Learning Outside the Classroom Workshops

From supporting environmental awareness to promoting resilience and adaptability to improving mental well-being, there are a whole host of benefits to Outdoor Learning. Which is why – in addition to the outdoor activities outlined below - we are always happy to adapt any of our workshops to take place in your outdoor space. So, if you are planning an Outdoor Learning Day, Week or programme of learning, look no further…

The Outdoor Maths Trail

The world is, of course, built from maths – so the combination of your outdoor space and our Outdoor Maths Trail provides a wonderful opportunity to put it all in context and support children in seeing and valuing the maths that is all around us. Not only that, but the Trail allows us to work with the whole of up to a one-form entry school in just a single day! Working in small groups, pupils tackle an independent carousel as they move around and between ten stations, each featuring an age-appropriate mathematical challenge linked to the outdoor world and each providing all the resources required. And the Trail doesn’t just give pupils a chance to practise their mathematical skills. The activity has been designed to provoke speculation as well – while working outdoors promotes both physical and mental wellbeing, too!

Exploring (depending on time, age and group size): maths-in-context, maths language, additive and multiplicative reasoning, number sequences and patterns, properties of 2D and 3D shapes, positional language, measurement, units of measurement, co-ordinates, money maths, data collection, presentation and interpretation.

Duration: depending on the numbers involved, from half an hour per workshop to half a day!

And Don’t Forget … we’re also experienced in designing and delivering Outdoor Maths CPD programmes for teachers, including twilights, half days and full days!

“All the pupils from Nursery to Year 6 enjoyed exploring how much fun Maths can be outdoors. All pupils were engaged and enthusiastic about Maths. Jo delivered an after school family outdoor activity, which was a great way to engage parents and carers. Would definitely book again. Thank you." Kirkdale St Lawrence C of E Primary School

Outdoor Poetry

Schools’ outdoor areas offer a wealth of stimulus for learning in Literacy and our observational Outdoor Poetry workshop takes full advantage of this. Across both the centuries and the continents, poets have taken inspiration from the outdoor world. And this intriguing workshop gives your children the chance to do the same! Using your own school grounds as a resource in themselves, we'll guide pupils through a process enabling them to see ordinary things in extraordinary ways. Working in small teams, children will construct their poems by responding to a series of prompts, inviting them to take a detailed look at the space around them. They may be used to seeing the outdoor area everyday, but have they ever really looked at it? What unusual features are there? What do they remind the pupils of? And, what would they like to know more about? Whether it is mostly concrete and brick or green playing fields and wooded areas, your outdoor space is a ready resource to enthuse your pupils and inspire some richly descriptive verses!

Suitable for: KS1 – KS2

Exploring (according to age): descriptive writing, connection-making, simile, metaphor, poetic structure.

Duration: depending on the numbers involved, from half an hour per workshop to half a day!

And Don’t Forget … we’re also experienced in designing and delivering Outdoor Literacy CPD programmes for teachers, including twilights, half days and full days!

“Thanks for a great course today Jo @ascreatives. I'm sitting in the sunshine planning my first of many weeks of outdoor learning." Homerswood Primary

The Big Outdoor Science Day!

Our Big Outdoor Science Day doesn’t just explore aspects of outdoor science – it takes your pupils outdoors, too! A Big Outdoor Science Day can accommodate the whole of up to a two-form entry school in a single day – although it’s equally possible, of course, to run longer, more in depth sessions for specified classes or year groups. And workshops see a member of our team leading the children through a range of age-appropriate, drama-based activities designed to bring to life science strands that the different year groups will be investigating at some point in the year …

EYFS: Whatever the Weather (Seasonal Change)… how does the weather change with the seasons? And how do we humans respond?

Year 1: A Matter of Life and Death (Living Things and Their Habitats) … how can we tell if something is living or dead – or has never been alive? What difference does this make to the way we think about things?

Year 2: From Tiny Acorns (Plants) … what stages does a plant go through as it grows from a seed or bulb to maturity? And how do its needs change along the way?

Year 3: Beyond a Shadow of Doubt (Light) … Where does natural light come from? How does it interact with solid bodies to form shadows? And how can these help us judge the passage of time?

Year 4: A Chain of Events (Animals, Including Humans) … if your school grounds were a savannah, what would a food chain look like? And where might an acacia tree, a meerkat and a vulture end up in it?

Year 5: Forces of Nature (Forces) … How are the “invisible” forces of gravity, air resistance, water resistance and friction made “visible” in the outdoor world? And how do some living things take advantage of them?

Year 6: The Classification Tree (Classification) … how can a mighty oak tree act as a metaphor for Carl Linnaeus’s system of classifying living things? And how can this help our understanding of evolution?

With everything achieved through immersive approaches, including drama- based activities and games, there are no props, experiments. And the only visual prompts are those provided by the outdoor world itself!