Outdoor Journeys – Page 2 – Outdoor Learning in the the Outer Hebrides

Stornoway Playgroup go on a Gruffalo Journey

Stornoway Playgroup took the opportunity to visit the Waterwheel building out in the Castle Grounds to use the building as a different space for story time. The story they enjoyed when they were there was the Gruffalo written by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

They took a leisurely stroll exploring the things they found on the way and when they arrived they had an illustrated story time.

This was made even better because they had taken the Gruffalo with them …

After the story it was a nice walk back into town.

The Outdoor Team and the Stornoway Trust are really pleased the building is being used and if there are other groups who would like to use it contact either Tim or Isi on the Outdoor Team to book it.

Exploring the Castle Grounds with Stornoway Playgroup

On a slightly wet morning Andrew (who has just started work as the Outdoor Learning team on a modern apprenticeship) and Tim met the young people of Stornoway Playgroup at the Golf Club for an adventure exploring the Castle Grounds. They enjoyed the cover of the trees to shelter from the showers.

All the young people were given a magnifying glass and we explained how to use it. This caused great amusement when they realised they could make other peoples eyes much, much bigger. Quickly they discovered they could use them to look at things and for small things.

Although the waterwheel wasn’t working they enjoyed looking it and it will give us an opportunity to visit again.

Working with Tong School

Tong School in the summer term of 2017 did a whole school project on outdoor learning, the team supported elements of this.

Tim provided a twighlight session to explore ‘how do I begin to soften the walls of the classroom’ with the staff.

This session led to taking several classes look at the ecosystem of the beach a short walk from the school.

The young people discovered the diversity of the ecosystem using the new resource boxes.

Another class wanted to look at fire; the local fire office came into the school to talk about fire safety, the young people particularly enjoyed seeing how a fire extinguisher worked.

Tim then came in with the fire pan for two sessions; one to reinforce the fire safety lessons and try different ways of lighting a fire and the second to cook on an open fire. The fire pan was set up under a tarp in the school grounds and the young people cooked fruit and vegetable kebabs followed by bannocks which they mixed themselves. After the session the teacher reported several of the young people had gone home made bannocks and asked for peppers with their dinner.

The English and Gaelic nurseries had a session exploring the school grounds which have a lovely stand of trees using the environmental resources boxes, with the magnifying glasses and the sample jars creating a huge amount of interest.

Particularly the large slug they found.

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