Oct 27, 2022 | Art & Music Outdoors, Early Years Outdoors, Nature Play & Learning
Many people know about environmental art. Andy Goldsworthy made the concept public and popular from the Eighties onwards. More recently land artists such as Richard Shilling and James Brunt provide child-friendly inspiration through their inspirational art work. Some...
Oct 25, 2022 | Art & Music Outdoors, Early Years Outdoors, Nature Play & Learning
Some children find explosions a source of fascination or interest. Not least, the story of Guy Fawkes always held appeal for me. The whole idea of attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament I found thought-provoking as a child. Many anarchists argue that he was...
Oct 22, 2022 | Early Years Outdoors, Maths Outdoors, Nature Play & Learning
One of the most memorable parts of the story, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, is when Billy Bones is presented with a black spot. One side is black, the other side bears a message. A pirate – particularly a Captain – who receives this in their...
Aug 24, 2022 | Early Years Outdoors, Gardening, Nature Play & Learning, Whole School
In late summer, wasps are growing woozy. Most don’t have much longer to live. The female wasps that have mated will leave the nest to hibernate over winter, so the social structure of the nest begins to go awry and the nest starts closing down for winter! At...
Aug 23, 2022 | Early Years Outdoors, Play Resources
Very often when I ran courses participants would tell me that they only have a patch of tarmac for the children to play on. Whilst in the long term, all sorts of changes can happen, in the short term, the space needs to be used cleverly. Permission is usually needed...
Aug 5, 2022 | Developing School Grounds & Outdoor Spaces, Early Years Outdoors
Whilst walking around Vilnius in Lithuania, I kept an eagle eye out for any interesting play parks. Most were the usual rather dismal swing, slide, spring toy and climbing frame set. Yet tucked away in the Pavilniai Regional Park, I discovered this little bespoke...
Aug 2, 2022 | Developing School Grounds & Outdoor Spaces, Early Years Outdoors
One of the key zones at the Lake Macquarie Variety Playground is the Circuit Zone where children can bring their small bikes, scooters and other wheeled toys. Children are free to ride around the whole playground yet this zone has sufficient appeal that there were...
Jul 21, 2022 | Developing School Grounds & Outdoor Spaces, Early Years Outdoors
I recently visited Chapelton, which is a new town being built just south of Aberdeen. My intention was to visit the newly opened Tom Patey Natural Playground, but this little beauty caught my eye… From a distance it looked like a wee community gathering space....
Jun 27, 2022 | Early Years Outdoors, Play Resources, Technologies
Several years ago, Sarah Lazarovic created the wonderful illustration, the Buyerarchy of Needs. It has always resonated with me, because I am aware of how resources dominate many educators’ thinking. There has been a trend towards removing plastic resources and...
Jun 23, 2022 | Early Years Outdoors, Literacy Outdoors
As educators, our work involves making explicit links between a story and the children’s outdoor spaces and lived experiences. These days there are lots of books that help children enjoy being outside and celebrate nature, natural events and adventures. I also...
Jun 18, 2022 | Community Involvement, Early Years Outdoors, Nature Play & Learning
Mud Mapping Find all the muddy places nearby. Look for hidden nooks and crannies between rocks. Check near puddles. Test each mud patch and rate in terms of squelch, ooze and stickiness. Mark each spot on a map with a splodge of mud! Dinosaur Swamp If you have a...
Jun 9, 2022 | Early Years Outdoors, Gardening, Science Outdoors
There is something about humans which makes us not only want to adapt and change our own habitats and homes, but that of other creatures. Generally, the more natural an environment the better it is for wildlife to flourish. Given that most school grounds are highly...
Jun 8, 2022 | Early Years Outdoors, Play Resources
Tarps and outdoor work go together like a cheese and pickle in a sandwich. They are such a useful and versatile resource. I have blogged about them many times. Yet the ugly truth is that they are large sheets of plastic. We need to be re-thinking whether we should...
Jun 6, 2022 | Early Years Outdoors, Nature Play & Learning, Whole School
There are a growing number of organisations and Facebook groups dedicated to ensuring children have lots of free time in nature as part of their early childhood. Browse the following to get a feel for them: American Forest Kindergarten AssociationChild and Nature...
May 28, 2022 | Course Handouts, Early Years Outdoors, Whole School
Over the past couple of years, I’ve been asked to contribute to a few podcasts and webinars. So I thought it may be good for you to be able to access these in one place. It does take time on the side of the presenter to put these together so many thanks to those...
May 17, 2022 | Early Years Outdoors, Science Outdoors
As my life continues to change, I’ve have been doing a huge amount of sorting out of my resources and deciding what brings me joy and that I wish to keep. My collection of magnifiers is one example. Over the years I’ve collected and used many different...
Aug 9, 2021 | Course Handouts, Early Years Outdoors, Whole School
This blog post I created tosupport educators access outdoor ideas and materials during lockdown.Yet it still feels like a useful blog post. Please do tell me, if you find a great website or resource. As usual, you will have to decide what activities are appropriate...
Jul 21, 2021 | Early Years Outdoors, Health & Wellbeing, Nature Play & Learning, Play Resources, Whole School
Over the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of reading through a recently published book The Essential Guide to Forest School and Nature Pedagogy by Jon Cree and Marina Robb. This book has been a long time in the making and given its hefty size of 400 pages,...
Jul 17, 2021 | Early Years Outdoors, Literacy Outdoors, Technologies, Whole School
When I left teaching college in the early Nineties, laminated sheets were not used. If we really needed something covered we had to use stickyback plastic. It was expensive and you learned to develop the knack of avoiding lines and bubbles appearing. In my outdoor and...
Jun 23, 2021 | Early Years Outdoors, Nature Play & Learning
I receive a lot of queries about outdoor nurseries, out-of-school clubs, forest kindergartens and nature kindergartens in Scotland. This post lists the ones I am aware of, but please, if you know of others, then please do get in touch and tell me more. One...
