Teachers and educators, join E.A.T. South and environmental educator Renee Simmons Raney for an afternoon of activities to engage students in the natural world.

While children are fully engaged with building a fairy house they are stimulated in many ways – creating, observing, collecting, exercising, communicating and imagining – all while having lots of fun. Learning flows easily as students use their imaginations to create micro-habitats for tiny magical beings who inhabit farms and forests. They begin to notice the tiny creatures that creep and crawl. They discern the many shades of greens and browns. Touching lichens, mosses, and other botanicals brings a deeper connection to their environment and a comfortable fearlessness in nature.

Thirty year environmental education veteran, Renee Simmons Raney, will use her newly released educational handbook from NewSouth Books, Hairy, Scary, but Mostly Merry Fairies: Curing Nature-Deficit Disorder through Folklore, Imagination, and Creative Activities, to teach unique and award winning techniques that connect nature to STEM and STEAM. This workshop has received recognition from the Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance, WildSouth, and Oxford University.

"Renee's fairy house workshops have inspired an enormous variety of activities in our school, including nature walks, artwork, writing,creative drama, collecting, researching, reading, writing, math and science activities, and best of all, cooperating! I am still hearing fairy house stories every day from teachers, parents, and students."   - Media Specialist  (Cleburne County AL)

"We implemented Renee's fairy house workshop skills in our fifth grade outdoor classroom. During this time students built, enhanced, created, wrote letters to the fairies, and more. We noticed an increase in their concentration skills, decrease in ADHD, and overall grades improved. We would recommend this workshop to all teachers and educators who enjoy creative learning." - Fifth Grade Teacher (Calhoun County AL)

Teachers can receive CE credit for participating in this workshop. The fee for the workshop is $15, and tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite.

E.A.T. South is an urban teaching farm that engages our local community by gathering around, learning about and growing food. We empower people to change the way food travels from the ground to our plates.