Lots of small people, ready to learn and excited about going outdoors.  How would this work?

I took a walk around our school grounds and decided our garden area would be a great space to use and develop for outdoor learning.  We already had lots of logs arranged in a circle which the children call the ‘fairy circle’ or the toadstools.  We have bug hotels, huge tyres we used to plant veg in, flower beds, willow tunnels apple trees, grass and lots of weeds.

Start small, create a plan, what do you want the children to learn?

Our school rules are Respect, Responsible and Safe.  This seemed to be ideal skills for us to practise outside while learning about nature and our outdoor space.  I wanted to split the children into 3 groups and we could then work on rotation, spending around 20 minutes on each activity.  I put out feelers to the parents and was delighted when 2 parents agreed to give up their time weekly to support our learning.

Our first sessions were all about using the space, becoming confident with the rules and setting and sticking to the boundaries.  Each week we walk to our outdoor area quietly, in pairs, once we are within the gate we can run ahead to our circle of logs, renamed the ‘story circle’.

The photos below show some of our outdoor activities, however I also find it beneficial to have an indoor ‘just in case’ plan.

As the first signs of spring start appearing, the children are beginning to suggest activities, sharing that we need to sweep up the leaves, tidy the garden and do some planting.  They take the camera and take photos of signs of Spring and their hard work at filling a bulk bag with garden refuse.  Unfortunately at the end of March we went into lockdown and the development of our space is put on hold.