On Thursday 5th September P5 and P7 spent an amazing day at Benmore Botanical Gardens with their teachers and support staff. On Friday 6th September P6/5 and P7/6 also enjoyed a fabulous day at Benmore. Cath and Katie from the Education Service in Edinburgh’s Botanical Gardens were the superb instructors during the visits. Each class got the fantastic opportunity to make felt, incorporating an image of a plant or greenery. These had been freshly picked from the gardens to provide inspiration for the felting project.

The children and adults soon discovered it involved a lot of physical hard work to blend the wool into felt. Each child produced a piece of felt to take home, complete with a coloured image, using the wonderful array of coloured Merino wool available. The children’s feedback on their felting workshop was “Brilliant!” “Amazing!” “Mind Boggling!” and the general consensus was they’d love to do it again. Each child was justifiably proud of their achievements.












The children also were given the opportunity to produce natural art during a woodland walk creating a woodland gallery. They become botanists and used hand lenses to magnify lichen and take a close up view of many things invisible to the naked eye. More discoveries were made thanks to the help of long handled mirrors similar to those used during dental check ups. These enabled the children to examine the underside of mushrooms and other plants. During the walk each child was asked to find a leaf that could be seen through when held up to the light. They were told we were going to have a Carousel Show. When we arrived at a clearing we formed a circle and each child put their leaf into a cardboard slide to hold up to the light to view. A clicker was the signal to pass the slide to the person on the left allowing everyone the opportunity to view all the leaves that had been collected. Some looked like human skin showing the veins underneath while others looked like constellations of stars. A very illuminating exercise enjoyed by all.
















Before setting off on their trip to Benmore the children were given an additional challenge set by Mrs Fisher our Depute Head. They were invited to choose a language assignment, from a list of options, to be completed on their return to school. The children rose to the occasion and their handmade felt and reports, poems, letters and leaflets have created wonderful displays enabling them to share their learning experiences with everyone in Dunoon Primary.












An educational outing packed full of exciting challenges and adventures, greatly enjoyed by all the participants lucky enough to take part.