Reasons for doing this activity:
- To build confidence.
- To demonstrate that the Elfins teach adults new things.
- To experience peer learning.
- To demonstrate that teaching, learning and then teaching are all part of the same continuum.
- To discuss skills learned at Woodcraft Folk
What to do
Give the Elfins sheets of paper and get them to make paper planes. Encourage the Elfins who know how to make them to show the other Elfins how it is done.
Hand out instructions for more complex planes and encourage the group to experiment making the planes (www. paperairplanes.co.uk/ has loads of designs).
Once they have had some fun with the planes, ask the Elfins about other crafts, playground games, skipping rhymes, jokes that they know. Make a list of what these are.
Once you have a few suggestions find four or five Elfin volunteers. Encourage them to set up ‘workshops’ in separate parts of the room. The rest of the Elfins can go to each workshop and learn the skill on offer.
By the end of the session all of the Elfins in the room should know all the skills on offer. This means that the original ‘teachers’ will eventually have to hand their workshops over to other Elfins, so that they can go and attend the other workshops. Make sure that all the leaders in the room also attend the workshops and you could invite parents/carers and families to join to learn some new skills too!
Discussion Questions
Once all Elfins have learned all the new skills, re-group. Lead a discussion on who we learn things from.
- Who did the Elfins learn these new skills from?
- Did they learn from more than one person?
- Did they only learn from the person running the workshop? Was it helpful to see other people learning?
At Woodcraft we are learning new things all the time. Adults learn from children and each other and children learn from adults and each other. Can the Elfins and Group leaders identify some of the things they have learned at Woodcraft? Can they think of times that they have taught others about the things they have learned at Woodcraft?