Yesterday Primary 2/1 went to Almondell and Calderwood Country Park to discover if it would make a suitable home for Buddy Bear. It was a fantastic opportunity for us to apply and extend our learning about living things.

In the morning, we worked in groups to build shelters out of natural materials collected in the woodlands. On the way we looked for lots of things which Buddy Bear could use to survive, including examples of food and water. Some Primary 2 pupils also spotted parts of woodland food chains, like a caterpillar munching on a leaf. After lunch, the children also had the opportunity to play together the play park. The Rangers then led us on a nature trail, where we collected and compared different shapes of leaves, spotted a bat box and mole hills, and learned all about squirrels.

Here’s what some of the children had to say about what they learned:

“I learned to build shelters. You have to have a tree that’s got branches on it. You put sticks on the branch and make it into a triangle and then you put leaves on it. Then you have to test it out.” Grace

“My favourie part was when we were trying to catch leaves falling out of the tree.” Emily

“We learned about squirrels. They look behind them when they are digging to bury their nuts to see if there are any other squirrels. Sometimes they just pretend to dig the hole and put the nuts in.” Amber

“My favourite part was hiding the squirrel food and then finding them.” Cayla

“My favourite part was playing in the play park.” Finlay

And here are lots of pictures of  our day:

Thank you very much to all the Rangers and Parent Helpers for making the trip so valuable!