thinking skills | Creative STAR Learning | I'm a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here!

Story Stones and Thinking Skills

Apr 17, 2024 | Literacy Outdoors

My painted stones remain a much treasured resource that I continue to adapt and refine. Children like them and are happy to spend time looking and talking about the simple illustrations. Some are themed. Below is my minibeast collection. Here is is fairly easy to work...

Thinking Skills and Leaves

Oct 26, 2022 | Nature Play & Learning

Autumn is well and truly here, so once more, leaf activities are a must-do with children at the moment. As with so many natural materials, the non-uniformity of leaves – each one being unique – this can lead to a lot of creative thinking, exploring and...

10 Ideas for Exploring Clouds

Aug 7, 2016 | Science Outdoors, Technologies

“A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed. It feels an impulsion. This is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see...

A Maths Stick Picture Game

Apr 30, 2013 | Early Years Outdoors, Maths Outdoors

In my last post, 10 Little Stick Activities, I mentioned the game of Pick Up Sticks. This is fun, good for all ages and a nice way to introduce sticks to a class. Here’s another useful little idea that one course participant showed me when training in Perth last...

Labyrinths, spirals and rope

Mar 17, 2012 | Early Years Outdoors, Health & Wellbeing, RME Outdoors

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about a class who explored mazes outside. We continued the investigations and moved on to looking at labyrinths. These are a bit different to mazes. A maze has an element of problem-solving and decision making as usually one has to...