The Family Picnic “The Forest Around Us”

    The main message of the picnic in the International Year of Forests was interactive open-air forest education. The issues of the meeting which were addressed to all the participants in the picnic included the following items:

- "DNA – the secrets of the interior of the tree" (a laboratory workshop)

- "Trees versus fungi!" (a laboratory workshop)

- "We look for a treasure in the forest wilderness" (a field game)

- "We wander through the forest storeys" (a field game)

- "What happens to water in a forest?" (drawings, quizzes, competitions)

- "The educational cinema of the Da Vinci Learning Programme"

- "The tracks of nature” (competitions, face painting, individual making of decorative emblems from wood)

- "The identification of voices and tracks of forest animals" (a field game and competition).

The youngsters from the Sękocin Primary School during the class

on “DNA – the secrets of the interior of the tree”

    Traditionally, due to the fruitful cooperation between the successive organisers of the Science Festivals at the Forest Research Institute and sponsors, it was possible to make the picnic more attractive. Valuable prizes and education materials popularising the knowledge of nature were presented to all the active participants in the field games, workshops, competitions and quizzes.

    This year the large number of the Festival sponsors included:

The  Information Centre of State Forests

Arkadiusz Grzegorczyk Publicity and Publishing Agency

MULTICO Publishing House

Da Vinci Learning Education Television

Polish Oil and Gas (PGNiG)

    The September sunshine was an ally of all those interested in the picnic who came over, along with their whole families, to admire the forest in its autumn apparel.  Associate Professor  Ryszard Szczygieł, Deputy Director for Scientific Research of the Forest Research Institute, addressed his warm words to the numerous youngest participants in the forest competitions and as the host he expressed his satisfaction with the presence of such a large number of young Poles.

The announcement of the results of the questionnaire “The Picnic in the Eyes of the  Participants”

    The school youth were most interested in the workshops and experiments related to DNA and in the search for a treasure in the forest wilderness. The final feature of the meeting, at the common bonfire and sausage roasting, was the  announcement of the results of the questionnaire “The Picnic in the Eyes of the  Participants”. The most interesting responses included the following ones:
- A family meeting in a natural environment combined with great fun.
- An interesting way of spending leisure time. In the course of the picnic you can learn a lot and get to know the forest better.
- A great thing: Education and fun!

    The photographs from the Festival activities and the family picnic are shown in the photo  gallery:  "The Forest Around Us"

All those interested are invited to come next year!

Text: Artur Sawicki

Coordinator of the Science Festival at the Forest Research Institute

Photos: Leszek Kruczek