Activity Report: Youth Environmental Discovery & Field Outings
Connecting rural youth with the wonders of outdoor biodiversity, botanical journaling, and scientific literacy through guided field expeditions in Liginiac.
Sortie nature et initiation à la botanique de terrain organisée pour les enfants de l'école de Liginiac.
Public Interest Education Standard: All membership fees and dues are fully reinvested in the association's public interest missions. All youth outings, field magnifying kits, identification guides, and transport coordination are provided 100% free of charge to families and schools.
Youth & Nature
Bringing Science & Literature Together in the Field
In our digital age, many children spend less time exploring outdoor woodland ecosystems despite growing up in picturesque rural areas. The Association des Amis de la Licorne designed the Youth Environmental Discovery Program (*Passeport Découverte Nature*) to bridge this gap, demonstrating that books and direct nature experience are natural allies.
During the 2025–2026 school term, our volunteer educational team led five immersive field discovery days for primary pupils from Liginiac and surrounding hamlets. Each outing paired outdoor exploration—looking under forest stones, listening to bird calls, and collecting autumn seeds—with literacy exercises, scientific drawing, and nature poetry composition recorded in personalized handmade field journals.
Regroupement des jeunes participants avant le départ sur le sentier des gorges de la Triouzoune.
68
Pupils Involved
Primary school students participating in hands-on botanical and freshwater ecological field surveys.
5
Exploration Circuits
Carefully marked educational trails exploring riverbanks, mossy granite boulders, and ancient meadows.
100%
Free Accessibility
Zero financial costs for schools, parents, or students; fully supported by our municipal educational grant.
Field Activities
Hands-On Learning: From Freshwater Macro-Invertebrates to Botanical Herbaria
Each outing was structured around specific inquiry-based learning modules designed to stimulate observation, vocabulary acquisition, and teamwork:
Le parcours d'observation des berges de la Triouzoune exploré par les élèves pour l'étude de la faune aquatique.
Stream Ecology & Water Quality Testing
Equipped with magnifying bug boxes and identification keys, pupils gently turned river stones in the Triouzoune to sample freshwater macro-invertebrates. Children identified mayfly larvae (*Ephemeroptera*), caddisfly cases (*Trichoptera*), and stoneflies, learning how these delicate creatures serve as living indicators of pure, unpolluted water.
The Living Botanical Herbarium (*L'Herbier Vivant*)
Instead of picking rare flowers, students learned non-destructive botanical documentation. Using tracing paper and colored pencils, they made bark rubbings of sessile oaks and sweet chestnuts, pressed fallen autumn leaves, and matched seed pods with reference encyclopedias borrowed from the municipal library.
Carnet de terrain illustré réalisé par un élève de CM1 consignant les espèces végétales observées à Liginiac.Mise en page et reliure des herbiers d'automne lors de l'atelier de restitution à la bibliothèque municipale.
Pedagogical Outcomes & Community Exhibition
The culmination of the project was an open public exhibition hosted in the reading room of the Bibliothèque Municipale of Liginiac. Over 120 family members, village elders, and municipal delegates attended the opening evening.
Children proudly guided their parents through the display boards, explaining the ecological role of wetland mosses and reading aloud their original nature haikus. By celebrating children's discoveries in a public forum, the association demonstrated how rural literacy initiatives nurture pride, environmental stewardship, and generational harmony in Haute-Corrèze.
Get Involved
Schedule a School Outing or Join Our Volunteer Educators
Are you a teacher in the Ussel or Neuvic school districts, or a parent interested in enrolling your child in our free weekend nature reading walks? We welcome your participation.
Plan the 2026–2027 Season With Us
Our volunteer educational bureau is currently preparing the next cycle of field outings, including seasonal expeditions focused on insect pollinators, bird migration routes, and geology of the Dordogne gorges.
