Opening Doors
Opening Doors to Outdoor Learning
The children in Early Years at Pinner Wood School have regular sessions in our onsite Forest School area. This gives children a chance to explore learning in an outdoor setting, whilst also learning about the importance of taking care of our wonderful environment!
At Pinner Wood, we extend this further and offer all our children from Year 1 - 6 an outdoor learning lesson every half term. This follows a clear structure and will cover a different topic each half term. The sessions are all outside, practical and hands on learning, sometimes linked to classroom learning, a storybook or a prop/stimulus. Further benefits of outdoor learning lessons include:
Improved social skills and communication
Peer interaction
Problem solving
Risk taking
Building resilience
Listening skills
Learning and activities for outdoor learning are also planned and linked to other key events, accreditations and awards we are working towards, including:
Green Flag Eco Award
TFL Stars accreditation
Woodland Trust Platinum Award
RSPB events including Great Big Bird Watch
Nature Education Park
An example of topics and activities are below:
Term | Topics | Example of activities |
Autumn 1 | Sensory | Mud pies, woodland instruments, bare foot exploration, sensory sculpture |
Autumn 2 | Storytelling | Journey sticks, fables, Native American takes, Super Worm |
Spring 1 | Shelter building | Working as a group to make a den, shelters using equipment |
Spring 2 | Art | Bark rubbing, mud paintings, Andy Goldsworthy, weaving |
Summer 1 | Planting | Pumpkin, harvesting, runner beans, mint |
Summer 2 | Cooking | Mint tea, toasting marshmallows, bread, soup |
Structure of the Session
Beginning- ritual and discussion
Activity- share, show, help, watch
Back to base- share and show
Ending- ritual and discussion- meditation
Forest Learning Rules
· Follow Forest Learning Rules:
· Stay in Forest Learning boundaries;
· Speak politely to each other; treat each other with respect;
· We do not eat anything we find; hands must be kept out of our mouths;
· We must wash our hands after Forest Learning;
· We come back straight away to “base” when the whistle is blown;
· No walking through the fire circle;
· Children must come to Forest Learning dressed appropriately for the time of year;
· In our forest, we care for all living things and take particular care of our special site;
· We do not pick living flowers or plants.
· We never put anything into the pond including our hands
More information on outdoor learning can be found in one of our school blogs here.
