Outdoor learning has a long history in Scotland. Pioneered by countryside rangers in the 1970's. The mantle was carried on with the emergence of a nature pedagogy, best exemplified by Forest Schools in the 90's and now it is firmly embedded in the Curriculum for Excellence.
All these groups recognised the importance and benefits of learning outside.
Learning outdoors can be enjoyable, creative, challenging and adventurous.
Our chief outdoor practitioner, Ian, has been providing outdoor learning activities to nurseries, primary and secondary schools and youth groups for over 30 years, whilst employed as a countryside ranger.
Our activities can revolve around natural history, bushcraft or team building. We can incorporate maths, language and technology into our sessions. We often use creative arts and woodland crafts too. All you have to do is ask and we'll come up with a programme to suit!
We are happy to do one off sessions or a longer programme, which we firmly believe has huge benefits for the children. A good example of that is the John Muir Award which we have been delivering to Highland schools for 10 years.
So if you are a teacher or youth worker get their coats on and we'll take them out fire lighting, cooking bread, tying knots, building bridges, animal tracking, green woodworking, pond dipping, charcoal making, minibeast hunting, poetry writing...
Price-A three hour session costs £170 per class or £250 for a whole school day.
Locations- We can use woodlands or beaches near to your schools and sometimes even the school grounds will provide us with all we need.
Phone Ian on 01549 402698 or email at ian.paterson62@btinternet.com
Here are some of the most popular activities we provide:-
Nature detectives
Visit a series of crime scenes, spot the wildlife clues and deduce what event has taken place. This involves identifying feeding signs, footprints, animal homes and poo!
The use of keys and identification charts, plus some measuring are required.
Our Hop, Skip and Jump activity looks at animal tracks and how they differ depending on whether the animal is walking, running or jumping. This is a great maths exercise, requiring measuring of distance.
Minibeasts
We use a variety of sampling techniques to discover the invertebrates in any location. Our Bugs in Bits activity has children dressing up in insect costumes to look at their anatomy and what makes them different from one another. We can add on our Worm Charming Championship and Make a Worm race and Butterfly Egg Race to provide some high energy activities!
Words in the Woods
The children will try to unravel an anagram of one of the secrets of nature, provide special effects for a silent 2 act play, write a poem having only contributed 2 words and be encouraged to lie, to make a story from a found object!
Trees and Woods
We have a whole range of activities looking at trees, their structure, identification and importance. This could include the Food Factory; a look at Photosynthesis. Missing Passenger Hunt; a look at interrelations between plants and animals in a wood and a Community Census, where we look at the roles of different organisms in a wood. We also have the Great Tree I.D. Race where the children have to spot and name a number of trees.
Bushcraft Apprentice/ Instructor
This programme was designed to help children who find the classroom setting difficult. It can run over a term or more and is best delivered in a wild place, away from the school setting. We take between 6 and 8 children and build their confidence through a series of bushcraft activities including shelter building, fire lighting, knots and construction ( we usually end up building a bridge which they can traverse!) and tool use. If the children reach a certain proficiency they then become instructors and can help with the next cohort of apprentices. A real confidence booster for the children!
All these groups recognised the importance and benefits of learning outside.
- a greater understanding of nature and the environment leading to development of a caring attitude.
- improved time focus on activities, better concentration and improvements in behaviour.
- improved social skills, involvement and initiative.
- greater physical competence and agility.
- improved health and sleeping patterns.
- higher levels of conversational language.
- greater independence.
Learning outdoors can be enjoyable, creative, challenging and adventurous.
Our chief outdoor practitioner, Ian, has been providing outdoor learning activities to nurseries, primary and secondary schools and youth groups for over 30 years, whilst employed as a countryside ranger.
Our activities can revolve around natural history, bushcraft or team building. We can incorporate maths, language and technology into our sessions. We often use creative arts and woodland crafts too. All you have to do is ask and we'll come up with a programme to suit!
We are happy to do one off sessions or a longer programme, which we firmly believe has huge benefits for the children. A good example of that is the John Muir Award which we have been delivering to Highland schools for 10 years.
So if you are a teacher or youth worker get their coats on and we'll take them out fire lighting, cooking bread, tying knots, building bridges, animal tracking, green woodworking, pond dipping, charcoal making, minibeast hunting, poetry writing...
Price-A three hour session costs £170 per class or £250 for a whole school day.
Locations- We can use woodlands or beaches near to your schools and sometimes even the school grounds will provide us with all we need.
Phone Ian on 01549 402698 or email at ian.paterson62@btinternet.com
Here are some of the most popular activities we provide:-
Nature detectives
Visit a series of crime scenes, spot the wildlife clues and deduce what event has taken place. This involves identifying feeding signs, footprints, animal homes and poo!
The use of keys and identification charts, plus some measuring are required.
Our Hop, Skip and Jump activity looks at animal tracks and how they differ depending on whether the animal is walking, running or jumping. This is a great maths exercise, requiring measuring of distance.
Minibeasts
We use a variety of sampling techniques to discover the invertebrates in any location. Our Bugs in Bits activity has children dressing up in insect costumes to look at their anatomy and what makes them different from one another. We can add on our Worm Charming Championship and Make a Worm race and Butterfly Egg Race to provide some high energy activities!
Words in the Woods
The children will try to unravel an anagram of one of the secrets of nature, provide special effects for a silent 2 act play, write a poem having only contributed 2 words and be encouraged to lie, to make a story from a found object!
Trees and Woods
We have a whole range of activities looking at trees, their structure, identification and importance. This could include the Food Factory; a look at Photosynthesis. Missing Passenger Hunt; a look at interrelations between plants and animals in a wood and a Community Census, where we look at the roles of different organisms in a wood. We also have the Great Tree I.D. Race where the children have to spot and name a number of trees.
Bushcraft Apprentice/ Instructor
This programme was designed to help children who find the classroom setting difficult. It can run over a term or more and is best delivered in a wild place, away from the school setting. We take between 6 and 8 children and build their confidence through a series of bushcraft activities including shelter building, fire lighting, knots and construction ( we usually end up building a bridge which they can traverse!) and tool use. If the children reach a certain proficiency they then become instructors and can help with the next cohort of apprentices. A real confidence booster for the children!