Wild Words!

Wild Words

a story project proposal from Creeping Toad for 2013, the Year of Natural Scotland

creepingtoad@btinternet.com

While Scotland is a land of such spectacular landscapes and impressive wildlife, it is easy to forget the value and richness of the everyday plants and animals that share our streets, gardens, urban parks and local woods. Using storytelling and creative writing, Wild Words will inspire people to become involved with their local environment, appreciating that their own experience of the wildlife on their doorstep can enrich the lives of both individuals and communities

Wild Words will provide workshops for schools, and community groups, and public events for families and the wider community. Activities will use storytelling, direct experience of the environment, storymaking and instant poetry to help participants explore the wildlife on their doorsteps for themselves and to express those discoveries and feelings in new stories

Wild Words will offer storytelling and storymaking sessions to

schools: aiming to get out of the classroom and work with the wildlife of school grounds or local parks

stories might grow from found, natural or left-over objects...

general public: with storytelling performances and participatory family events in conjunction with interested organisations like the Forestry Commission, Wild Things! and Glachbeg Croft Centre (these are all "maybes" just now - would love to hear from other people keen to be involved!)

longer workshops: taking a day or two with a single group (rather than the more fluid public events) to take our words further, building stronger stories and possible performances

build a legacy: building our new stories and poems about local plants, animals and landscapes into an on-line, and possibly printed, resource and preparing material for display with local partners

Just now

we are looking for possible partners

schools: who might like a workshop

other organisations: who might like to host a family event, longer workshop or coordinate several local public or school sessions

a possible host organisation: while Creeping Toad is happy to administer the project there is a chance that the grant award we are applying for may need a local organisation to host it

on-line venues: anyone with a web-site that would like to receive stories and have a Wild Words page

a small adventure

Dates

Target dates are to have sessions in May, June and September in the Highland Region and Moray

Creeping Toad

Gordon MacLellan, Creeping Toad, is one of the UK’s leading creative environmental educators with 30 years of experience at the leading edge of environmental education. His work sets out to “find ways of celebrating the relationships between people, places and wildlife”. He is well known in Scotland through storytelling tours of the Highlands and project work with Wild Things! in Moray and with other organizations

Contacts:

creepingtoad@btinternet.com

Blog: http://creepingtoad.blogspot.com

Website: www.creepingtoad.org.uk

Help us shape new stories of natural Scotland!