2022 Year End Report of Wild Craft Play 'sCool - our 18th year in service
Happy Holidays!
We are grateful to have you in our sphere and wish you and your family joy, peace and renewal this winter.
We thought you might appreciate a report on our 18th year in service. Before we dive in, we have to tell you about something exciting that is coming down the pipe. Starting in January at Innisfree Botanical Garden and Farm we are hosting LARPing.
If you know of anyone who lives near the Comox Valley area, we are hosting a Live Action Role Play. It's a new format for us, like Wild Craft Play yet it's on the weekend, longer hours, for all ages and is growing interest quickly.
Details can be found at www.wildcraftplay.com/play
(There are opportunities to contribute, such as props, supplies, sponsorship, NPC characters... Interested? Just reach out to us)
Jamie@wildcraftplay.com | 250-927-7923
Back to this year's story...
At the start of the year, 4 brave youth were challenged with the task of doing something good for the Earth. They could choose helping the Earth, the Animals or Humans, or all. After many weeks of deliberating, they decided to learn more about the tragic reality of 10 tons of garbage ending up on the beaches of Denman Island every year. This group of youth came up with
Our Mission:
To create a mythical magical story to help humans fix problems like dead orcas who eat seals who eat fish who eat plastic.
Our Vision:
To move people who hear our stories and inspire them to make a difference globally.
Click Here to learn more about the issue.
They were keen, open and engaged and have created a massive ripple in their efforts. They hosted a spring break workshop hosted on Denman Island in March of 2022, where they learned about the issue, and how to Curate a production from scratch. What is the storyline, who are the characters, and who are we trying to reach. In only 4 days we determined that The Ones, little beings created by Cindy Foley, were to be the "story tellers."
Our spring break workshop went better than expected and launched interest of over 190 new subscribers to the Curating Cleaner Waters Sneak Peek Backstage. This is our way of supporting the Association for Denman Island Marine Stewards (ADIMS) to not only cleanup the mess, but our focus is on telling the story, and changing the narrative, through positive, pro-active play. ADIMS has been at this for over 17 years and we hear reports that the same amount of waste is ending up on the shores, even after petitions, lobbying local government, so we are trying something different, and people are paying attention.
Folks are engaging in the process of solving the issue through creative action, offering direct feedback on the production itself, and learning about other initiatives. This has caused the Comox Valley Art Gallery to partner with us, and support folks by offering charitable tax receipts for donations. Not long after, ADIMS recommended that we learn about the EPIC Academy. This is an online curriculum suited to high school students and adults about the issue of waste in the ocean, and HOW to affect change.
We are excited to announce that we are now partnered with The Ocean Legacy Foundation and are now giving presentations and workshops on the issue, capturing narration using audio recorders and using tactics of Narrative Therapy and the power of positive thinking to affect change.
If you wish to receive our Sneak Peek of our Current Story Chronicle private email to offer feedback and be kept informed on the private progress, Click Here to subscribe.
FYI: We are not publicizing our efforts because we are trying things differently, not ready to make the big reveal yet, count on people's insights and feedback before publicly launching our "plans" to the masses.
Inspired by the momentum, and motivated by the fact that only 5% of waste that ends up in the ocean floats. This means that the 10 Tonnes of plastic that ends up on the beaches is ONLY 5% of what's at the bottom of the ocean. This IS preventable.
Many Artists have contributed incredible footage and imagery and musicians Joanna Finch, Anand David and Jamie Black are actively working on the soundtrack for this short 12 minute video. Jamie is working regularly now with Kathryn, the Education Coordinator for The Ocean Legacy Foundation to get this information infront of the right people. Discussions right now involve preparing to engage the Ministry of Education. More to come, stay tuned by subscribing here.
We are actively seeking sponsors to help fund this initiative, and to support the launch of the Live Action Role Play. Who do you know that is seeking a way to engage? We can offer logo placement on all sorts of platforms, VIP invitation to special events, and exposure to our network.
All sponsorships are different, we invite a conversation to determine the best steps forward.
It takes a village to raise a child
We would like to extend a warm blanket of gratitude and celebrate all of the incredible people who have either invited these young people into their space or worked with them. Thank you to all you volunteers and land owners of Innisfree Botanical Garden and Farm for welcoming us around the dining table and sharing such heart-warming experiences.
Thank you to the Courtenay Air Park members. What a gift it is to learn life skills by connecting with such supportive community members.
We would also like to celebrate the incredibly skilled and willing staff that have spent each week learning our ways and supporting these youth. Andrew Matthews, Rootz, Ria Varella, Taylor Smith, Allie Livesey and Marion Dulude. Thank you thank you thank you!
The way we play
At Wild Craft Play 'sCool we play a bit of a different way. We have a number of philosophies that we have adopted based on how children show up, trial and error and years of engaging adventures. Nature, Child-Led Learning, Play Theory, Guided Discovery Learning, The Hummingbird ApproachTM, Gameful PlayTM, Financial Literacy, Ecological Literacy, Social & Emotional Coping Skill, Narrative Therapy, Shin Rin Yoku, Horticulture Therapy, Child's Passion, Wild Crafting, Village Building.
It has been a journey developing programming in a new community during Covid, yet we are making progress, and are so blessed to have a community of support who believe in the work we do. As the founder of Wild Craft Play 'sCool, founded initially in 2004 for "youth at risk", where I worked with youth ages 15 to 30 to learn employability skills, I decided to change my field of focus to support children ages 8 to 12 to prevent them from ending up homeless, jobless, depressed or suicidal.
After 3 years running the Young Adults Working Program on the mainland I witnessed the increase in videogame play, a decrease in the ability to engage children and the game Wild Craft Play created in 2008 We now offer 3 streams of adventures. Our 1 to 1 Program called SoLe Adventure that we have offered since 2004, for children who are neuro-diverse (that means children who have Autism, ADHD, FASD, brain injuries). Our new Mixed Program called "Questfinders," and our new FUNraiser of Live Action Role Play
SoLe Adventure was born in 2004 to work with youth of varying needs. What started out with "disadvantaged youth" in Vancouver, to the Sunshine Coast to the Island, has now become 1 to 1 work with youth with Autism and other varying needs. Our weekly time together is focused first and foremost on having fun, then, with sneaky tactics we integrate coping skills, life skills, art, music, writing, storytelling and exposure to new experiences, working on transitions and enhancing communication. We have a couple of children that have been enjoying XCountry skiing all winter, mountain biking, hiking, attending events, volunteering at Innisfree Farm and playing with the chickens, volunteering at the Courtenay Airpark and spending time with retired pilots.
We follow each child's passion.
Questfinders is an adapted version of Wild Craft Play and SoLe Adventure. Wild Craft Play tends to work more easily with neuro-typical children because of the expectations, group decision making and in-the-moment problem solving. This year we adapted the program, increased the number of workers to children to a 3:6 ratio. This allows the youth to receive direct support when it comes to language, understanding the situation, staying engaged or coping when they have a "Moment." We also simplify our adventures and travel less to different locations, keeping the experience as similar as possible, mixing with a diverse group of neuro-typical and neuro-diverse children, and it's working.
Adventure QuestingTM was created a number of years ago with one of our most cherrished supporters, the late Don Fawthorpe. He designed this logo for us and a few quests in the Qualicum area before he passed. We are continuing the thread of adventure in the Comox Valley to honor Don, and keep the adventure alive.
Adventure Questing is an experience that is Live Action Role Play, lead by the participants, a story that unfolds with quests, gold coins, with any number of outcomes depending on the decisions made by the group.
We dress up, bring resources like potions, elixirs, swords, cloaks and good footwear, to adventure into the nature, among characters and in the Village.
NEW THIS YEAR:
Lake Trail Community Education Society at Lake Trail School. Our fall adventures were a huge success, and we are offering again in February (we still have a few seats, and are extending the invitation to Puntledge Elementary School students).
A new adventure is spawning at Innisfree Farm in January. Visit here for both adventures: www.wildcraftplay.com/play.
Enter to win a free entry by submitting a colored copy of this logo for Innisfree Adventure Questing.
Download the logo here.
Learning with our Community of Support
We are excited to be shifting the way we teach people how to do what we do. This year we made an adaptation of the format and safe container we have created within our private Facebook page. Many people are engaging in our community, engaging in conversations, presentations, discussions and polls that give insight into how people are doing things. One recent poll was about what people use to heal small wounds while outside. For example, Polysporin, honey, and Goldenseal were some of the responses. We learn so much more when we learn together.
This year , we began a Heart Skills Talk Series a few weeks ago, starting with an interview with Wendy Kotilla about Place-Conscious Education. It was a great interview, where Wendy shares about her life experience and her perception of Place-Conscious Education with youth in ecological practical experiences in the Comox Valley. What a wealth of life experience and knowledge. We have a few more interviews on this topic with interested parties coming up.
We are continuing to provide training in this community of support based on topics of interest to folks. Other topics that people have voted on are Coping Skills for Children with Varying Needs, and Gameful Play tactics.
Feel welcome to follow along in our community of over 300 people in the Private Community of Support Facebook Group for free teachings and access to our new private Wild Craft Play Training Grounds where folks get direct access to me, to help enhance skills in outdoor play with children of all abilities.
Our Reach
We are also excited to report that we have over 1000 viewers on our Facebook Page.
Jamie has had to shift to a professional profile because of nearing the 5000 followers mark.
Over 1000 links on LinkedIn
Over 300 active members in our private Facebook Community of Support
Over 550 active readers of our semi-regular emails.
Thank you for being in our sphere!
We really appreciate the growth and development of this community and are excited for more. We are always open to feedback, and look forward to hearing what you think.
If you are moved by this and wish to donate, 100% of the donation goes to your choice of beneficiaries.
Some folks are looking for something to make your final donations of 2022 to receive their charitable tax receipt.
If this is you, have a look at our options on...
How to Donate
- FOR THE OCEAN: donate to cover the costs of production and getting our 12 minute mythical magical production out to schools. Receive a charitable tax receipt for
- FOR THE CHILDREN: donate to help us expand our program through the Lake Trail Community Education Society. They too are offering a charitable tax receipt for donations of $25 or more. When you donate you are helping to sponsor children from Lake Trail and Puntledge Schools to attend at no cost. Click Here to Donate.
- FOR WILD CRAFT PLAY 'SCOOL: donating here goes to all of our efforts, to support growth within Wild Craft Play 'sCool, help pay staff, marketing and administration. This option is for those who don't need a charitable tax receipt. When you consider donating monthly, you continue to help us expand our support to the community. Click Here to Donate.
Thank you to our supporters and donors
Debra Racher
Debra Contreras
Late Uncle Bob Schan
Bernice & Late Don Fawthorpe
Ken Hammer
Chanchal Cabrera & Thierry Vrain
Amor Potter and Family
Thank you to our Partners and Sponsors