Training Courses
 These workshops offer a chance to explore environmental art and community ideas in relaxed and supportive environments. Creeping Toad workshops give participants the opportunity to develop new skills to use with groups, look at the principles behind such activities and develop workshop ideas that would suit the participants' own places of work.
2007 Calendar of Creeping Toad conference sessions and training courses
Where to go to get a touch of that Toad excitement for yourself...
Workshops from 2006
InSET training workshops led by Creeping Toad included:
- Wild puppet sessions on Education in the Countryside at Losehill Hall
- Communicating Biodiversity Creatively at Losehill Hall doing just what it says in the title
- The Alchemist's Cupboard with Wildwise in Devon, playing with tradiitonal paint, ink and medicine recipes
- Telling stories at the London Wetland Centre in October
- Environmental creativity in Wolverhampton in June
- Inspiring Learning Environments for Mid-Pennine Arts and Creative Partnerships, a bigger event with sessions on paper-making, willow weaving, story-making and improvising puppets
Workshops for you to join
April 24th 2008: Inspired by Nature. How do we find inspiration? Ideas and activities to foster our own excitement and sense of connection as interpreters, educators and workshop leaders. These same activities can transfer to groups, offering new ways of inspiring the people we work with and different relationships between public, place and our selves as professional environmentalists.
- Venue: to be confirmed
- Contact: Scottish Natural Heritage, ("Sharing Good Practice" programme)
- Web: www.snh.gov.uk
- Tel: 01738 444177
September 22nd and 23rd 2008: Communicating Biodiversity Creatively. A chance to develop the skills and confidence to creatively engage young people and communities in biodiversity. Here, we will look at a range of techniques that might be used in putting biodiversity and environmental issues in a relevant, ongoing social context. We will work on skills to use in encouraging community consultation and participation, give you an opportunity to widen your own creative skills. we will work our way through the step-by-step experience of a creative process that could be used with a group in their own setting.
October 10 – 12th 2008: Celebrating Nature. Offering activities to use, and advice on planning your own creative explorations of the world around us, this workshop will help you build celebrations of your own local, precious places. "Celebrating Nature" will use environmental exploration, sensory discoveries, lantern making, instant puppets, wild hats, colourful flags, ephemeral art and more: all made out of natural and recycled materials to explore the idea that "we live in a world worthy of celebration".
October 14th 2008: Inspired by Nature. The inspiration of little things! This workshop will celebrate the excitement and delight that lies within quiet moments and everyday places. As interpreters and educators, we can find inspiration and offer those experiences to our public in even the most unlikely places.
January 28th 2009: Art Activities for Public Events. A kaleidescope of activities: a chance to explore, experiment and devise for yourself. This day will offer participants a range of art activities to use with school groups and on public events. Here, you don't need to see yourself as "an artist", you just need to be ready to share your excitement in nature with other people. Here is a chance to draw inspiration from the immediate environment and, using found, recycled or readily available materials and easy techniques, add new excitements and delights to your work. Activities will include: creative exploration, wild books, flags, masks, puppets, instant story and poetry ideas, mobiles, lanterns and more...
January 29th 2009: Natural adventures with Early Years. A workshop offering ways of creatively exploring the natural world with young children. Celebrating the richness and excitement of young children’s imaginations, we will look at structures that support imagination without restricting it and grow stories to help explore the world around us. Wordplay will mix with mud and puppets, instant pictures will feed into books, sheer excitement will reveal treasures...
Comments from training course participants
"I feel reinspired and ready to go. I loved the dancing and the enthusiasm offered by the trainer."
"A lovely informative peaceful weekend."
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