Andy Percy, Skills Development Officer for Outdoors Great Southern has recently completed leading term one of the 2023 Kids Adventure Club at Camp Quaranup, near Torndirrup National Park, in Albany, Western Australia. The Club takes place on weekend afternoons, with each term running for six weeks. 27 children are enrolled for the current term. All of the attendees are from The Great Southern region, some travelling from as far away as Ongerup to attend. The project is funded through the DLGSC via the Regional Organisations Grant and Southern Ports.
“The Kids Adventure Club provides an alternative to traditional team based sports,” Andy Percy reports. “At Outdoors Great Southern we recognise that not all kids are competitive and gain more from collaborative activities.” The program allows the children to be outdoors in a fun and safe learning environment.
The Kids Adventure Club program has been running for 18 months. Aimed at children in years four to six. Attendance has increased with each term. Due to popular demand, Andy has added a program for younger children from years one to three.
Years four to six attended Flora and Fauna identification with instructor Bec. The group were able to find and identify ten types of flora and five types of fauna. After a bush walk along the Point Possession/Uredale Point trail, the kids had a visit from the local Bushfire Brigade. They learnt about bushfire awareness from those that know empirically what to do in a bushfire situation and how to prevent bushfires.
The Young Adventurers in years one to three took part in some first aid with Andy. Using fake blood the kids learnt how to clean a wound, apply bandages and tie a sling. Our newest instructor Mia assisted both Andy and Bec with their programs.
Other highlights of the program so far include bush survival skills such as making water filters. The kids repurposed a water bottle by cutting the top off and filling it with layers of cotton wool, sand and gravel. They made dirty water and passed it through the filters, and saw it come out cleaner. The kids were then shown how to boil the water to remove any biological pathogens.
Shelter building was another favourite activity. The kids learnt how to select a site, what materials to use and how to construct the shelter. Learning map reading was also enjoyed by the children. Andy taught the B.O.L.T.S. mapping principles, that is, border, orientation, legend, title and scale.
Thank you to Ian Sprigg and the staff from Camp Quaranup for hosting the Kids Adventure Club a number of times throughout the program. The first session was on Saturday the 18th January and runs until Saturday the 1st April.
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