The crew and the plan⌗

Every good plan starts with a good idea and a reliable crew, doesn’t it? The salt dough workshops began exactly like this. It was an ordinary winter day (winter because of the month, not the weather) that a fellow volunteer came up with a thought of crafting something original for Świętnica at Osada, Kaszuby, which ends the holidays. Another individual suggested salt dough for this noble cause as it is one of these kids-love-playing-with magical substances that leaves a lot of space for imagination (and mess naturally, but who cares?). Idea was there, but we needed people to make it real.

I and a bunch of other people declared our willingness to participate in the event. Also, one of the participants called all parents of Bury Miś charges and invited them to the workshops we planned. Many parents couldn’t make it, but some of them said that their children would be delighted to be engaged in and some even wanted to come by themselves. I wrote a text message to the parents of each of my charges (Adam, Piotr, and Marcin), but only Marcin could show up. That’s still 33%! Great! We had all that was needed to kick off our project.

Workshops⌗

It’s been a while since it happened, but I think it’s still worth mentioning. Workshops took place during the winter brake, more specifically, at the very end. We spent in Misiówka (the headquarters of Bury Miś in Poznań) around 3 hours wrinkling, crumpling, and cutting the salt dough to make it look nice. Indeed, it was a daunting task, but we managed to process the entire dough.

However, there was something left. Have you ever seen how dry salt dough looks like? Not very aesthetically pleasing, I would say. Fortunately, there’s a way to solve this problem - dyes. Dry salt dough is perfect for painting.

Scouts’ ball⌗

You may wonder where the title comes from. Well, while the dough was getting dry and rigid, the proposition to attend a ball organized by the Poznań division of scouts arrived. It was a tightly packed time for me when it comes to the amount of school work, so I couldn’t afford to spend 4 hours on two separate activities - not to mention commuting. But what if I could combine them? This was the question I posed to the organizers regarding painting the dough. This way, we could have some fun and do a bit “real” work at the same time.

To my relief, I received a desired permission. I took advantage of that and enjoyed the time with my and other people’s charges as well as did my job and painted the dough.

It is worth noting that I could rely on the help of others. I even managed to engage scouts and a school mate of mine - Maciej (you must have noticed him in the cover of the blog post).

Some closing thoughts⌗

Altogether, the project was as interesting as it was unexpected. I love to participate in activities I haven’t tried before. It is always a surprising mix of imagination, planning and joy. This time it was no different. I liked it very much. Moreover, I had a chance to share my thoughts in an article in the monthly “Szuflada” by Bury Miś Foundation. Go and check it out by yourself (I’ll add a PDF as soon as I get it)!

Learning outcomes:⌗

• LO 1 Strength and Growths
• LO 2 Challenge and Skills
• LO 3 Initiative and Planning
• LO 5 Collaborative Skills
• LO 6 Global Engagement
• LO 7 Ethics of Choices and Actions