Over 200 students attended the Discover Bushcraft Session run over 4

days. The activities took place at Vogrie Country Park and Penicuik Estate. The P3 & P4 students came from 4 Midlothian Schools.

During the sessions the pupils and staff learned about the art of Bushcraft. Each student participated in 3 different activities. Firstly a fire lighting station – here they used a fire stick and lit a small fire, secondly a hammock station – this is where they learnt about putting up hammocks safely working together in pairs and thirdly an environmental art station – they read a book and made stick men models form natural resources.

The students had numerous opportunities to learn about; managing risk, to evaluate their work, to be inspired by a range of stimuli when working on art and design projects, to work and learn with others. It was no surprise the toasting of marshmallows was a big hit!

There are a few things students and school staff could do to develop their skills further –

(1) Have a look at this web site – www.owlscotland.org

(2) Think about attending Forest Schools training – a leaflet can be found here.

(3) The Outdoor Learning team regularly go into schools and provide Bushcraft sessions, if this is of interest please get in touch.

(4) Keep in contact about future Discover Bushcraft sessions

The pilot sessions were a great success. They provided an activity for a whole class and targeted a younger age group. It was experiential learning – which the students relished.