Title of activity : Forest animals

Focus:  

1.       Self : relaxation

2.       Group:  teambuilding

3.       Community:  trash collecting

4.       Nature:  creative work

Learning objectives: 

1.       Concrete skills: cooperation, self confidence, build things from nature

2.       Knowledge: how to connect with ourself, how to manipulate with natural materials

3.       Attitudes: respecting the nature, having fun being close to nature, spending quality time in nature

Activity description:

1.       Warm up activity: self connection, relaxation, introducing ourselves.                           

Let's close our eyes and try to relax and connect with ourselves in a different way. All the movements that you do have to be on the spot, that is to say you have to stay in the circle all the time. 

I ask you to imagine that you are anywhere, you are a small being that has no limbs, like an earthworm, we move our body slowly as if we were moving.

Gradually it grows and becomes a snake, the movements are somewhat faster, if you want you can also make its noise. 

This snake becomes stronger and stronger and turns into a long snake, we move our arms and legs as if we were climbing up walls...

Now we change to be an elephant, this one walks slowly but stepping on the ground strongly.

We continue to evolve, now we have to feel like a monkey that is jumping and climbing trees to get its food....

After this journey, we breathe hard and expel the air we become human beings eager to begin our activity.

2.       Walking through the forest

Walk – stop activity with miming animals. 

We divided participants into two groups and each group got a paper with animal on it. The task of the both groups was to make a plan how to mimic the animal they got. Task for the other group was to guess which animal it is. And we repeated it twice. Also, both group should remember mimic movement of the animals because this was crucial for the next activity called Spring mating. 

The activity called spring mating was done by giving each of the participant paper with animal on it. The task for every participant was to make a mimic move (done by previous activity) and to find their couple (the person how made the same move as other participant). 

3.       Main activity – Creating picture with nature materials (20 minutes)

We divided participants into two groups. Dividing was done by a picking either a cone or either a stick (for each participant). Each participant should go around the forest and pick 5 cones (if they  were in cone group) or 5 sticks (if they were in sticks group). Each group could pick between three animals that we gave them (not saying which animal it is to the other group). The next task was to draw an animal that they choose and the other team should guess what animal is.

4.       Questions for debriefing 

4.1.    How do you feel now? (Arm scale)

4.2.    Which part of our work were you involved in the most?

4.3.    How much did you feel connect to the nature? And what are the reasons?

4.4.    What helped you to be creative and what disturbs you from being creative in nature?

 

5.       Materials – A4 pink paper (2x), trash bag, cones, sticks

6.       The space where it could be implemented – forest

Yes it is in the PIENAP/ Pieninsky national park as promised.

It is Pension NOVA, in Spisska Stara Ves.  penzionnova.eu

How to get there?  Exactly the same way as to „Kick off“ training but from Poprad (or potentially form Kezmarok) you will be on search for the bus direction Spisska Stara Ves, or Cerveny Klastor.

Get off at the main bus station in Spisska Stara Ves and walk 100m to Nova – pretty easy huh?

It is approximately 55min ride from Kezmarok and the ride has beautiful scenery around the way, so do not sleep it over  On the other hand, better be on search for early fights, as on Sunday the connections are generally much disperse.

 

We are sooo much looking forward to see you again and equally we are soo much looking forward to hear form your national team, who are the once coming to Slovakia in person again, or for the first time 

10 human participants and 1 hyperactive dog

The day began early in the morning as we gathered in the parking lot of Pontón de la Oliva, ready to start on our magical journey.

We were a diverse group, mostly IT students from the same school, some of whom were strangers to each other, along with a few friends of some of us. Interestingly, we had two Ukrainian refugees among us, who added a unique dimension to the group's mix. While most of us shared a love of the outdoors, hiking, mountains and nature in general, it was clear that some were not as accustomed to such adventures.

The route we chose was a 20 kilometer hike with 440 meters of vertical gain. It was filled with opportunities for conversation and interaction. To facilitate bonding and prevent anyone from feeling left out, we devised a game called The Killers. Each participant was assigned another member to kill, but only when both the killer and the target were alone or at a certain distance from the group. This ensured that no one wanted to be in groups smaller than three, which encouraged continuous engagement and interaction. We also included various conversational games to help us get to know each other better, as none of us knew more than four people in the group to begin with.

The hike itself was both enjoyable and challenging. The landscape that appeared in front of our eyes was amazing. Along the way, we encountered some language barriers due to the lack of a common language for all the participants. Surprisingly, this minor issue did not significantly impact on our enjoyment or communication, nature served as a bonding force, transcending language barriers. Even those who were not accustomed to such outdoor experiences expressed a desire to repeat the adventure.

At the end of the hike, some of us decided to extend the experience with an overnight stay. We searched a campsite that respected, not intruded upon, the harmony of nature. This choice was consistent with our shared values of preserving the environment and immersing ourselves in its natural wonders.

In retrospect, we concluded that some of the games we played would have been better suited for larger groups. Nevertheless, they achieved their primary goal of encouraging conversation and building connections within the group. We also had the opportunity to explore a cave, which required some climbing. It was during these moments that we truly felt the importance of supporting each other.

(I still have to upload the photos to instagram)

 

 

Scouts: A lot of Young people (14-18 yo)

- https://www.kreaktiva.hr/zavrseni-projekti/provedena-je-i-prva-aktivnost-u-sklopu-projekta-hikes/

- https://www.kreaktiva.hr/zavrseni-projekti/nastavlja-se-diseminacija-projekta-hikes/