Elfin Bushcraft Way Education Pack

ELFIN BUSHCRAFT WAY EDUCATION PACK A Woodcraft Folk Resource

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CONTENTS Introduction 1

5

NATURAL HISTORY

1.1

Plants

1.2

Animals and Birds

10

1.3

Tracking

13

1.4

Wild Foods

16

1.5

Conservation

21

2 2.1 3

6

CRAFT Craft Creation

22

OUTDOOR LIVING SKILLS

3.1

Fire

26

3.2

Water

30

3.3

Shelter

38

3.4

Food

40

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EXPEDITION

4.1

Navigation

44

4.2

Live and Travel

45

4.3

First Aid

46

Useful Material

47

Please note: All activities and sites require a generic and site specific risk assessment to be carried out. A qualified first aider and relevant first aid kit should be present at all times.

All photography throughout this pack is credited to Kaz Bemrose.

Content by Brighthelmstone District.

Design by Dominic McCarthy and by Paul Herring at designimage.eu.

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INTRODUCTION elfin bushcraft way education pack You are encouraged to use this pack alongside the resources available in the secure area of thebushcraftway.co.uk. This handbook provides you with a tool to bring even more outdoor education to your groups and districts. You will find in this resource at least one programme session for each criteria set down on the Bushcraft Way website.

Some of the session plans require your groups to be outdoors, others do not.

Where possible we have suggested extension activities for the sessions.

In running these activities with Elfins, you will need to carefully assess the capabilities of your group in terms of age, motor skills and ability to follow instructions.

This handbook assumes you have a degree of knowledge or at least a willingness to either acquire it or find someone who does who can work with your group. Throughout the pack you will see reference to risk assessments­—site specific risk assessments are vital, but generic assessments of tools etc, should be more than adequate. There is a Woodcraft Folk Forest School Handbook available that will provide you with these and advice on lost children, health and safety etc. Please contact paul.bemrose@ntlworld.com for further information or check the national Woodcraft Folk website’s resource library.

This handbook would not have been possible without the support of the Big Lottery Fund who provided a grant to support the project.

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1 NATURAL HISTORY 1.1 plants Aim 1.1.1

To identify 15 common plants and trees.

Points

Access to Nature Detectives Website will help. This is an especially good game for Autumn.

Name

Plant Walk / Leaf Bingo.

Duration

½ hour upwards.

Resources ••Green area with trees ideal, but any environment with some trees and plants will do.

••Tree and plant identification sheets or books. These can be printed off from naturedetectives.org.uk. Also on this website are instructions on how to play Leaf Bingo.

What To Do

Divide group into small teams and issue them each with an identification sheet.

2. If you are walking, keep the group within visual distance of each other.

3. If you are static it is a good idea to set boundaries, possibly with flags.

4. Allow children time to go off and identify / collect as many different leaves as possible.

Try and discourage children from picking green leaves off the trees, use only what is on the ground, especially if you have a large group.

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1 NATURAL HISTORY 1.1 plants Aim 1.1.2

To identify 15 common plants and trees.

Points

Training in safe use of a bow saw is required for this activity.

Name

Leaf Presses.

Duration

1 hour.

Resources ••Bow saw(s).

••Wood with a diameter of around 10cm (not all leaves will fit in something this size, but most should) and a length of 1.5 – 2 metres. Ash, sycamore and hazel are good woods for this.

••Elastic bands or string.

••Felt tips or charcoal to decorate.

••A safe area indoors or outdoors for the sawing e.g. group night.

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What To Do

Depending on the size of your group ideally you will need to work in a ratio of 1:7 adults to children. Each group will have one bow saw and one piece of wood.

Instructions as follows: 1. Rest the piece of wood on something so one end is slightly elevated off the ground by about 30cm. If you are outside a crook of a tree is good for this. If you are indoors a piece of wood with a notch cut out will suffice.

2. You and one child will saw 2 x 1cm disks while all the other children are on the other (lower) end of the piece of wood kneeling or holding it down. This keeps them in one place and away from the saw.

3. The child sawing places both hands on the handle of the bow saw while you take the other end. You both need to be kneeling on the ground at opposite ends of the bow saw, far enough apart so the blade will not catch your legs.

4. Explain to the child that they only need to pull the saw towards them and that you will pull it back towards yourself. For extra stability and safety you will need to use the hand through saw motion (which should have been covered in your tool use training).

Also explain to the child that they must not reach down and pick up their disk from the floor until it is safe to do so, when the saw has been moved.

5. Rotate the children so the child who has just cut their two disks moves to the back of the piece of wood and the next child comes forward (they will have to all shuffle up to achieve this).

6. When all the children have two disks, put the saw away somewhere safe and they can now make their leaf press.

7. If you are in a hall, leaves could be brought in that have been collected over the week by yourselves and / or the children. If you are outdoors, or are in the park, you could then go for a short walk or look around for some leaves.

8. Use identification books or sheets to identify the trees the leaves came from.

9. Now write on the top disk of wood what the name of the tree is and the children can decorate the bottom disk with a picture, then secure the two disks together (with the leaf in the middle) with the string or elastic band.

10. If you have used pale wood you sometimes get an imprint of the leaf on the wood over time.

Extensions

After a few weeks when the leaves have dried you could spend a group night making your own tree identification book out of an old scrap book by sticking your dried leaves in and labelling them.

1 NATURAL HISTORY 1.2 animals and birds Aim 1.2.1

To identify 15 common animals and birds.

Points

This session is only really possible in the hall / classroom (group night) due to the difficulties in spotting animals and birds (especially with a large group of children).

Name

Mask Making.

Duration

1 hour.

Resources ••Books and / or identification sheets, or even old wildlife magazines.

••Mask templates pre cut to guide the children.

••Cardboard / paper.

••Decorations: Feathers, glue, pens, string, paint and any other art equipment you might have for decorating masks.

••Elastic.

••A safe area indoors or outdoors e.g. group night.

What To Do

Extensions

Have some books or identification sheets out so the children can familiarise themselves with various birds and animals.

2. Allow each child to choose a bird or animal that they want to make (try to have a good selection).

3. Each child can now gather the colours and textures for the mask of the animal they are going to make.

4. Make masks.

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To further this activity you could ask each child to find out five facts about their animal or bird to share with the group.

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1 NATURAL HISTORY 1.3 tracking Aim 1.3.1

To recognise track families.

Points

Because of the difficulties in finding animal tracks and sign in the wild this is best taught at group night, but is an excellent skill to then take out into the woods.

Name

In The Hoop!

Duration

30 to 45 minutes.

Resources ••A safe area indoors or outdoors e.g. group night.

••An understanding of digitigrades (animals that walk on their toes e.g. dogs / cats), plantigrades (animals that walk on their feet e.g. humans, mice, hedgehogs) and ungulates (animals that walk on their nails (hooves) e.g. horses, cows, goats, pigs, deer).

This information can be found in books or on the internet, but, like the resources, can take time to put together.

••Three hoops or baskets, labelled ‘Digitigrades’, ‘Plantigrades’ and ‘Ungulates’.

••Pictures of different animals (ranging from humans down to mice) and pictures of tracks (footprints) laid by those animals. You will need one set of pictures for every team. It will help you to be able to tell which pictures belonged to which team by numbering each set of pictures i.e. for group 1 all pictures are all labelled ‘1’, and so on.

••A good resource for pictures is naturedetectives.org.uk.

What To Do

Extensions

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You will need to have information on the walls explaining the meanings of digitigrades, plantigrades and ungulates.

2. Split children into groups and allow them to take in the information around the walls.

3. On the floor lay down all your various pictures of animals and tracks in their groups.

4. Instruct the children to match the animals to the correct hoop and also try to put in the correct animal track as well.

5. When all teams have finished matching animals and tracks to hoops, go through with the group and see how they have done. Discuss why animals were put in certain groups to increase learning.

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Take a walk in the local woodland and see if you can find any animal tracks, and try to identify what made them. Damp, slightly muddy ground is good for this.

1 NATURAL HISTORY 1.3 tracking Aim 1.3.2

Recognise feeding signs and droppings.

Points

This is really only an activity that you can do outdoors with a good field guide or identification sheets. The Field Studies Council has some very good ones, but you have to buy them. So here is a fun indoor, group night activity.

Name

The mole who knew it was none of his business ‘(a book) role play’.

Duration

1 ½ hours.

Resources ••A safe area indoors e.g. group night.

••The book ‘The mole who knew it was none of his business’.

••Enough paper / card and pens so each child can make a basic mask so all the characters in the book are covered.

What To Do

Extensions

Allow the children to make a simple animal mask using the card and pens.

2. Make sure there is at least one mask for each character in the book.

3. Read the story to the children with as much explanation as your group requires.

4. Get the children to act out the story with their character masks on.

5. Don’t forget to make ‘the business’ for the mole’s head!

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If you do buy a pocket identification guide or the FSC sheets then it is a great outdoor activity to have a walk through your local woodland looking for signs of feeding and droppings. The advantage of this activity with a younger group is that you are not actually trying to see the animals themselves, which can be impossible due to the noise levels of excited children! The obvious ones to look out for are the different ways that pine cones have been eaten, owl pellets and deer tears on branches.

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1 NATURAL HISTORY 1.4 wild foods Aim 1.4.1

To identify five common edible wild foods.

Points

Some edible plants look very similar to poisonous ones. Misidentification of wild food is obviously very serious, and this session should only be carried out by someone competent in the field of plant identification and edible plants.

Be aware of the issues of collecting wild food around intensive dog walking areas, or areas used for livestock, or intensive agriculture.

Name

Wild Cooking.

Duration

1 hour for each wild food.

Resources ••An outdoor area with the food you need to collect within it.

••Permission to light a fire if heating is required, or permission to use a camping stove.

••Identification books.

••Recipes can be found online—try looking for elderflower cordial, nettle soup, pine needle tea, burdock roots, plantain roots, but also look around at what is available to you, and research what is possible.

••Gloves if collecting thorny / stinging plants.

••Bags / pots to collect food.

••Firewood and safe fire site or stove and pots / pans / utensils.

••Bowls and spoons for soups, cups for cordial, etc.

What To Do Extensions

Collect food and cook according to your recipe.

Collect samples of your food-plants and press them at group night, creating your own scrapbook / knowledge base of wild food.

For experienced foragers, keep a wild food diary through the year, taking the children out once or twice each season to find what’s available, and write up your findings the following week.

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1 NATURAL HISTORY 1.4 wild foods Aim 1.4.2

Conservation issues for wild foods.

Points

Some edible plants look very similar to poisonous ones. Misidentification of wild food is obviously very serious, and this session should only be carried out by someone competent in the field of plant identification and edible plants.

Be aware of the issues of collecting wild food around intensive dog walking areas, or areas used for livestock, or intensive agriculture.

Name

Conservation Game—Understanding Your Local Environment.

Duration

Up to 30 minutes.

Resources ••You should know what plants you are hoping to collect for your wild food cooking, so you can discuss specific issues around those plants.

••You will need to research key plants you hope to use as wild food and know what direct effect you are having on your local ecosystem by eating that plant.

••You will need pictures of your wild food and animals / other plants affected by the loss of the plant you will be eating.

••Pens, paints and paper.

What To Do

Extensions

Introductory discussion about how some animals and plants rely on each other, and that some are so rare even if we can eat them, we shouldn’t.

2. Discuss the fact that some plants are protected by law.

3. Lay out the pictures of your wild foods and the animals / other plants they interact with.

4. Get the children to draw / paint a scene where the plants and animals involved are all included. For example a bee pollinating a flower, then making honey, humans eating honey, and so on. You can do one massive collage with all the children working on it, or each child can do their own, or work in small groups.

5. The children can discuss what they have drawn.

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Try playing the Web of Life game, described here, but including some of the wild food you have collected amnh.org/ology/features/stufftodo_bio/weboflife.php.

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1 NATURAL HISTORY 1.5 conservation Aim 1.5.1

To contribute to conservation.

Points

This is a subject that you can do endless activities with but for a group night session or outside in the woods this game really brings home the delicate structure of animal dependence on ecosystems and it is fun for the Elfins.

Name

The Web of Life Game.

Duration

45 minutes.

Resources ••A safe area indoors or outdoors where the group can sit in a circle.

••Knowledge of ‘The Web of Life’ game. If you do not know this game it can be found at amnh.org/ology/features/stufftodo_bio/weboflife.

••A strong stick for each child.

••A large ball of string.

••A piece of card for each child to have an organism name on it.

What To Do

Extensions

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Get all the cards that you need ready prior to the session. Then have the group sit in a circle, (not too close together).

2. Follow the game session from the link provided. It is even more effective if each child holds a stick and when the ball of string is thrown to them they wrap the string around their stick before it is thrown to the next person / organism.

3. During the story if they are told that the tree has been felled then all the trees let the tops of their sticks fall into the middle of the circle.

4. This creates a very visual image for the children to see how the ecosystem can be affected by just one action and how catastrophic the knock-on effect can be.

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Endless! Even at Elfin age you could get involved in a local nature / conservation project.

You could contact your local Wildlife Trust to see if they have or know of any projects running. Find their branch locator at wildlifetrusts.org.

2 CRAFT 2.1 craft creation Aim 2.1.1

To gather and prepare materials from a sustainable source.

Points

When trying to source resources for this project you need to bear in mind that it is illegal to fell saplings without the land owner’s permission and that some sites are protected by law and carry a threat of prosecution. Although you can go into a woodland and get debris litter to form a ‘natural structure’, this activity involves felling saplings and the relevant safety and training with tools needs to have been carried out prior to running this session.

You also need to have or gain knowledge of how to fell small trees / saplings if that is what you are going to do.

Name

Resource Collection.

Duration

1 hour.

Resources ••Permission to access a woodland and take materials already felled or permission to access and fell a woodland that has the relevant materials.

••A small lockable folding pruning saw, ideally a Bahco Laplander. One per adult supervising the felling.

••A bowsaw, one per adult supervising the cutting up of felled wood.

••At least two hard hats (if you are felling).

••Possibly a map of the area you are going into if you are not familiar with it.

••Secateurs.

••Something to carry the smaller pieces of wood in.

••If you don’t know a landowner with a woodland, here are some organisations you can contact to collect timber that has already been felled: The Forestry Commission, The County Council Ranger Service, The Wildlife Trust, The National Park Authority.

••Basic information about coppicing, its benefits and how it makes wood collection sustainable can be found at coppicing.com.

••Apart from hazel, the other wood that is commonly coppiced is chestnut and sometimes willow. Sycamore grows like a weed and a lot of conservation organisations are happy for saplings to be felled.

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What To Do

Extensions

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Gather your group and head into the woodland.

2. Make sure you educate your group about sustainable resourcing of wood, i.e. coppicing and all of the benefits this brings to a woodland.

3. If you are using resources that have already been felled, have information from the organisation who felled it as to why those particular trees have been felled and not others and what is the ‘bigger picture’ of the project.

4. You will need to fell or look for wood that has a diameter of about 7 – 10 cm.

5. Allow your group to fell the saplings using a ‘gob cut’ or a ‘step cut’ and explain to the children why you are using these cuts. They can take it in turns to do a cut each, so three children for each cut.

6. Always adhere to safe practice with the rest of the group being in the safe area when felling is taking place.

7. When cutting up the felled or already cut saplings to a manageable size, always use the hand over blade method to cut the wood, with the end being cut raised off the ground by resting it in the low down crook of a tree or similar.

8. You need to keep each piece around one and a half metres long for the activity in the next session.

9. Always make sure that any child with a saw has the supervision of an adult who knows what they are doing.

10. If you have one adult then the group stays as a whole, if you have two adults then the group can split into two (etc.) but always be aware of the position of the other groups around you, especially when felling.

11. Always make sure that the children know they cannot start to fell a tree unless it has been correctly identified by the group / adult as an acceptable resource: the last thing you want to happen is to discover a felled oak sapling!

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It may be possible to get involved in a tree planting scheme locally—you may get this information from the organisations mentioned above and you can link this in with conservation and ecosystems.

2 CRAFT 2.1 craft creation Aim 2.1.2

Make and present chosen craft item.

Points

You need to have appropriate safety and tool use training to carry out this activity.

Name

Woodland Name Disk.

Duration

1 hour.

Resources ••A safe area indoors or outdoors where the group can work at a safe distance apart with the saws.

••Lengths of green wood about 7 – 10cm in diameter and about 1.5 metres long, felled or collected from previous session.

••One saw per adult supervising the cutting of the wood, preferably using a bow saw.

••Some lengths of elder (not really new growth).

••A couple of pairs of secateurs.

••A ball of non itchy string.

••Some thin metal tent pegs.

••Plenty of felt tip pens.

••A couple of bit and brace drills (the drill bit needs to be around 6mm).

••Trees with a low crook (if outside), enough for each piece of wood.

••Pieces of wood with a notch cut out (if inside), enough for each piece of green wood.

••Thick disks / pieces of wood for drilling onto (enough for each bit and brace drill).

••Sawing blocks.

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What To Do

Extensions

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Sort children into groups so they all have an adult supervisor who knows what they are doing. You need to position each group with a bow saw and a sawing station. If you are outside, a crook of a tree is good for this. If you are inside, a piece of wood with a notch cut out will suffice.

2. You and one child will saw a 1cm wide disk of wood while all the other children are on the other (lower) end of the piece of wood kneeling or holding it down. This keeps them in one place and away from the saw.

3. The child sawing places both hands on the handle of the bow saw while you take the other end. You both need to be kneeling on the ground at opposite ends of the bow saw, far enough apart so the blade will not catch your legs.

4. Explain to the child that they only need to pull the saw towards them and that you will pull it back towards yourself. For extra stability and safety you will need to use the hand through saw motion (which should have been covered in your tool use training).

Also explain to the child that they must not reach down and pick up their disk from the floor until it is safe to do so, when the saw has been moved.

5. Rotate the children so the child who has just cut their disk moves to the back of the piece of wood and the next child comes forward (they will have to all shuffle up to achieve this). When all the children have cut their disks put the saw cover on and put the saw out of reach somewhere safe.

6. Get out the sawing blocks and get the children to drill a hole over to one side of their disk. Get them to queue up and work one at a time. You can help them with this by holding the top of the drill and the disk and they can put one hand on top of yours and turn the handle of the drill. Kids love this part of the activity.

7. When they have gone all the way through their disk you will feel it lift slightly off the block and you can tell them to stop turning the handle.

8. When they have drilled their hole they can then go and find a small stick to clear out the sawdust from the hole and then decorate their disk. They can put their name on one side and a woodland picture on the other.

9. When the children have all done this you can give them all a piece of string and show them how to ‘lark’s foot’ the string through the hole. With the supervision / help of an adult get each child to cut with the secateurs at least two pieces of elder about 2cm long.

10. Leaning onto the drilling block, use the tent pegs to push the pithy centre out of the middle of the elder. These can be added as beads either side of the disk as extra decoration and to finish just tie the two string ends together.

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There are other activities you can do with these tools and materials, some as simple as this one and others a little more challenging. You can make spinning tops and string spinners and make insects like snails etc by cutting disks of different sizes to make the shell etc.

3 OUTDOOR LIVING SKILLS 3.1 fire Aim 3.1.1

Demonstrate an awareness of appropriate fire use and fire sites.

Points ••This activity should take place at camp.

••You need landowner permission to light fires.

••This session should be followed by 3.1.2 immediately, as they are directly linked.

Name

The Right Fire Game—A Camp Activity.

Duration

2 – 3 hours.

Resources ••Access to a wooded area to collect dead wood.

••Some training in appropriate / safe fires and fire sites is required.

••Some pre-selected wood is required to demonstrate the key fire lays and fire building skills.

What To Do

Extensions

Show how to protect the ground from scorching—for example clearing the ground, cutting a turf pit, using corrugated iron.

2. Show how to build, start and maintain a fire making sure you collect all resources before hand.

3. Build the following two fire lays just with wood—do not light them: • Star fire.

• Upside down fire.

4. Describe / discuss what they are appropriate for and how they work.

5. Show and discuss clearing fires away and leaving no trace.

6. Get the children to go off and collect resources in groups, and come back to build a fire, saying what they want the fire for and discussing how hard it is to find the right amount of the right materials.

7. It’s a good idea to put the wood collection in the middle for the session, and to keep the theory to a minimum at Elfin age.

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Move onto 3.1.2

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3 OUTDOOR LIVING SKILLS 3.1 fire Aim 3.1.2

Build and light a fire.

Points ••This activity should take place at camp.

••You need landowner permission to light fires.

••This session should be preceded by 3.1.1 as they are directly linked.

••Refer to your risk assessment for fire, however you must keep the fire site clear of trip hazards, etc. Also have a clearly marked no go area around the fire.

••Elfins are too young to maintain a camp fire unaided once it’s under way unless they are very closely monitored—consider handing over control to an adult, or arranging the maintenance in pairs.

Name

Build and Light the Camp Fire.

Duration

2 hours.

Resources ••Access to a wooded area to collect dead wood.

••Some training in appropriate / safe fires and fire sites is required.

••You will need a spade to cut a fire pit, or some corrugated iron / other base to protect the surface.

••A method of fire lighting.

••A bucket of water in case of burns.

What To Do

Extensions

Collect the materials required to build, start and maintain the fire.

2. Build an upside down fire.

3. Light and maintain the fire.

4. Clear the fire site.

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Look at the wild food section of the Bushcraft Way and consider building a star fire for that activity.

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3 OUTDOOR LIVING SKILLS 3.2 water Aim 3.2.1

Be able to find a water source by digging.

Points

Poisonous plants such as Hemlock Water Dropwort can taint your water supply and make it dangerous to drink. Have a good look around for poisonous plants.

Pick a site that is likely to be as clean as possible, for example avoid areas of intensive livestock or other agriculture where faeces and pesticides may be an issue.

It’s a very good idea to check this works before taking the Elfins out, as sometimes the search for water can take time.

Name

Dig For Water.

Duration

45 minutes to 1 hour excluding any walk in and out.

Resources ••Access to a stream bed that has temporarily dried up, or is running very low, or any boggy area of ground.

••A digging stick.

••A cup / bottle to collect water in.

What To Do

Extensions

Before you get digging, discuss using wild water and explain that in the UK it is generally not considered safe. So this session is part of a longer set of activities which will teach them about making water safe.

2. Discuss the best places to find water under the ground that you can get to.

3. To demonstrate simply dig through the soil / mud up to a foot deep with a tough stick and your hands until water starts to fill the hole­—as noted above, make sure you have tested this beforehand.

4. Get the children into small groups and get them picking their sites and digging.

5. Bottle the water—small bottles are fine.

6. Take the bottles back to a group discussion and look at how clean the water looks, briefly mention again how the water needs to be made safe to drink and that drinking it now could make you ill.

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Move onto 3.2.2 and 3.2.3.

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3 OUTDOOR LIVING SKILLS 3.2 water Aim 3.2.2

Water filtration.

Points

Poisonous plants such as Hemlock Water Drop can taint your water supply and make it dangerous to drink, have a good look around for poisonous plants.

Pick a site that is likely to be as clean as possible, for example avoid areas of intensive livestock or other agriculture where faeces and pesticides may be an issue.

Use the bottled water from 3.2.1 if you don’t want to go looking for a fresh source.

Name

The Clearest Water.

Duration

45 minutes to 1 hour assuming you already have the water from 3.2.1.

If not, add the walk in and walk out time, or run the whole session outside near the water source.

Resources ••Access to a water source or bottled water from 3.2.1.

••Water bottles to collect water in.

••Clear two litre bottles with the bottom 6 – 10cm cut off—do not discard the base.

••Filter materials, such as charcoal, sand, pebbles, grass, spaghetti, cloth and scissors, sponge, etc.

••Elastic bands.

What To Do

Extensions

It’s fun to muddy the water to be filtered even more than it already is, so feel free to get the children to chuck in some dirt.

2. Demonstrate building a filter by cutting some material, using an elastic band to secure it over the top of the bottle, having first removed the cap.

3. Then invert the bottle and drop layers of your filter materials into it, with the main theory being that the smaller the material, the lower down the bottle it will go, so drop the fine materials, such as sand, in first.

4. There are many examples of filters being demonstrated on YouTube, so have a look on there for inspiration.

5. Once you have your filter built, pour the dirty water from the bottles into the filter, holding the base of the bottle under the filter to collect your filtered water.

6. The water can drip slowly, and sometimes runs fast—discuss how good the filter is if the water is pouring through.

7. Explain that the filtered water is still not pure, as purification is still needed to kill organisms too small to see and be trapped by the filter.

8. Let the children build and test their own, encouraging learning about the best filters where results are good.

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If you have access to a Millbank bag, it is good to pour some of the water into this and show how clear water from a really good purpose made filter is.

Move onto 3.2.3.

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3 OUTDOOR LIVING SKILLS 3.2 water Aim 3.2.3

Water purification.

Points ••Poisonous plants such as Hemlock Water Drop can taint your water supply and make it dangerous to drink, have a good look around for poisonous plants.

••Pick a site that is likely to be as clean as possible, for example avoid areas of intensive livestock or other agriculture where faeces and pesticides may be an issue.

••So long as the filtered water in session 3.2.2 was fairly clear and from a relatively safe source, you could use that. However if you are uncertain or concerned, it is recommended to pre filter some ‘wild water’ through a Millbank Bag or other professional filtration system before the session ••Permission to light a fire if needed.

Name

Storm Kettle or Camp Fire Hot Chocolate.

Duration

45 minutes.

Resources ••Access to filtered water.

••Storm kettles or a kettle suitable for use on a fire.

••Filtered ‘wild water’.

••Cups, hot chocolate, spoon.

What To Do

Discuss ways of purifying water—chemical, ultra violet, boiling and the pros and cons of these.

2. Boiling on an open fire is the most environmentally favourable option, so using storm kettles or a small open star fire, built with wood collected by the children, boil the filtered water and make hot chocolate.

3. This is an excellent end to a chilly outdoor group night or at camp.

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3 OUTDOOR LIVING SKILLS 3.3 shelter Aim 3.3.1

Emergency shelter building.

Points

This is a great activity that allows the children to really get carried away with their imagination. It is a good idea, especially if you are in a public place, to set out boundaries for your group. They can do this themselves by you maintaining a central point and them going off two together in one direction with a piece of paper with STOP written on both sides. When you say stop they have to hang their sign on a twig or similar. Each pair of children will go in a different direction until you have a vague circle of stop signs around you. It is a good rule of thumb to say that the signs should not be more than visual or auditory distance away from the central point.

A good way to start the activity, while you are demonstrating making your own Wild Thing, is to tell the children that Wild Things are little woodland creatures that like to play in the forest when all the humans have gone home to bed. They like to do things like catch leaves that fall from the trees when it is windy or climb small trees and swing back down to the ground on a thin branch! Also think up a name for your Wild Thing.

They are very sociable creatures and will often visit each other’s homes at night time which is why it is nice to have a little community of blobsters all living close together!

Name

Wild Things and Their Shelters.

Duration

1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes.

Resources ••Access to any public woodland.

••Enough clay for each person to have an apple sized piece of clay. This can be clay dug from your garden if you are unlucky enough to have this soil type!

••Water and soap for hand washing.

••Your STOP signs.

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What To Do

Extensions

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Put out your stop signs.

2. Demonstrate with your piece of clay how to make a Wild Thing. This can be any shape and have any amount of accessories from the woodland floor to decorate it, including acorn cups, feathers etc.

3. Put your Wild Thing somewhere safe and then let the children go wild with their imagination; remind them not to go past the stop signs when they are collecting their decorations.

4. When they have all finished their Wild Things they need to put them somewhere safe where they will not be trodden on, maybe on a binbag or similar.

5. You can now demonstrate building a mini debris shelter for your Wild Things. This can be made only with things from the forest floor and it is very important to educate children not to pick living things for shelter building.

6. Let the children go off to build their Wild Thing shelters but re-iterate not to go past the stop signs.

7. While the children are building their Wild Thing shelters they can be thinking of a name for their Wild Thing and something they like to do at night when there are no humans in the forest!

8. When everyone has finished, go around as a group and let each child introduce their Wild Thing and its favourite night time activity.

9. Don’t forget to collect in your stop signs at the end of the session.

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An extension of this activity is for the group to build their own debris shelters. There are very specific ways to build debris shelters but kids are always happy to make up their own designs. If you let them do this, always make sure the structure is safe before you let them play in it.

3 OUTDOOR LIVING SKILLS 3.4 food Aim 3.4.1

Outdoor cooking skills.

Points ••This can be a continuation from the fire session at camp or on a group night if you have a venue where you can have a fire. Always make sure you have a fire blanket in your safety kit and a bucket of water nearby to cool a burn. Also make sure you have enough water to douse the fire afterwards so it is completely out. This will also allow you to clear the fire site in a ‘leave no trace’ condition.

••Please note that it is illegal to have a fire anywhere without the land owner’s permission.

••Also check if there are any allergies within your group.

Name Duration

Bannock Twisties.

1 hour.

Resources ••A site where you have permission to have a fire.

••A green wood stick for each child and adult in the group, the stick needs to be about 3 – 4cm in diameter and around 80cm long.

••Some kitchen roll.

••Two or three mixing bowls.

••Some self raising flour.

••Some milk powder or coffee whitener.

••Two or three wooden spoons.

••A few strong potato peelers.

••Extra ingredients like sugar, cinnamon, chocolate buttons, chilli and curry powder, sundried tomatoes etc. (Discuss with your group beforehand what they would like to add to their basic mix, each bowl grouping will need to want the same).

••Water for mixing, washing hands and putting the fire out.

••Soap for hand washing.

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What To Do

Extensions

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Get the fire going straight away so you can cook on the embers and not flame as this will burn the outside of the food and leave the inside raw.

2. Get each child to scrape off the end 15cm of bark from their stick with a potato peeler and keep them somewhere with the clean end off the ground. Always instruct the children to peel away from their bodies and never towards their hands.

3. Split the group into smaller groups. Each group will need some of the flour and milk powder / coffee whitener (this can be omitted if you have a child with a dairy intolerance).

4. Each group will also need a bowl, spoon and the extras they have chosen for their mix.

5. To make this activity inclusive to all the children, let each child put in two good handfuls of flour and one handful of milk powder / coffee whitener and add any extra ingredients the children have chosen.

6. Let them all take a turn at stirring the dry mix and tell them they can make a wish if they want to!

7. Add water to the dry mix to form a firm and pliable dough (this is the only bit that may need to be done by an adult).

8. Divide the mixture evenly between the group and don’t forget to include yourself (why should you miss out!).

9. Ask the children to roll their piece of mix into a sausage shape using their fingers and then wrap it around the clean end of their stick, flattening it a little as they go to ‘seal’ the seams.

10. You can then sit around the camp fire and hold the dough end over the embers, rotating as it cooks. When it has browned all the way around let it cool for a few minutes then place a piece of kitchen roll around the bannock twisty and turn as you pull it from the end of the stick. It should come off cleanly if it is cooked properly.

11. ENJOY, mmmmmm.

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Not so much an extension as an alternative. If you don’t have so much time or your group is not up to making their own pastry you can buy blocks of puff pastry and roll them out yourself into lengths to wrap around the end of the sticks. One block of puff pastry will feed eight children. Because you cannot add anything to this, when they have cooked and they are off of the sticks you can drop a couple spoonfuls of jam inside, yum!

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4 EXPEDITION 4.1 navigation Aim 4.1.1

Demonstrate a knowledge of map reading.

Points

If you are doing this in a woodland (for example) make sure each group of children has an adult with them (because by the nature of the game, they will have to go out of sight of other groups).

Name

Treasure Hunt.

1 – 2 hours, depending on numbers.

Duration

Resources ••Ideally an outdoor area big enough for the whole group, when split into smaller groups, to have a space big enough to hide their treasure out of sight of the other groups.

••Some treasure / goodies.

••Paper and pencils.

What To Do

Split your group into an EVEN NUMBER of smaller groups: four or five per group is a good number, more than this and their decision making can be impossible!

2. Each group needs an adult, unless the site you have selected has clear boundaries.

For example in a woodland it’s easy for the younger ones to wander off. Give one child in each group the pencil and paper.

3. In each group, pick a start point and mark a circle on the paper.

4. Pick a second point and send one child per group to it, counting their paces, then send a second and third child who will also count. Take the average number of pacings, draw a line between your start point and point two, and write how many paces it takes.

Draw point two on the paper. If it’s a tree, use a tree as a symbol; if it’s something else, pick an appropriate symbol so a map reader could understand what they’re looking for.

Try to get the line between the two points in roughly the right direction on the paper.

5. Repeat for ten pacings, trying to find different things to walk to and mark on your treasure map.

6. On the tenth spot, hide some treasure, and mark it on the map with an appropriate symbol! Treasure chest etc…

7. When all groups have mapped their area and hidden their treasure, pair the teams up, swap maps and send them on a treasure hunt! The hiders can stay with the treasure hunters if they want, but no clues!

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4 EXPEDITION 4.2 live and travel Aim 4.2.1

Demonstrate a knowledge of day hiking.

Name

Kit List.

Duration

45 minutes.

Resources ••You should have your day walking kit with you, packed away as you would take it.

This should roughly follow guidelines laid down in qualifications such as the Basic Expedition Leader.

••Pencils and paper.

What To Do

Extensions

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Ask the children to devise a list of things they’d take with them on a day hike (in groups or on their own).

2. When they are done, ask them what sort of things they put down and chat about them.

3. Then go through your day hike bag with them. Hopefully they weren’t far off!

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An alternative is to bring in a huge pile of stuff, in which is everything you need for a day hike and lots of useless stuff too. In teams get them to pack what they think they need.

Take them on a day hike­—you can start at 11, have lunch at 12, and finish at 2— they should still need all the same kit!

4 EXPEDITION 4.3 first aid Aim 4.3.1

Demonstrate a knowledge of dealing with common outdoor injuries.

Points

You need a first aider to oversee this session.

These first aid scenarios can be quite stressful for adults when going on first aid training, so make it fun. Usually even with adults there is a lot of laughing, but it’s nervous laughing, and they are learning how to deal with the stress of a first aid situation.

Name

Drama In the Woods.

Duration

1 hour.

Resources ••Plasters, bandages, cold water, cotton wool.

••Some face paints.

••A list of possible questions from the emergency services, roughly as follows: Are you safe? Could something fall on you? Is there something hot nearby?

Are you on road where a car might hit you? What’s your name? What’s the name of the person who’s hurt? What’s wrong with them? Are they breathing? Are they bleeding? Are they in an odd position? Where are you?

What To Do

Extensions

Mock up a small injury with some of the children—perhaps someone has fallen off their bike or tripped over a tree root, or perhaps they poured hot water on their hand.

The children can pick the injury. There might be more than one of them involved. Lead a discussion about what they would do if they came across the scene. Include how to contact the emergency services, the sort of things they will ask, and emphasise that they must be safe—if they get hurt by the same thing that hurt the first child, then they can be no help!

Ask for volunteers to approach the scene and see if they can help. All the children should have a go at dealing with situations; they can work as teams with one checking one casualty, one checking another, one talking to the emergency services (you) etc.

Repeat with other injuries and other people injured until end of session—sometimes these games will go on for hours.

Older / more mature Elfins are perfectly capable of remembering proper first aid protocols such as DRHAB (danger, response, help, airways, breathing) so training could be quite formal.

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USEFUL MATERIAL ‘Cooking in a Can’ by K L White.

‘Cooking on a Stick’ by K L White.

‘I Love my World’ by Chris Holland.

‘Sharing Nature with Children’ books 1 and 2 by J Cornell.

‘Hedgerow, River Cottage Handbook no.7’ by J Wright.

‘Go Wild, 101 Things to do Before You Grow Up’ by J Schofield and F Danks.

‘Nature’s Playground’ by J Schofield and F Danks.

‘Food for Free’ by R Mabley.

Various Collins Gem mini guides: trees, mushrooms, birds etc.

‘Creative Outdoor Work with Young People’ by Alan Smith.

‘The Survival Handbook’ by Ray Mears.

‘Bushcraft’ by Ray Mears.

‘The Outdoor Survival Handbook’ by Ray Mears.

‘A-Z of Bushcraft’ DVD (www.azbushcraft.com).

‘Bushcraft and Survival’ DVDs (www.bushcraftandsurvival.co.uk).

The early DVDs of Ray Mears – Extreme Bushcraft, and Bushcraft Survival Volumes 1 & 2.

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