The Green Light Trust strengthens communities by helping them establish and manage community woodland and WildSpaces. As part of that work they deliver interactive ‘Sensing the Wild’ workshops in schools, helping youngsters connect with the natural environment. These are particularly appropriate for very young children and older students with learning disabilities.

Their latest workshop, ‘Sensing the Icecap’ introduces children to the global warming debate in a way that is:

• Visual – they see the rising sun, antlers, moss and stones
• Auditory – they hear singing and quite literally, the call of the wild
• Sensory – they feel ice melting in their hands and can taste the cold
• Tactile – they wrap themselves up warm in deerskin and fur
• Olfactory – they smell the Arctic juniper berries

One workshop was delivered at the Warren School, Lowestoft. Here two groups, one group of older children with autism and a second younger group of more able students each worked with Green Light Trust facilitator Tracy Elster for 45 minutes. Tracy plays the role of an Inuit woman and introduces the children to her world. The workshop delivery is adapted to meet the specific needs of each group and links with the National Curriculum in Geography, Science, Literacy and Citizenship.

Teachers like these workshops because they:

• Stimulate and engage children who are very difficult to engage
• Provide an opportunity to observe students at work
• Introduces them to a very topical global issue

Children like these workshop because they are fun!

BWCF have made a contribution towards the running of these workshops in 2009.