The David Doig Foundation is pleased to continue its support of Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI). The grant will enable two teenage trainees to design and deliver an educational resource for children aged 7-12 years old. Two trainees will work together over a period of 12 weeks to design eight nature connecting games, all of which will be created for outdoor settings.
For example, to teach about the importance of bees as pollinators, The Bee Game is when the group role plays as a hive of bees with different roles such as queen bee, worker bee, and so on. The rules of the game mimic what happens in a real bee hive, the queen bee is protected by the workers for example and can't be tagged. The group members have to find a certain amount of "honey" in the game which again, mimics how much honey a hive of bees would actually need to survive the winter.
This way they are learning facts and empathising with the life of a bee whilst having fun. The trainees will trial the newly designed games with the existing 7-12-year-old groups at SCI, make any necessary changes and, once the games are finalised, put them together in an e-book which they will also design themselves.
The young adult trainees are in the best position to create the resource having spent 5 years in the woods, and experiencing first-hand what works, what is fun and connecting, and what is challenging. For the local teachers and schools, the project will be a welcome resource to help them increase their outdoor learning curriculum in a fun and exciting way and will also build confidence in the teachers to teach outside. The resource will also bring other groups such as Scouts and Beavers closer to nature in a fun and interesting way. They estimate 7,200 young people will benefit.
In terms of future development and sustainability, it is projected the games will be relevant for up to five years after the project is completed and they will use their database of primary school and community organisation contacts throughout Fife to make everyone aware of the new resource.
The two trainees originally started working with SSI when they were 12. They are a great example of how having the nature connection in their lives and a regular place of belonging and a community of safe, no judging peers can change lives. It’s a great success story that they are now moving on to support others.
