It’s Workshop Season!

Now that summer and tree planting season is officially over, Nature Makers Lab headed back to Sha Tin Junior School this month to run several workshops with the Year 5 students who had planted over 70 native shrub and tree saplings in their backyard last May.

Each class got to pick from one of three workshops that we conducted, covering topics such as Biodiversity in HK — which highlighted the connectivity between local animals, insects and tree species (and vice versa); Identifying native species — which introduced students to botanical illustrations of Hong Kong Species, and how to look out for differences in leaves, seeds, flowers and bark; and Historical facts and uses — which introduced students to the many uses of the trees they had planted on campus.

For many students, last May was the first time they planted anything, and this month was the first time they started looking at the trees and shrubs around them in a different light.

Are there really barking deer in Hong Kong? And they eat this tree — the Hog Plum?

Gardenia has such a pretty flower, how is it also edible?

Of course a Japanese Wax tree makes wax!

At each workshop, students took part in different games to help enrich their knowledge and shape their perspectives of the trees around us. Many were surprised that poisonous plants are often used as medicine, that wild species could have edible fruits and that trees were able to communicate underground through fungi and their roots.

Having the actual trees they were learning about planted right outside made the learning more relevant, and they were challenged to really look at the different leaves and identify species in the garden. Of course, they were also very excited to see the two new Chinese Water Dragon residents that had mysteriously wandered into the space close to where we planted — it seems all of the school’s efforts to create an outdoor space for wildlife is working!

Getting the students outside and exploring is really the goal of the work we do. Rather than thinking of trees as generic objects that create oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, follow-up workshops to our planting activities help connect children to nature and start seeing individual species as having a value in their own right.

As quoted by the lead teacher working with us:

"The workshops led by Nature Makers Lab were an excellent follow up to the planting project. The students had the opportunity to learn more about the native plants that they had planted and begin to develop their skills in identifying native trees as well as learn more about the uses of local plants. All the sessions were fun and pitched perfectly for children in Year 5. We will continue to explore ways we can continue to partner with Camilla and her team. Their expertise is such a valuable resource for students and teachers."

Many thanks again to Sha Tin Junior for providing us with their space and time, with a special shoutout to their Head of Sustainability, Dianne Hill.

Students describing a botanical illustration

Guessing facts and uses of different species

Identifying species through leaves