Woodcraft Folk goes online for lockdown activities

The charity wants to help children feel a continued sense of community and connection

Woodcraft Folk, the co-operative youth organisation, is offering a range of online activities to help young people through the lockdown.

The programme includes weekly activities, online workshops and educational projects that can be done in the home and garden

On its website, the organisation says: “Our normal Woodcraft Folk activities can’t happen during lockdown, but the fun can continue at home. Our work is more important than ever – linking up young people, playing games, making friends and continuing a sense of community and connection while we are physically apart.”

Each week, young people are taking part in challenges and posting the results online with the hashtag #DreamBigAtHome. Tasks set so far include making and sending a thank-you card to farmers for Fair Trade Day, making peace bunting for the VE Day anniversary and creating a biodiversity area in the garden.

Woodcraft Folk is also running a series of live sessions – workshops, storytelling and virtual campfires, “connecting children and young people online and continuing a sense of community and connection while we are physically apart”.

These range from virtual campfires, with joke-telling and sing-alongs, to storytelling sessions and educational workshops on issues such as climate change, fake news, critical thinking and how activists can tackle bias in the media and society.

And there is a wide selection of games, quizzes and creative challenges, many of them based around the Woodcraft Folk’s values of equality and co-operation.

The organisation – a registered charity – is seeking donations to help maintain its activities through lockdown.

“Woodcraft Folk is needed more than ever in these difficult times,” it says. “The demand for our work is increasing as children and families are faced with isolation from friends, school and community.

“With the closure of both our regular weekly group nights and our amazing outdoor activity centres, we are appealing for donations so we can continue to support thousands of young people across the UK.”