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...
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 17, 2020 | Early Years Outdoors, Literacy Outdoors, Nature Play & Learning
On many of my courses, I offer a booklet of nature play ideas on different outdoor themes. These are adaptations of many of the blog posts, so click on the links below to find out more. Linking books to nature has several aims when it comes to supporting...
Feb 19, 2020 | Art & Music Outdoors, Early Years Outdoors, Literacy Outdoors, Maths Outdoors
This week I’ve been presenting at the Aberdeenshire Council’s Early Years Conference. The theme has been Outdoor Literacy and my workshop focused on the natural art of mark making outside. However the process is easy enough for older primary children to...
Oct 31, 2019 | Art & Music Outdoors, Literacy Outdoors
This is an ordinary path in the middle of the Falkland Estate. It is also home to a subtle piece of word play art hidden within the drystone dyke on the left. Solvitur Ambulando is the Latin phrase meaning “It is solved by walking.” Whilst this advice is...
Sep 2, 2018 | Literacy Outdoors, Maths Outdoors
Several years ago, a fellow educator, Amber Grohs on Twitter sent me a sketchnote she had created from reading the first few pages of the Loose Parts Play: A Toolkit document. Immediately I loved the layout, look and feel of her work. Sketchnoting is a process which...
Jun 24, 2018 | Early Years Outdoors, Literacy Outdoors, Maths Outdoors
It is very easy when considering how to embed literacy and maths into an outdoor space to plump for sticking up an alphabet, words and numbers outside in various forms from bunting to letters to expensive signage. However this approach is rarely effective at engaging...
Feb 5, 2018 | Literacy Outdoors
Recently I was asked to think about why I teach literacy outside. Whilst there is a lot of focus on early years and literacy, the value of reading, writing, talking and listening outside for children and young people of all ages is significant. Here’s 10...
Oct 3, 2017 | Literacy Outdoors, Whole School
In July 2017, Ian Gilbert quietly published The Compleat Thunks Book which is his third on the topic. This is a form of question where the thinking, reasoning, logic, panic and irritation used to arrive at an answer, or deviate from it, creates conversations that make...
Jun 20, 2017 | Early Years Outdoors, Gardening, Literacy Outdoors
Many years ago, I had a quick stop-over in Penrith en route south. It’s always a bit of a mad dash but I needed a leg stretch and to catch a few Pokemon, so I toddled off around the town centre. Whilst going down a side street, I stumbled across a community...
Aug 30, 2016 | Early Years Outdoors, Literacy Outdoors
Letter formation is an element of learning to write that works surprisingly well outside. A child’s ability to form letters is strongly linked to their overall development in combination with an interest in and desire to write. If we introduce formal...
Sep 12, 2015 | Early Years Outdoors, Literacy Outdoors
For many years my blog post about stones was the most popular one on this website. The dash of colour added to stones is so much more than a lick of paint. Whilst undecorated stones have a multitude of uses, I thought it was time to celebrate literacy value of this...
Aug 12, 2015 | Early Years Outdoors, Literacy Outdoors
Writing outside is becoming increasingly popular in many primary and secondary schools as a method of engaging children and providing activities and stimuli which cannot be found indoors. The multi-sensory nature of much outdoor learning helps children to retain ideas...
May 30, 2015 | Early Years Outdoors, Gardening, Literacy Outdoors, Technologies
Recently I blogged about making seed packets from unwanted books. This is a brilliant concept in that it’s an informal approach to children continuing to interact with text in a way that is short, sweet and fun. When I posted this blog, Mark Paterson, the...
Mar 11, 2015 | Community Involvement, Early Years Outdoors, Gardening, Literacy Outdoors
There are many books especially textbooks and non-fiction books which are simply no longer fit for purpose. Some charities, such as Books Abroad, will take unwanted educational texts, but their criteria needs to be checked and only specific books can be donated....
Jan 18, 2015 | Early Years Outdoors, Literacy Outdoors, Science Outdoors
Today I was walking in a local woodland when I came across a magnificent Douglas Fir tree. These trees are not native to the UK but the West Coast of North America, where they have been known to grow to over 85 metres high. The Douglas Fir, as it is commonly...
Dec 24, 2014 | Literacy Outdoors
Whilst attending the Real World Learning Network Conference in November 2014 I had the opportunity to chat to Liz Earley, who works for the Field Studies Council. Once we discovered we both used iPads outdoors we took 5 minutes to share some apps. Liz showed me how...
Jun 8, 2014 | Literacy Outdoors
Just before the Easter break, I had the privilege of being part of the I’m a Kid Get Me Out of Here conference organised by Kirklees CC and based at the brilliant Cliffe House – a council run outdoor studies and conference centre. If you click on the link...
May 4, 2014 | Early Years Outdoors, Gardening, Literacy Outdoors
Recently I visited Westpark Nursery in Aberdeen, which had been donated a large raised bed – the sort that is traditionally used around towns for floral displays. At first the staff and children wondered how to use it as it seemed too big and too high...
Aug 16, 2013 | Art & Music Outdoors, Literacy Outdoors, Social Subjects Outdoors
At the Turriff Show, one of my favourite competition’s were the children’s miniature worlds. They are beautiful and a good example of how encouraging children to put thought into the design and time into creating the displays pays off. The outdoor...
