Outdoor Classroom Learning

Outdoor Classroom Learning

This week there has been a definite focus on Mini beasts, imagination and building in the woodland classroom.

Many of the children have been focused on searching for woodlice and lots of discussion around the types of mini beasts we can find out there.

We lifted rocks and stones and discovered slugs and spiders and we also found a yellow centipede which was so fast we couldn’t capture it on camera as it had disappeared before we found the camera!  The children have been using the microscope to study what they find and they have been counting legs galore!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Counting the woodlouse legs

One of the children decided there was a bear cave in the furthest part of the woods, a part we have rarely been to so we set off on a bear hunt with Mrs Calder. One of the children thought it could be a Gummy Bear in the cave, then they decided, No it was a Gruffallo . Some of the boys decided to shoot the Gruffallo but the girls insisted “No, he’s our friend!” The children found a large length of blue pipe and decided that this was a lion trap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There has been a great deal of imaginative play in the outdoor classroom this in turn has led to den building and the constructions of castles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One child found a rabbit hole and said that there were rabbits inside calling “Here bunny bunny!”

The children have been using their bodies in different ways to travel up and down the mud hill (still the most popular area) .

Safety is as always paramount and the children are leading discussions around how to safely move within the woods continuously. One thing that has been very rewarding for me and many of the other staff has been the response to the boundaries we have set for the children. They simply follow the rules in place without question and remind each other if they see anyone wandering away from the group or going too far from the adults. At one point during the transition to the park the children were approached by a dog. Before I could say anything the children told each other “Don’t touch the dog we don’t know it and stay still”….wow!

There has been some transient art taking place, charcoal pavement drawings, threading leaves onto sticks to make necklaces and building a pretend fire and roasting pretend marshmallows ( leaves on sticks) , their child lead learning continues to amaze us.

 

All in all we have some very happy children leaning and having fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning going forward will be taking more numeracy and literacy within the woodland classroom. Sadly as others use the area we are limited to what we can create and leave there so we will be setting up a floor book so we can record our learning together in book form.