Robin Grille

Sydney, Australia - Author, Psychologist and Psychotherapist

Workshop title: Accessing the Surprising Wisdom of our Inner Child (workshop full)

Child-rearing and education have evolved so much in recent decades! But even the most progressive and the most well-read amongst us have numerous blind-spots that block connection with our children.
Periodically, our best intentions as teachers and parents are overshadowed by our woundedness, and the subtle ways in which we re-enact themes from our past. How was authority modelled for us as children? What kinds of messages were we given about learning, study and work? Each time that children in our care trigger past difficult emotions in us, we are shown that part of ourselves that wants healing. These moments of conflict or impasse can be turned into life-transforming opportunities for our own growth.
Recalling how we once felt as children can be painful, but it brings us wonderful new depths of intuition about how to respond to our children's needs and how to read their often-baffling behaviours. Inner Child awareness helps us understand children from the inside.
The more we become conscious about the unhelpful old paradigms that still live inside us, the sooner we escape the traps we have set for ourselves and our children. Truth brings freedom and forgiveness.
In this interactive workshop we will look at a number of simple and safe ways to get to know our Inner Child better, how to use our childhood experiences (both painful and joyful) as teachers and guides, and how in truth: our children are educating us!

Personal Bio: Robin's experiential, skills-based and informational parenting courses have helped many people to embrace parenting as a transformative, personal growth journey. Drawing from 28 years clinical experience and from leading-edge neuropsychological research, Robin's seminars and courses focus on healthy emotional development for children as well as parents; while building supportive, co-operative parenting communities. Born in Uruguay, South America, into a multicultural family, Robin feels a strong affinity for a broad span of cultures, across the universal human family. His articles on parenting and child development have been widely published and translated in Australia and around the world. Robin's books - Parenting for a Peaceful World and Heart-to-Heart Parenting (now in German, Cantonese and Korean) - have received international acclaim and led to speaking engagements around Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, Canada and Indonesia. Robin's work is animated by his belief that humanity's future is largely dependent on the way we collectively relate to our children.

Celia Hogan

Christchurch, NZ - Little Kiwis Nature Play

Workshop title: Taking Tamariki Outdoors

During this workshop we will look at the practical side of taking a group of children outdoors and into nature. We will cover site assessment, boundaries and group management strategies, risk management, communication in the outdoors, rhythm of a session, roles and responsibilities and what you could take along to enrich their experience. We will use the Wild Woods to help us gain some practical experience and build some confidence in taking children on regular excursions.

Personal Bio: Celia Hogan believes the building blocks for thriving Early Childhood centres literally lie right outside. As a facilitator of outdoor and nature-based learning, Celia inspires early years teachers to look beyond the day to day challenges and find outdoor learning opportunities where kids can blossom. While investigating how nature sessions could work within preschools she found teachers really struggled to get off site with their children. With support and guidance their confidence grew, and she is now excited to be running professional development for nature educators in the early years. Celia originally studied outdoor recreation and adult education. For the past 20 years she has worked for a variety of outdoor education organisations internationally, setting up, developing and running outdoor programmes, wilderness expeditions, leadership development programmes and establishing risk management and safety systems. Now with two wild pre-schoolers herself she wants to share her passion for getting children outdoors and into nature.

Dani Lebo

Whanganui, NZ - Outdoor Educator and Teacher

Workshop title: Playing with Fire!

Participants will work through the benefits and risks of using fire with nature play groups as young as preschool aged - taking guidance from NZ standards and international literature. We will try our hand at making a fire nest, using flint to start a coal, and using a bow drill to start a coal. We will model safe fire set ups and safe fire practices with children. We will chat about native and non-native woods that can be used to make a fire using the bow-drill method.

Personal Bio: Dani Lebo is a dynamic educator and passionate community organiser. She has been an outdoor educator across a variety of settings for nearly 20 years - including therapeutic settings, school and adult groups, and guiding back-country expeditions. She brought her outdoor ed experiential teaching style into the classroom as a secondary school teacher in both NZ and the US. She holds a BA in International Intercultural Studies and Spanish and a Masters in International Education. She is currently studying her Graduate Diploma of Primary Teaching at Massey University and her second year of Te Reo Maori at Te Wananga Aotearoa. She currently runs The ECO School in Whanganui, NZ, alongside her husband, Nelson, and two children, Verti and Manu. They use their 5-ha learning farm as a setting to teach permaculture and forest schooling programs.

Te Puna Reo o Ngã Kãkano

Mahea Tomoana, Tania Gaffey, Wellington, NZ - Urban Kaupapa Mãori Educators

Workshop title: Ko wai au? Nõ hea au?

This year Te Puna Reo o Ngã Kãkano celebrates 10 years of discovering and strengthening connections.
We, the kaiako have committed ourselves to ongoing learning to deepen our knowledge base, our ako/pedagogy and our kaupapa as we provide a service to our hapori/community; allowing m?tauranga Mãori to blossom.
We would like to share the most recent years of our journey that has planted us deeper into our whenua, linked us more strongly with mana whenua, the history and special landmarks of our takiw?/area in urban P?neke.
Through our evolving sense of who we are as a puna reo, we make sense of the connections for tamariki from their own whakapapa to the centre pepeha and the relevance of these to their own identity.

Personal Bio's: We are an urban kaupapa Mãori early learning centre committed to supporting the revitalisation of te reo Mãori and fostering the connections for tamariki through whakapapa, natural environments and traditional practices.
As a presenting team we collectively have 35 plus years in ECE, 25 years in kaupapa Mãori education.
We have been involved in 'The innovative pedagogical approach' project. We are about to reflect at silver level as an Enviroschool and have staff representatives on advisory groups and as an advocate for StoryPark. As an active member in our Enviroschools cluster network and through other kaupapa and ECE networks we continue to share, to grow and to learn.

Pennie Brownlee

Thames, NZ - Author and early childhood educator

Workshop title: Drawing makes sense of the world

Whenever anything makes an impression ON human consciousness, it seeks expression BY human consciousness. This is the co-creative expression of consciousness. In this workshop we will explore our connections with the world of Nature through drawing. There is NO expertise required, honest. If you can hold a pencil or an oil pastel you are more than qualified to attend this workshop.

Personal Bio: Pennie's deep love and respect for the miraculous natural world has underpinned her five decades of teaching in the early childhood, primary and tertiary sectors. Self-employed, she offers day courses and residential courses for those who live and work alongside infants and children, with emphasis on the Culture of Kindness, Earth Education and Fostering Creativity. She is the author of three well-loved guides for parents and teachers The Sacred Urge to Play, Magic Places and Dance with me in the Heart.

Genevieve Simperingham

Ngunguru, NZ - Counsellor & Parent Educator

Workshop title: Maintaining balance to increase harmony and cooperation

Earth, water, fire and air; body, emotion, spirit and mind. This workshop will offer very practical ways to achieve greater balance and harmony through mindful respectful communication skills like active listening, problem solving, "I" statements, loving limits and more. As well as giving examples of the skills in tricky situations, participants will have the opportunity to discuss their challenges in small groups. In an educational system which has focused predominantly on the child's developing mind, it's important for educators to hold the space for growth and harmony on all levels for our tamariki. Teachers have great potential for developing resilience in children through maintaining a physical, emotional and spiritual space of harmony, care, beauty and nurturing which helps children return back to balance again and again as they learn and grow and overcome their frustrations and challenges.

Personal Bio: Genevieve Simperingham runs the Peaceful Parent Institute which offers seminars and eCourses for parents and educators, professional development for teachers, as well as one-on-one counselling and coaching. Genevieve, being one of 9 siblings, grew up on a 180 acre farm in rural Ireland, despite living in a very dysfunctional family, she found peace, excitement and healing in the natural world, and this has hugely influenced her work. Genevieve has facilitated hundreds of workshops and residential retreats over the last 26 years, a big focus of the retreats has been immersion in nature, mindfulness, eating wholesome vegetarian food and generally slowing down and regaining balance. Genevieve has a Diploma in Psychosynthesis Counselling, and is a Certified Aware Parenting instructor. She's a feature writer for The Natural Parent Magazine (NZ and Oz) and has a busy following of 88K on her Facebook page and blog.

Scott Duncan

Auckland, NZ - Head of Research, School of Sport and Recreation & Associate Director; Human Potential Centre AUT

Workshops title: Re-wild the child: What role do you play?

This interactive workshop will provide the opportunity for attendees to share and critically reflect on their own practices and experiences relating to risk and play. The three indicative topics below will be explored in small groups before being collectively discussed among all attendees. The goal of the workshop is for each attendee to learn from each other and discover new ways to sustain positive changes in their professional practice.
- Moving beyond impulsive risk avoidance: How do we balance benefits with risks?
- Pacifying parents: What happens when something goes wrong?
- Making it our problem: What clear steps are we going to take to trigger widespread change?

Personal Bio: Associate Professor Scott Duncan is the Head of Research at the School of Sport and Recreation and the Associate Director of the Human Potential Centre at AUT University. His work is based on the development and testing of new strategies to make kiwi kids active, healthy, and happy. He is currently involved with a number of school-based research projects, and enjoys speaking with teachers and parents about the challenges of promoting free play in a modern world. He is a father of three, husband of one, and sits on the Board of Trustees at Takapuna Primary School in Auckland.

Niki Buchan

Speers Point, NSW, Australia - Natural Learning Early Childhood Consultancy

Workshop title: Nature for Everyone, exploring Nature therapy

In this presentation we will explore well-being and the benefits Nature offers to all. Regular access to Nature and its elements should be the right of every child. The benefits of just BEING in a space where children are nurtured by Nature and by adults who care and understand what they really need, where every child is valued for who they are and where children can play freely, are crucial elements in promoting the health and well-being of all.
We will look at the practicalities in offering such a program, what it looks and feels like, what resources are needed and overcoming possible challenges. Niki will share a case study of an innovative Early Intervention program with a focus on Nature, Nurture and Play where children aged from 3 - 12 have benefitted and shown marked improvement in levels of anxiety, stress and behavioural issues. Being in Nature has a therapeutic value for all.

Personal Bio: With a biomedical background, Niki is originally from South Africa, lived in Scotland for many years and has been calling Australia home since 2011. She has a great love for the outdoors and has been working with both adults and young children in very consultative, naturalistic environments for 35 years. She is the author of numerous books including Children in Wild Nature.

Niki is a qualified Forest School Leader, helped to develop forest Nature Kindergartens in Scotland and was the Head of these until she was offered a position in Australia. She is recognised as one of the most experienced nature pedagogues, promoting natural learning and supporting others in creating and developing their own nature based practice models.

She works internationally as a conference keynote speaker, nature pedagogue, nature kindergarten facilitator, naturalistic playground advisor, international study visit facilitator, mentor, author as well as delivering a large range of professional learning opportunities on all aspects of early childhood education and care.

Dee Pignéguy

Auckland, NZ - Writer, researcher and organic gardener

Workshop title: Nurture the Child's Unique Nature Brain

The natural world can be a place for exploration and building a sense of wonder, confidence and creativity while developing the imagination. Dee's Nurture in Nature workshops help educators create an outdoors learning environment that fosters nature-based play and curiosity.
Dee will share fun, practical, hands on ideas and resources which will nurture children in nature's garden to show you how connecting with nature is not difficult, even in urban areas.

Personal Bio: Dee is an established author, workshop presenter and a former school teacher. She is a dedicated science champion helping to cultivate wonder in our world and pass on nature nouse to a new wave of mini-scientists. Read her well researched books especially Exploring Nature's Pattern Magic, Gardening for Planet Earth, Nature's Techno Tricks and Grow Me Well and you will find a series of books helping children and adults engage with nature.
Dee has been working with schools and kindergartens establishing gardens and presenting her Nurture in Nature workshops to help educators strengthen their connections to nature while exploring the links between nature play and brain development.
Her creative ideas can be used in any learning environment.

Tia Healey-Jellick

Kerikeri, NZ - Native Healing Herbals

Workshop title: Making Medicine from Nature

This workshop presentation will give you relevant and simple information to use at home and to empower all ages to take responsibility for their own health and well-being and that of the environment around them. Tia will focus on the simplistic ways to teach children how to make their own healing balms. The presentation will be structured in such way that it will stimulate and empower adults to then transfer the information to any age group.

Tia will focus on a few very common medicinal plants that will be easy for anyone to identify. We will also look at the moon cycles and how it affects harvesting and our own bodies. We will delve into the most beneficial ways to harness the medicine from nature using intention as well as practical hands on skills. You will be shown how to take raw materials and make them into one powerful healing remedy that can treat almost any ailment. Tia has been going into schools and running adults workshops for over 13 years teaching to all age groups.

Personal Bio: Tia grew up in the bush and developed a lifelong respect and reverence for nature and all its bounty. She utilises what is naturally abundant from all forms of health and wellness. She uses knowledge that was common to our ancestors and used by all races across time. She shares her knowledge as a contribution to the world around her and the future world that her children will reside in. She will open the doorway into another possibility for wellness, self-empowerment through taking ownership of our health, our bodies and our environment.

Pennie Brownlee

Thames, New Zealand - Author and early childhood educator

Workshop title: Coming to our Senses

In a sensory world all animals and plants must be 'sensory processors' in order to live and survive. We might have overlooked the fact, but we too are animals, and we are highly sophisticated sensory processors - that's how we learn. In this workshop we will explore what that looks like and feels like for us, and for the children we live alongside.

Personal Bio: Pennie's deep love and respect for the miraculous natural world has underpinned her five decades of teaching in the early childhood, primary and tertiary sectors. Self-employed, she offers day courses and residential courses for those who live and work alongside infants and children, with emphasis on the Culture of Kindness, Earth Education and Fostering Creativity. She is the author of three well-loved guides for parents and teachers The Sacred Urge to Play, Magic Places and Dance with me in the Heart.

Glenn Edney

Ngunguru, NZ - Ocean ecologist, educator and author

Workshop title: We live on an Ocean Planet

The Ocean is the cradle of our existence and the heart of our blue home. She is the major player in virtually every life sustaining process, and yet we seldom pay attention to the deep wisdom held within her vast body. Without liquid water there is no life. The Ocean isn't just the background for life; rather it is life in motion. Re-connecting with this deep wisdom is the theme of this workshop.
Ninety-nine percent of the molecules in every cell of our bodies are water molecules: we are water beings within an Ocean world. And yet we treat water and the Ocean as separate from ourselves. This great separation sickness robs us of our conscious connection to the animating force of the living breathing world. Re-animating this conscious connection is the best antidote we can give children who are growing up with a two-dimensional "e;screen shot"e; of the natural world. Using a phenomenological approach we will explore techniques and practices we can use to help our children discover their watery roots.

Personal Bio: Glenn Edney is an Ocean ecologist, underwater naturalist, professional diver, sailor, teacher and author. He has been exploring the Ocean and interacting with Ocean life for more than 30 years.Glenn has an MSc in Holistic Science from Schumacher College and Plymouth University in the UK. He studied Gaia theory under the tutor ledge of James Lovelock collaborator, Dr. Stephan Harding, as well as Complexity and Chaos theory as they apply to ecological systems. His ongoing research is primarily focused on understanding the Ocean as a living system, bringing together traditional indigenous Ocean knowledge and modern scientific ecological understanding. Grounded within an animistic worldview, he brings a phenomenological, qualitative approach to his work.

David Key

Truro, UK - Consultant, transformational change educator

Workshop title: Nature by Design

Living sustainably will emerge naturally if people get the chance to experience themselves as part of the rest of nature. But this is rarely a random process: to ensure that experiences of nature link to sustainable living requires skilful design and facilitation.
This session takes a closer look at the ideas Dave explores in his Keynote address: about how to design and lead outdoor experiences that can compel people to live within nature's limits.
The workshop will take the exploration further and provide an opportunity to scrutinise the design process more deeply. A central part of the workshop will be to give participants a chance to design a programme for their own context, with support from Dave, the rest of the group - and the land.

Personal Bio: Dave is a consultant and educator specialising in the design and facilitation of transformational change programmes. His purpose is to help create deep and enduring organisational and social change towards a sustainable future.
Dave's background is in psychology, ecology and outdoor education. His special interest is in the ways experiences of nature can be powerfully transformative toward pro-environmental behaviour.
Over the last 20 years Dave has worked with a diversity of organisations and individuals. He has also taught, supervised and researched extensively in the academic sector and is a published author.
Dave holds an MSc (Dist.) in Human Ecology, is a Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. He sits on the editorial boards of several international journals. He is also an internationally qualified outdoor leader.Dave is a joint New Zealand and British citizen currently based in the UK. He is moving back to New Zealand with his family and dog in 2018.

Play and Learn Nature Kindergarten Team

Clarkes Beach, NZ - Nature Kindergarten Team

Workshop title: The Development of Trust through Nature (workshop full)

"e;Whatever matters to human beings, trust is the atmosphere in which it thrives."e; (Bok S, 1999)
As society has become more risk adverse our trust in children has declined. Over the past few generations the opportunities for roaming, self-responsibility and judgement have decreased. Accepting children's identities means valuing them for who they are, these identities are their way of defining themselves as powerful and responsible (Ungar, 2007).
A sense of trust impacts on children's feelings of competence, capability, safety, freedom and security. This session will explore the ways in nature, we can start to trust children's own judgements to take care of their own needs and wellbeing.

Personal Bio's: This session will be presented by members of our Nature Kindergarten Team.
Jo Luff is a qualified ECE teacher with a passion for the outdoors. She grew up climbing trees and making forts and wants to provide these opportunities for all children. She facilitates the Long Bay nature kindergarten which operates each day 9-3 in Long Bay Regional Park. She also operates an outdoor nature school holiday programme for Conscious Kids
Janie Sharma is a trained, experienced Forest School teacher from Germany. After working in Walderkindergarten for several years she has made her way to Aoteoroa and for the past two years has facilitated nature programmes at Long Bay and Cornwall Park.
Kerri Iwaskow is a very experienced, qualified ECE teacher. She has a passion for the outdoors and for art. She has been leading nature programmes at Play and Learn for over 15 years and currently facilitates a Nature Programme at Cornwall Park.
Emily Beatson is a qualified teacher - ECE, Primary and Forest Schools and has worked with children for over 20 years. She is passionate about children learning in the outdoors and has toured Forest Schools in Denmark and the U.K. She currently facilitates a centre extension Nature Programme at Clevedon Reserve.

Matiu Te Huki

Wellington, NZ - Musician, Teacher and Storyteller

Workshop title: Storytelling without books

Matiu's storytelling workshop is an exciting journey into the mystical mysterious and ancient world of the Maori Ancestors, elemental gods and spirits.

Narrated with his own unique present-day storytelling style, Matiu also invites adventurous audience actors to vividly and sometimes hilariously bring the characters to life. The stories hidden messages are also uncovered in this fun and entertaining, community strengthening, learning experience.
This workshop will bring out the storyteller in us all.

Personal Bio: Apart from touring as a Maori musician and ambassador, Matiu Te Huki has established a reputation as a potent workshop presenter. Matiu has been sharing his knowledge of his culture and the arts successfully in Aotearoa and Australia. Matiu is also a kapa haka teacher in 20 centres a week, Maori cultural advisor to the New Zealand Kindergarten Association, Te Reo Maori teacher, MC, and a father of 3.

Waikarere Gregory and Anna Tripp

Northland, NZ - Earth connected Home-school mother

Workshop title: Whakarongo, Titiro, Korero (workshop full)

Guided by constellations, moon phases, native flowers, trees, birds and insects, and highlighted by stories and taonga puoro, Waikarere and Anna will take you on a sensory journey through the seasons of their Maori world.

Personal Bio:Ko Tinana te waka
Ko Tumoana te tangata
Ko Taumatamahoe te maunga
Ko Tangonge te wai
Ko Te Rarawa te iwi me te marae
Ko Ngati-Te-Ao te hapu
Ko Waikarere Gregory toku ingoa

I was born and raised in Pukepoto, on my ancestral lands, close to our marae in the Far North, where the stories of my father placed me on the whenua and in the world around me.
After years away, I find myself living back on my Nannies whenua, now a mama of two tamariki on a journey of exploring reo/languages....
Let's take some time to stop, listen, look, smell and feel, finding clues to the days ahead, tohu/signs for us on our journey.....

Anna Tripp is a registered Early Childhood teacher at Te Rito Te Kainga Reo. Over the last year, she has been developing a maara-taiao programme for the tamariki at her centre. She enjoys learning and discovering te ao Maori alongside tamariki and is open to sharing aspects of her journey with others.

Tiaki Early Learning Centre

Rotorua, NZ

Workshop title: Tiaki i te Taiao / Walk Softly on the Earth

Tiaki Early Learning Centre, based on the outskirts of Rotorua, has a warm, welcoming, home-like atmosphere based on the values of love, care and respect for each other, the community and environment. They are leaders in the field of creating a harmonious, nature-based education for children, in a bicultural environment underpinned by te ao M?ori and te reo; an achievement that gained them recognition with a New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO Award for Global Citizenship Education.

They make all their own cleaning products, use cloth nappies, grow vegetables, make compost and food-shop using their own containers. The centre supports the children to spend most of their time outdoors - playing, sleeping, tending the garden, planting the local wetland, swimming in the lake etc. Regardless of their ethnic background the children and their families are welcomed as tangatawhenua of the local marae.

Underpinning Tiaki's culture is their drive towards para kore / zero waste and going vegan. "Growing our own veggies and fruit has been a great way to reduce waste, as well as making things like crackers, bread, hummus, biscuits, plant milks, etc from scratch to avoid packaging." says Kaya Sparke, Tiaki chef. "It's been quite a journey to get our kai to where it is today, zero waste, vegan and nutritionally sound, whilst still appealing to two - six year olds! So we are very proud of what we've accomplished." It can take three weeks to fill one rubbish bin.

This is the 1st time they have offered to share their secrets, philosophy, experience and much more in a workshop. Join Head teacher Katherine Maud and owner Gayle Croft for a powerful, inspiring, insightful and transformative session as they share the centre's journey towards para kore/zero waste, home cooked vegan kai and creating a plastic-free environment for the children.

Ako Space Education Team

Auckland, NZ - Entrepreneurs, Primary School Teachers and Policy Makers

Workshop title: Re-imagining learning environments - Ako school

Find out about how a group of passionate w?hine has started a primary school in Auckland that is child-led, play-based and outdoor-focused. This will be an interactive session with the chance for you to ask questions and share experiences. We will take you through: the inspiration behind our school, our journey so far, a description of our values and teaching approach, a description of our daily rhythm and examples of activities and how we relate these to the NZ Curriculum. We will share learning stories from our children, and tips for anyone who may be considering starting an Akospace in their community. We promise you lots of laughs and you will leave with fresh ideas and motivation to take back to your classroom or community.

Personal Bios: Ako (primary school) was founded in 2017 by Sabrina Nagel who works in the field of entrepreneurship at Auckland University of Technology. She had a strong desire to create a space that re-imagines the learning environment for her twin daughters. She was joined by a passionate group of other w?hine and the school opened in February 2018 with 11 students. The team also includes: Kate Webber and Claudia Gray, primary school teachers with a love of the outdoors and play-based learning; and Bronwyn Bayne, a stay-at-home mother with a background in government policy making.

Andrew Mount and Omine Ivatt

Auckland, NZ - Outdoor educators, Lecturer and Crafters

Workshop title: $10 Teepee - A space to Imagine

This workshop will provide teachers with the skills to easily make their own Teepees. We will recycle old billboard signs into new Teepee skins that you will take home ready to find some bamboo poles and get building with your little learners. These Teepees are a great way to engage learners of all ages into construction of shelters and are sure to attract a small tribe.

Personal Bio: Omine Ivatt is the Steve Irwin of New Zealand outdoor education. He offers outdoor learning for schools and community groups through the Craft Lab and the Educators Tool-Kit. He has created programmes such as Re Wild your child holiday programmes, Crafting to connect, Less is more urban adventures & authored a book about getting kids outdoors, grubby and connecting families back to nature and to each other. Omine's mission is to make the outdoors a place where anything can happen, anything can be made, and life-long adventures can & should be had on a regular basis.

Wiremu Sarich

Kaitaia, NZ - Educator traditional Maori games

Workshop title: Areare Ngao (wokshop full)

Channeling mauri (energy) through play and creating simple artefacts of play from natural resource, Wiremu will share his vast knowledge of indigenous games and offer many rich insights into utilising games to enhance your understanding of a Te Ao Maori world view.
Participants will make various implements of play and learn key concepts you can personalise to suit the needs and desires of your kura.

Personal Bio: Wiremu Sarich, is a practitioner of traditional Maori games with years of experience delivering programs in schools and communities, to promote healthy activity, throughout Aotearoa and beyond.

John Lawry

Auckland, NZ - Educator, Bach. Ed., Master craftsman

Workshop title: Playing with the Elements (wokshop full)

In an age when technology is becoming increasingly 'hands-off' this workshop brings vitality to exploring one of mankind's basic technology tools; FIRE. This is a hands-on workshop making a Neolithic pit-forge and exploring core blacksmithing techniques.

'PLAYING WITH THE ELEMENTS' is essentially a hands-on workshop to make a Neolithic pit-forge and using it, explore core blacksmithing techniques. The supportive tasks of bellows-making and charcoal-making will be discussed. So too the pedagogical principles of developing the connections between the ancient learning principles of the TEMPERAMENTS and the ELEMENTS. Fire by spark, bringing together mankind's two most basic technologies; FIRE and SHARP EDGES (flint), using each to create the other, will be explored too.

Personal Bio: Born 31.5.1950, in Auckland, New Zealand, a fifth generation South Pacific Celt, my life experience as artisan & educator is circa 25 years a-piece.
My formative years, helping my father (an architect) and grandfather (a carpenter) build our house, establish gardens and an orchard, being nurtured by my mother and grandmother's attentive care and comprehensive self-sufficient skills (cooking, sewing, knitting) by which they made our house a home, or playing in the bush where my lifelong love of bush-craft was born, are infused with the rich colours of music-making and storytelling.
In 2010, a confluence of my life-long interest immersion in craft and education occurred when, inspired by Bernard Graves, I began the process of establishing and developing at Michael Park Steiner School, the Outdoor Classroom's comprehensive curriculum gardens, lower-school craft / experiential skills-based curriculum, its integration into H/S Technology, an intensive Masterclass Craft program and camps.

Play and Learn Fairfield Team

Dunedin, NZ - Early Childhood Educators

Workshop Title: - Respecting Children’s Voice through participation in an outdoor playground project

Play and Learn Fairfield have a long history of fully involving children in projects. When they were having some problems with the drainage at their centre they naturally involved them in all aspects. A new playground was designed and the spades came out. Over the next year the children were involved in all aspects such as designing and physically moving their "hill", making planter boxes, lifting matting, laying drainage, planting, constructing a mud kitchen and a ropes course etc.

While commercial spaces or products may offer new opportunities they do so at the cost of the loss of control children have over their own play. Moss, P. and Petrie, P. (2002).

Children's play spaces are important environments. Children have a right to take part in the processes that affect them. We must listen to what children say about their play and genuinely value their contributions. Play Wales (2016). This is a great example of ways to genuinely involve children and value their contributions.

The Play and Learn Dunedin Team will demonstrate how they implement their Key Theme of Respect, Involvement, Competence in Outdoor Environments, and how this translates on a day to day base in their centre. Delegates will leave with ideas of what they can implement in their own centres and schools and how children can benefit from this model.

This workshop will demonstrate how the team implements their Key Themes of respect, involvement, competence in outdoor environments, and how this translates on a day to day base in their centre. Delegates will leave with ideas of what they can implement in their own centres and schools and how children can benefit from this model.

Personal Bios: This session will be presented by Donna Marr and Julia Anson from the Play and Learn - Fairfield Team.

Donna Marr is qualified Primary, ECE and Montessori teacher. She is committed to achieving sustainable learning environments and empowering children to become sustainable thinkers through our nature based programme, where they are the owners and drivers of the programme. She is passionate about encouraging manakitanga, inspiring respect for the environment and those within it.

Julia Anson is a qualified Primary and ECE teacher with a background in Museum LEOTC Education. Passionate about the natural environment, art and sustainability, Julia enjoys working with children in the outdoors, as they explore their place within the natural world and learn about all of the other animals, plants, and fungi who share it.