In February wildnismentors of three countries got to know the Outward Bound experiential learning approach in a 10 day Erasmus+ funded mobility in Sovata/Romania. We enjoyed team building as well as energizing games, cooperatively climbing the Jakob´s ladder in the ropes course and an expedition to the Gurghiului mountains. Watch our video to get to…
Just another rainy day. Perfect conditions for spotting animal footprints that got stuck in the ground. Watch the video to get an idea of the basics of tracking mammal footprints as well as walking patterns. Document your findings by taking photos or drawing pictures. That way keep records of single tracks and full cycles of…
Winter solstice is here, the longest night of the year. Time to look back on the past year, to be grateful for all the good and the challenging experiences and time to celebrate! We met around the fire to share stories and food, as well as love and joy. Moon and stars were dancing while…
Before Christmas European Wilderness Mentors in their third and last year of training are following their own aspirations at our spot on Hermannswerder in Potsdam. This is what we are doing presently: Burning bowls, carving Christmas trees, making nettle string, throwing ancient hunting sticks, making fire with bow drills and pump drills, manufacturing foldable saws…
In August course instructors as well as future European Wilderness Mentors went on a Friluftsliv summer experience to Sweden. As in the years before we were hosted for three weeks by Sjöviks Folkhögskola in Folkärna. The mobility was funded by Erasmus+ programme. Swedish Friluftsliv mentors in training were taking us up north for a canoe…
Early November European Wilderness Mentors of BSH der Hoffbauer gGmbH organised a wilderness camp for their own children or younger siblings. A mixed age group of kids (4-12 years) spent a day and a night outside in the area of Seddiner See south of Potsdam. The camp was set up on a meadow embedded in…
I must admit, I´m fed up with pandemic stipulations. Period. At home we are less affected and can work our way around them. But at work in an urban kindergarten with a rather blank outdoor area and without the opportunity to bring the children to places with more nature … my, it´s a real challenge!…
Some years ago I made my own Bo Weslien style model of a foldable outdoor saw at Sjövik Folkhögskola. Having no machines at hand back home for high precision wood engineering I was thinking of making a copy of it out of green wood and traditional tools: a froe for splitting a small log to…
Let the children team up as bird parents or eggs/chicks. Help the “bird parents” build a makeshift nest from twigs, grass, or pillows, whatever you have available. Then place the “eggs” into the nest, have the children kneel there and make themselves very small. Instruct the bird parents to warm the eggs with their wings…
On a walk near some flooded meadows and reeds I found an eggshell. I´m not sure if it´s from a swan or a goose, both are known to breed there and both the size and colour of the eggs can be almost alike. But the time of year and surrounding tracks presented a nice puzzle…