could ‘win’ each time.

Activity: Co-operating Together

Duration: 30 minutes

What you need: Labels written out or printed, scissors, sticky tack/rolled up sticky tape, paper stuck on a wall/blackboard, a group of people.

What to do: Firstly, divide into groups to act out the following scenarios. You are just given the beginning of each situation. You will need to work out a way to co-operate to solve the problems, and then finish acting out the story. Explain that when people co-operate together, the aim is that everyone benefits as we can achieve more together than alone.

• A brother and sister are having a fight because they both want to use the bike. The boy wants to ride to his friend's house, and the girl wants to go to the shops to buy a drink.

• One farmer has a river running through her farm. Her tractor has broken down and she cannot afford to mend it. The farmer next door is short of water, and his crops are dying. He has a tractor.

• An old man is unable to clean the windows in his house because he is too frail to climb up his ladder. The woman who lives next door needs a ladder to reach the apples to pick from her tree.

For the next activity, the leader should write the labels (below) beforehand on pieces of paper, or print them out. (Keep a note of the correct lists if you are not sure). Then cut them each in half (either between words, or in the middle of words), keeping the halves in two separate piles. Use pieces of sticky tack or rolled up sticky tape on the back of each piece, so they can be stuck onto a wall/blackboard. Explain that some businesses are run co-operatively and see if the children have heard of any which are. Try to give some local examples. Write up two headings on the blackboard, or on paper stuck up on a wall: ‘Co-operative businesses’ and ‘Private businesses’. Divide the group into two teams, and give each team one pile of half-labels. Explain that they need to place the labels under the correct headings. This is made more complicated because each team only has one half of each label. Set a time limit for the task to be completed (maybe 5 minutes).

One person from each team can go up to the board at a time, with half a label. They can talk to each other and discuss if they think the combined label is correct, and where it should go. If it is

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not correct, they have to go back and sit down, and two different people go to the board with two new label pieces. Keep going until the teams are satisfied that all labels are complete and correct. At the end ask the two teams how they felt about the activity. Explain that there is no winning team, because the idea was that they had to co-operate together to achieve a result - they are all winners! Check if the labels are correct, and briefly go over the main differences between the two types of businesses.

Labels: (Private) • Owned by individual people or companies • Purpose is to make money for shareholders • Investors have one vote per share • Decisions made by board of directors (Co-operative) • Owned by members • Purpose is to serve needs of members • Investors all have one vote • Decisions made by members and their representatives Circletime Discussion Points: What are the benefits of working in a co-operative way?

What are the drawbacks?

What would the world be like if everyone worked co-operatively?

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Debt and Aid Session Themes: Global Issues Introductory Game: Space on my Right

Duration: As long as you like

How to play: Players stand in a circle with a gap. The person to the left of the gap says “There’s a space on my right and I’d like to fill it with (name of other player”. The named person crosses the circle to fill the gap. This leaves a space on someone else’s right, so the game continues.

Activity: Understanding Aid and Debt Simulation

Duration: 55 minutes

What you need: Scrap paper, scissors (optional), pen and paper, timer, drawing paper, crayons/ coloured pencils, a map or globe (optional), a dictionary (optional) What to do: Start a discussion about aid, using the following questions as prompts: • What does the word 'aid' mean? Explain that it is a word meaning 'to help'. You could look it up in a dictionary. You can also use other terms such as 'first aid' to help with understanding of the word.

• Can you think of a time when you needed help for something? What did you need help for?

How did you feel needing that help? (Encourage discussion around good and bad feelings).

• What kind of 'aid' is available to people in your country? To people who are unemployed, ill, cannot pay rent, want to study, have children, are getting old...? At different times in our lives and for people in different situations, 'aid' or 'assistance' is needed.

• Some countries also need help like this. 'Aid' can be money given to poorer countries by rich countries.

Ask: Why do you think rich countries give money to poorer countries? After some brief responses, introduce the fact that rich countries also 'take' from poorer countries.

Explain some examples: • Through history (use 'colonialism' if this will help), where rich countries take the resources of poor countries while controlling them.

• Trade - where poor countries are made to trade in a way that keeps them poorer, selling their goods for a very low price.

• 'Tied' aid – where a country gives, say 100 million pounds but then 70 million pounds of that has to be spent on things that are sold by the donor country, often including weapons. • Repaying debts – rich countries make money from loans to poor countries by charging interest on repayments. (The concept of interest can be easily explained: if you want to borrow ten pounds because you need it now, I might ask you to pay me £13 next month, so that I can 'make' 3 pounds. That is my payment for lending you the money).

Ask if this information surprises the group. Did they realise that rich countries also gained things from poorer countries? Do they think this is fair? Explain that countries that are richer tend to be on the top half of the globe (the North) and that poorer countries are often in the South. Ask the children to draw a picture to represent the differences between rich and poor. One way is to use a large piece of paper, the top representing a rich country and the bottom representing a poor country. Then draw arrows from North to South, one up and one down. On the arrow ‘down’ you can put ‘aid’ and on the arrow ‘up’ where the South is giving to the North you can include ‘tied’ aid (e.g. money for products and services from the country giving aid), debt repayments, and low prices for sales of goods to the rich country. Draw pictures to illustrate these things.

Tell the children that sometimes countries and international organisations don’t just give poor countries money, they loan it to them, but then make it difficult for those countries to repay it.

Explain that the group has been lent £1000. You need to earn money to repay it, by making paper

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spirals. For each spiral made you will earn £1. If the money is not repaid by the time limit (1 minute) interest will be charged of £200, and so on every minute.

The leader should be the timer, and keep a running chart with four columns: Total debt; Money earned (-); Interest added (+); Total still owed.

Start a new row for each round, writing in the new ‘Total debt’. When the timer is stopped, ask one person to collect and count all the spirals made, and give them to the leader.

(You make a spiral by cutting (or tearing) a circle out of paper. Then carefully cut it by going in from one edge and following the circle around and around until you reach the centre, forming a spiral.) Keep the game short – the aim is to convey quickly how debt repayments can soon get out of control. Play 3 or 4 rounds, then end the game and announce how much debt is still outstanding. Participants may say it is unfair, impossible, etc. Use these responses to debrief at the end and explain about the debt situation for many poorer countries.

Many of them really face a situation like this where they cannot earn enough money to repay the debts that they owe. They have to focus all their attention on repaying their debts, which means other things like education and health care get neglected. The solution to the problem would be cancelling all unpayable debts to give these poor countries a new start.

Circletime Discussion Points: As you have had a long discussion today, just end by asking the children how they feel about what they have learned.

Talk about countries being rich and poor in terms other than wealth e.g. natural resources, happiness and wellbeing.

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Fair Trade Session Themes: Global Issues Introductory Game: Fairtrade Fun

Duration: 10 minutes

What you need: CD or tape and something to play it on (optional), Fairtrade label from any Fairtrade product How to play: Explain that there are five different actions, depending on what word the leader calls out: • Banana (lie on ground in a curve) • Coffee bean (crouch down and jump up and down) • Tea (mime drinking a cup of tea) • Cocoa pod (get into groups of 3, two people hold hands, the third is the cocoa bean inside the pod) • 'Fairtrade' (everyone holds hands in a circle, and runs towards the centre - calling out 'Fairtrade'then back out) When everyone starts getting tired finish the game, and bring everyone together. Explain briefly that the crops they have been representing are all grown in poorer countries like Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Ghana. Often the farmers are not paid a very high price for their crops, but there is a system called ‘Fairtrade’ that means they get paid a fairer price. These goods are for sale in the shops, and you can recognise them by a special label.

Activity: The Banana Game

Duration: 45 minutes +

What you need: Flipchart or similar, pencils, paper What to do: Ask the children what they think the most popular fruit in this country is. The answer is bananas. Then ask if bananas grow in this country. Explain this means they have to be imported from other countries. Say that there are 5 main groups involved in growing bananas and getting them onto our supermarket shelves. They are: Workers; plantation owner; shipper; wholesaler; and supermarket. Have a quick discussion of the role of each of these groups while you write it up like this: Worker Plantation Owner Shipper Wholesaler Supermarket TOTAL Ask the group to divide into five. Then explain that each of the smaller groups represent one of the groups responsible for producing bananas. Ask them to make a list of all the things they would do, any dangers they face or costs they would have, and then ask them to decide, if a banana cost 30p in the shop how much of the 30p they think their group should get. Explain that they will have to try to convince the other groups how much they should set. You may find that the wholesalers need the most support in working out their role.

Once they are ready, ask each group to outline their responsibilities and say how much of the 30p

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they think their group should have. The total will be much more than 30p, so say they will now have to negotiate with each other to try to bring the total down closer to 30p or they will all lose out.

Give them a few minutes, and then find out the new amounts from each group, writing these up in the grid.

Then write up the amount each group would actually get if you bought a normal banana in a supermarket. These are: Workers 1p; Plantation owner 5p; Shipper 4p; Wholesaler 7p; Supermarket 13p. Discuss why this is and whether they think it is fair.

Ask if there are any other types of banana you can buy. When someone says Fairtrade, tell them the difference with a Fairtrade banana would be that the workers get 2p more per banana. So we have to pay 2p more, but that means the difference of the workers being able to feed themselves and their families, send their children to school and have enough left over to buy tools and equipment so they can keep making a living. You may also raise the environmental benefits of Fairtrade and its emphasis on co-operative working (See under Global Issues in Resources section).

Circletime Discussion Points: What can they do to get a fairer deal for workers?

What other Fairtrade goods are available?

Resources: See links under Global Issues in Resources section.

Tip: You may want to time this with Fairtrade Fortnight which is usually at the beginning of March.

You could extend this to two sessions on Fairtrade by doing a Fairtrade survey of a local shop and/ or bringing in examples of other goods.

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Peace and Conflict Session Themes: Global Issues, Understanding Ourselves Introductory Game: Peace Words

Duration: 10 minutes

What you need: List of words (below), large smiley and unhappy face pictures (optional).

How to play: Introduce the session by explaining that you are going to be learning about conflict and peace. This means times when people are fighting, and times when people are getting on well. Explain that for this game, one end of the room is for all the happy words linked to peace, and the other end is for all the bad words linked to conflict. Ask the group to run to a different end of the room according to whether each word you read out is about peace or conflict (you could put a picture of a smiley face at one end of the room and an unhappy face at the other end). Get everyone back into the middle after each word. Ideas of words to read out are: Fighting; friendship; gun; killing; holding hands; bullet; shooting; laughter; having fun; getting injured; bullying; feeling safe; smiling; making up; war; happiness.

Activity: Resolving Arguments

Duration: 45 minutes +

What you need: Large piece of paper, drawing paper and pens What to do: Ask the group to close their eyes and think about a time when someone they knew argued with someone else. Ask them to think about how they felt when that person was quarrelling. Sit in a circle and pass the sentence: ‘When I saw someone arguing I felt...’ Each person around the group completes the sentence. Where someone repeats something said before (which will happen) they change places with that person.

Now ask the group to think about a time when they had an argument with someone. Pass the sentence: ‘When I had an argument I felt...’ Repeat the same place-swapping process.

As a whole group ask people to call out the different ‘feeling words’ they used. You can write them on a large piece of paper. Are there similar types of words? When do we use these words? Are some of them opposite to each other?

Read out this short story: One day in Max and Daniel’s class there was a new activity to do with a machine that recorded sound. Both of them wanted to use it first. They started to argue, and ended up fighting over who should go first. Max pushed Daniel who fell onto the machine and it got damaged.

Ask the group to imagine they are Max. Pass the sentence: “If I were Max I would...” Encourage them to think about saying sorry. Why is it important? Ask them to speak in pairs and tell each other a time when someone said sorry.

Discuss simple ways that people can stop big arguments (e.g. suggest you talk about it later, count to ten, keep calm, apologise). It is important to say you are sorry after you have upset someone, and show that you mean it. How can you show it? You can do this by smiling, playing with them again, saying you won’t do it again, asking how they feel, hanging around with them, sharing something with them and acting normally around them.

Ask - Have you ever had to help to sort out a quarrel between your friends? How did you do this?

What did you say?

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Arguing or fighting between people is a personal thing but there are also times when big groups of people and even countries argue or fight. If we want the world to be peaceful we should set an example by trying to ‘keep peace’ in our everyday life.

Ask the children to draw a picture of two people arguing and write what the quarrel was about and write underneath a simple piece of advice for how to make up after a quarrel.

Circletime Discussion Points: Ask each of the children to tell the rest of the group about their picture.

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Prisoners for Peace Session Themes: Peace, Global Issues Introductory Game: Disconnect

Duration: As long as you like

How to play: An area of the room is chosen as a base. One or two people are chosen as ‘it’. People who are ‘it’ have to chase the others to catch them. People are caught when ‘it’ tigs them three times in quick succession, calling “One, two, three, connect”. Those caught have to go and wait in the base area. Other players are able to go into the base area and free them by tigging them three times and calling, “One, two, three, connect”. Change those who are ‘it’ frequently.

Activity: Making cards for Prisoners for Peace

Duration: 1 hour +

What you need: Card, scissors, glue, pens, material for decorating cards such as cotton wool/ glitter/tissue paper, several photocopies of War Resistors’ International prisoners for peace honour roll (see link in Resources section), A5 envelopes ready-addressed to the prisoners (their addresses are given on the honour roll), pictures and some background information on famous people who have been in prison (see links in Resources section), something to play music on, music What to do: Begin with a discussion about famous people who have been in prison for actions they have taken for peace such as Rosa Parks, Mohandas Gandhi, Emmeline Pankhurst and conscientious objectors who are not so well known. Also talk about what the children think life is like in prison.

You may want to try this activity near to the 1st of December, which is Prisoners for Peace Day. The children can then each make a card to send to a prisoner on the Prisoners for Peace list. They then choose one of the ready-addressed envelopes and write a message in their card, something like ‘Thinking of you on Prisoners for Peace Day’ or ‘We are working for peace in Woodcraft’. Remind the children that these are not Christmas cards and that some people do not celebrate Christmas.

Have the children sign the card, put them in the envelope and write their name and address clearly on the back (the cards won’t be delivered without this, but check you have the permission of the parents before adding the children’s address). One of the adults should then undertake to post the cards and reclaim the expenses.

Circletime Discussion Points: As you have started with a discussion, you may just want to end by playing some music or a peace song, and having the children sit quietly and think about their prisoner for peace.

Resources: See links under Peace in the Resources section.

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Trade Justice Session Themes: Global Issues Introductory Game: Making Up the Rules

Duration: 15 minutes

What you need: A ball How to play: Most of the group will play a game of catch, throwing a ball around between members of a circle. Three people will form a panel that is making up the rules. They can add new rules and change rules as the game goes on. They should call out the new rules, and everyone should obey them. The only thing they cannot change is that all players must stay in the circle.

It can be useful to have one adult out of the circle to throw the ball back in. Here are some suggestions for rules: Everyone must sit down; put one hand behind back; sing; throw with left hand; throw to person on their right; call out a country when they throw.

End the game, and ask the group how it felt for other people to keep making up new rules? How did it feel to not be in control? Why should those 3 people be allowed to change the rules?

Explain the point of the game was to understand how it feels when you do not get a say in the rules, but you have to obey them. This is how it can feel for poor countries that have to obey rules made up by rich countries. For example at WTO (World Trade Organisation) meetings the rich countries have a lot of power, and they manage to influence the decisions that are made. Poorer countries can often not even afford to send a representative to the WTO meetings, so they do not have a voice. They still have to obey WTO rules, even if the rules are likely to have a negative effect on the poor countries.

Activity: The Trading Game

Duration: 50 minutes +

What you need: Paper (lined and plain), scissors, pencils, rulers, set squares, pre-produced paper money, sticky tack, A4 envelopes, a watch or clock.

What to do: Draw several shapes on two sheets of paper prior to the game, they should be the same shapes, and ascribe a value to each i.e. £50 or £100. Stick one of these sheets on the wall.

Make up several ‘country’ envelopes. These envelopes should contain equipment needed to draw and cut out the shapes, pens, scissors etc. Ascribe a country to each envelope i.e. USA, Malawi, and ensure the equipment in the envelope matches the wealth of the country. The UK may get scissors, pencils, paper, set square, whereas Uganda may have only some paper and a pencil. Try to ensure that when you are choosing countries, you do not choose a poorer country that any of the children feel an affinity to. In the two richest countries’ envelopes, place a note telling them that shapes made with plain paper are worth twice as much as those made with lined paper.

Tell the children that the game will be played in two parts, and the aim is to make as much money as possible. They will make this money by selling the shapes to you, the World Bank, but that the shapes must fit the template you have, which is the second sheet of shapes you prepared. Tell them they can only use the equipment in their envelopes, but they can trade these things with other countries if they wish.

Be prepared to have the children approach you re their lack of scissors, etc. Be firm and say they will just have to do the best they can.

When the children start to bring you their shapes, be harder on the poorer countries than the

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richer ones: you might accept shapes from the richer ones that are not quite right, but turn down those from poor countries. You should judge this by how the children are reacting and not push the children in the poorer countries too far. Praise their efforts when they do produce shapes.

Halfway through, stop the children and tell them the scores for each country to date, but tell them that you had to stop them right there because although the aim of the game is to make as much money as possible, they are not competing against each other. Explain that they are trying to reach a target, which you give them based on their current score, and they are only one-third of the way there. Say that they can continue to work in separate countries or they can work together, but it is the score of the whole group which is important.

They will usually, though not always, start to work together. If this happens, give them long enough to ensure they have reached the target working co-operatively. When you judge the time is up, stop them and say that while they tidy up you will add up the final score.

Circletime Discussion Points: Have a discussion about the disparity of equipment, the secret information and the approach of the World Bank. Ask how it felt. Then ask why they think the World Bank was nicer to the rich countries, explain that the rich countries fund the World Bank so can make up the rules. Underline that the poor countries worked just as hard, but were often taken advantage of by the richer countries, this point can particularly be made if a rich country has used the paper of a poorer one.

Tell the children their final score.

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Water Session Themes: Global Issues, Natural Environment Introductory Game: Fishes

Duration: 10 minutes +

How to play: Sit in a circle and allocate each child a fish – Cod, Haddock, Mackerel or Plaice. These names will then be called out (sometimes in groups) or “all the fishes in the sea” which means everyone in the game is to take part. Choose a caller who selects a fish or all fishes in the sea. The selected fish walk slowly around the outside of the circle. The caller shouts out commands such as: Whirlpool (spin), Sea’s Choppy (jump), Sea’s calm (walk), Sea’s rough (run), Tide turns (change direction). When “Fisherman’s coming” is shouted those who are walking have to run around the circle in the same direction and the last one back to their place is the new caller.

Activity: Water Use

Duration: 35 minutes

What you need: Water, bucket, litre bottle to demonstrate volume What to do: Have the children work out approximately how much water they each use in a day, then try to estimate how many buckets of water it would come to. Making sure they remember all the different ways you use water: Washing your hair; brushing your teeth; drinking; cooking your food; watering plants and the crops we eat; having a shower; flushing the toilet, washing your hands. Ask them to imagine having to collect all that water by hand.

The children should then try lifting a bucket full of water and seeing how far they can walk with it.

Use caution here as water is heavy. Demonstrate picking up properly by bending your knees.

Tell them that many women and children in poorer countries have to walk several miles every day just to collect water, because they do not have a tap or water pump near to their homes. In this country, people use an average of 135 litres of water a day, showing the children the litre bottle, whereas people in poorer countries use just 10.

Then read the children the story of Bhahkita from the first page of the UNICEF resource (see link under Global Issues in Resources section).

What things would they not have time to do if they had to collect all their own, and their family’s, water?

How can they reduce the volume of water they use?

Resources: See link under Global Issues in Resources section.

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Resources Communication Braille Alphabet http://calamitykim.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/15/braille_alphabet.jpg Sign Language http://www.royaldeaf.org.uk//images/quickguides/alph.gif Crafts Making Paper Aeroplanes http://www.paperairplanes.co.uk/planes.php Environment Bird Short Stories http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/bird-day/short-stories/index.html Endangered Species http://www.endangeredspecie.com http://www.worldwildlife.org/endangered Sea Creatures http://www.whale-images.com Global Issues Child Exploitation http://www.ilo.org/global/What_we_do/Events/Campaigns/lang--en/WCMS_009274/index.htm Fair Trade http://www.fairtrade.org.uk Story of Bhahkita http://www.unicef.org.uk/tz/resources/assets/pdf/assembly_sec_unicefbday_dec11.pdf UN Convention on the Rights of the Child http://www.unicef.org.uk/tz/resources/assets/pdf/wants_and_needs.pdf Healthy Living Healthy Living http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/healthy_living International Australia http://www.australianexplorer.com/australian_history.htm http://www.dfat.gov.au/aib/history.html http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aboriginal1.html http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/41/74/22617441.jpg

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Chinese New Year http://www.chinapage.com/newyear.html http://www.infoplease.com/spot/chinesenewyear1.html Malawi http://www.malawimacs.org/facts.htm http://goafrica.about.com/library/bl.mapfacts.malawi.html http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/media_30847.html http://www.scottishexecutive.gov.uk/News/News-Extras/Malawi-photgraphy Peace Prisoners for Peace Honour Roll http://www.wri-irg.org/co/01dec.htm Background on Rosa Parks http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4374288.stm Background on Mohandas Gandhi http://www.usnewslink.com/ghandi.htm Background on Emmeline Pankhurst http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WpankhurstE.htm Child Soldiers and Landmines http://www.childreninneed.com/magazine/violence.html Woodcraft Folk http://www.woodcraft.org.uk

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This blank session template is for you to record your own sessions. Once you have tried them please share them with other group leaders. In the future we hope to enable you to upload your ideas to the Woodcraft Folk website to inspire other leaders.

Name: Session Themes: Introductory Game:

Duration:

Duration:

What you need: How to play:

Activity:

What you need: What to do:

Circletime Discussion Points:

Resources: Tips/Variations:

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The next step By doing some of the sessions in this resource you will now have an understanding of how to run a typical elfin session, what might be needed and the kind of content covered. Hopefully it may also have sparked your own ideas for further sessions. We hope we can encourage you to develop your own sessions, based on The Woodcraft Folk’s aims and principles.

Here are some further topic ideas and themes you may wish to pursue.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Getting ready for camp A whole games session An open night or event – an end of term or year celebration A campfire songs session Beach or found object art Stereotyping A visit to one of our outdoor centres Getting in outside speakers / activities Linking with another Elfin Group (i.e. pen pals) Joining in more district / regional activities Preparing an article, picture, photos, or poem for your local Woodcraft Folk newsletter

Contacts Head Office Our UK headquarters, in South London, where most of our staff are based. info@woodcraft.org.uk 0845 458 9535 Unit 9/10, 83 Crampton Street, London SE17 3AZ. Gwerin Y Coed The Woodcraft Folk’s Welsh office gwerin@woodcraft.org.uk http://www.gwerin.org 0845 458 9560 Y Canolfan, Llanfrothen, Gwynedd, LL48 6LJ. Woodcraft Folk Scotland The Woodcraft Folk’s Scottish office scotland@woodcraft.org.uk 0141 304 5552 87 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 2EE.

Charity Number: 1073665

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The Woodcraft Folk Head Office Our UK headquarters, in South London, where most of our staff are based. info@woodcraft.org.uk 0845 458 9535 Unit 9/10, 83 Crampton Street, London SE17 3AZ. Gwerin Y Coed The Woodcraft Folk’s Welsh office gwerin@woodcraft.org.uk http://www.gwerin.org 0845 458 9560 Y Canolfan, Llanfrothen, Gwynedd, LL48 6LJ Woodcraft Folk Scotland The Woodcraft Folk’s Scottish office scotland@woodcraft.org.uk 0141 304 5552 87 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 2EE Charity Number: 1073665