Aug 15, 2023 | Health & Wellbeing, Whole School
All over Scotland, children are gearing up for their first few days back at school. So are the teachers. I always used to be a bag of nerves on my first day back, even when working in small schools and having the same children. However, reading a few books about...
Mar 29, 2023 | Early Years Outdoors, Gardening, Health & Wellbeing, Nature Play & Learning, Technologies
The one activity my son remembers from his nursery days was making nettle soup. He recalls the excitement of wearing tough gloves and not believing he wouldn’t be stung in the mouth when he ate the soup. Spring is the time of year for making nettle soup. Young...
Feb 13, 2023 | Health & Wellbeing, RME Outdoors, Whole School
I have noticed that if children of all ages are given enough time to freely play in a natural setting, then at some point, they will sit or stand and just be for a while. They seem to tune into the environment, the sights, sounds, smells and feelings. I tend not to...
Jan 19, 2023 | Health & Wellbeing, Social Subjects Outdoors, Whole School
In Scotland we have Curriculum for Excellence Through Outdoor Learning. This document is integral to our curriculum. The three overarching statements summarise the expectations: “Our vision for outdoor learning in Scotland is that: All children and young people...
Dec 21, 2022 | Community Involvement, Health & Wellbeing, Whole School
Whenever there is snow, I’ve found myself jumping from one side of the fence to another over outdoor matters. I’ve had queries from schools and teachers who’ve received complaints from parents because they’ve allowed children outside when...
Nov 28, 2022 | Early Years Outdoors, Health & Wellbeing, Nature Play & Learning, Play Resources
Many years ago I remember providing a presentation about outdoor play to a large group of early years practitioners. At one point a collective gasp of shock and then lots of muttering happened because I showed a photo of children playing in an icy outdoor space. The...
Nov 24, 2022 | Early Years Outdoors, Health & Wellbeing, Whole School
How can we manage wet clothes and gear when we work in places not geared up to coping with the aftermath of outdoor activities? I’ve been rummaging through my collection of photos and here’s some ideas. Please do chip in, if you have any other good...
Aug 22, 2022 | Health & Wellbeing, Whole School
Schools in Scotland are shortly starting back after the summer holidays. Very often, teachers decide that “now is not the time” to be taking children outside, which is a pity as there’s lots of good reasons to be outside from the first day back: 1)...
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,...
Apr 1, 2018 | Early Years Outdoors, Health & Wellbeing, Whole School
In 2015, early years outdoor education consultant, Jan White wrote a book Every Child a Mover published by Early Education. It is a fabulous read that puts physical development firmly at the heart of good early years provision. There is lots of sensible practical...
Oct 27, 2016 | Early Years Outdoors, Gardening, Health & Wellbeing
Whilst in Hong Kong, I stayed at the Ark Eden Project. Being an environmental organisation, the focus is on living lightly. Outside the compost toilet, the hand washing facilities consisted of a small bowl of soapberries. These were used in place of soap. It reminded...
Jul 21, 2016 | Art & Music Outdoors, Community Involvement, Developing School Grounds & Outdoor Spaces, Health & Wellbeing
In the Welsh seaside town of Barry, a place made world famous by the Gavin and Stacey sitcom, lies a typographic traversing wall. It was designed by Gordon Young in association with Part Two – a London-based design consultancy and opened in 2014. Whilst this...
Dec 6, 2014 | Early Years Outdoors, Health & Wellbeing, Technologies
‘”Hot soup was a jolly good idea, it’s so very cold this morning but then it’s very early, the sun is only just coming up – look!” They finished their breakfast watching the blue water turn to dancing gold, even the rocks gleamed in...
Jun 26, 2014 | Community Involvement, Developing School Grounds & Outdoor Spaces, Health & Wellbeing
I love stumbling across features in school grounds which make me drool. The dirt bike track at Muirfield Primary School in Aberdeen is one of them. It is cool… The community appear to think so too. In the past, most developments in the grounds have been...
May 18, 2014 | Art & Music Outdoors, Gardening, Health & Wellbeing, RME Outdoors, Social Subjects Outdoors
There is something very poignant about seeing a single flower, such as the image of a red poppy at Flander’s Field and knowing its role in Remembrance Sunday and its story associated with The Great War. Over the years, flowers have become associated with...
Jan 11, 2014 | Early Years Outdoors, Health & Wellbeing, Nature Play & Learning
My beliefs and principles are often tested by outdoor experiences. I would like to be able to tell you that by now, I’ve got the systems sussed and my approach sorted. Only it doesn’t seem to work like that. Every group of children is different. Every...
Aug 9, 2013 | Health & Wellbeing, Literacy Outdoors
Going back to school after the holidays is always exciting. If you are getting a new class, then often the first few days are spent on introductory activities which help everyone get to know a bit more about each other. One activity I often used to do, was a...
Jul 18, 2013 | Developing School Grounds & Outdoor Spaces, Health & Wellbeing
Just before the summer holidays began, I was back up at Inverallochy School. Three years ago, the children and staff began the process of developing their school grounds. When they began, the grounds looked like this: And now they look more like this photo which is...
May 31, 2013 | Health & Wellbeing, Nature Play & Learning, Science Outdoors, Technologies
Many years ago I had a wonderful few days holiday over on the West Coast of Scotland. My family and I stayed at the Pier House Hotel in Port Appin which wins lots of awards for being friendly, welcoming and having an amazing seafood restaurant. On the last night, to...
Feb 26, 2013 | Early Years Outdoors, Health & Wellbeing, Technologies
A couple of weeks ago I blogged about two children who decided to wash one of the trikes in the slushy snow mix. It often is the case that when water is in the outdoor space, a trike gets washed. Recently Alistair Bryce-Clegg made a good point in one blog post about...
