Hello everyone I have put together a list of simple outdoor learning ideas you can do at home with your children. We all love our outdoor adventures together and I hope these will inspire children and parents to continue their outdoor learning at home. Have fun and we look forward to hearing what fresh air adventures you’ve got up to. 🌳🌿🍁🐞🐌🦋🐝🌻🌞🍄🌿🌈✨

Please email in any photos to stmarystrurolearning@gmail.com

Creative ideas

1. Make mud pies. Plan and present a dinner for one of your toys or family. Open your own muddy restaurant! Write out your recipes, menu and prices for your customers. Does your restaurant have a name? Make a sign to advertise your restaurant.

2. Find a stick and make your own ‘Stick man’ by drawing on eyes and a smile. Take Stick man on your outdoor adventures. Can you make him a den to sleep in and a bed?

3. Make a face on the floor using natural materials. (Grass, mud, sticks, stones, flowers etc.)

4. Make a leaf crown using a strip of card and glue natural treasures you find.

5. Make mini dens for a toy or fairy using sticks, grass and other natural materials. (Write a note to the fairies and see if they write back.) Fairies love mud pies!

6. Make clothes, food and furniture for the fairies.

7. Keep the fairies/ pixies/ lego figures /your toys fit by making them a mini obstacle course to complete. ( Jump on the stones, run under the tunnel made of twigs, scramble over the grassy mountain and balance along the tightrope before jumping over the muddy swamp at the finish line!)

8. Water painting. Use your fingers / stick/ paintbrush to paint patterns and pictures on a wall / floor/ patio using water. If you have chalks you can colour the pictures in.

9. Natural paints. Create your own natural paints by crushing grass and flowers to make your own pigments of color. Crush the grass / flowers using a stone or spoon.

10. Andy Goldsworthy inspired artwork. Look at previous St Mary’s Forest school blogs to see examples of natural artwork created by pupils in the style of Andy Goldsworthy. Google images online of Andy Goldsworthy’s creations they are stunning.

11.Making music! All you need is a stick to beat out a rhythm. Can you make different sounds and rhythms? Experiment with the sounds of fences, walls and other items you find. Create your own musical instrument using gravel, seeds or other natural materials to put inside tubs, toilet rolls etc.

12. Dinosaur footprints. Use card / paper to create an outline of a dinosaur footprint. Sprinkle flour on the stencil to create a footprint. Can you make a treasure hunt for someone to follow? See the St Mary’s Forest School blog for more ideas.

13. Sticks! Endless fun can be provided by a stick when you use your imagination… here are just a few suggestions of what to do with your treasured stick…magic wand, fishing rod, paintbrush, drawing tool in the mud, a horse to ride, a sword, a broomstick, a lead for an imaginary pet dragon/dog/unicorn etc! Tie some string to a stick as a lead and take your ‘stick pet’ for a walk.

14. Bug hotel. Create you own bug hotel using empty pots and natural items you find outside. Remember that mini beasts like lots of little nooks and crannies to hide away from predators.🐞🐜🐛🐌

Active fun ideas

1. Roll down a grassy hill or along the grass for fun.🌳🌿😀✨

2. Hug a tree. Can you get your arms completely around the tree trunk?🌳

3. Lie on the floor and look up at the branches and leaves waving in the wind. Look at the patterns they make and listen to the calming sound of rustling leaves.🍁🌿🌳

4. Cloud watching. Look at the clouds what different shapes can you see? Use your imagination….can you see any animals, faces, etc?☁️🌤🌥🌬

5. Get active! Make a natural obstacle course for you and your family members to complete. E.g jump on the sticks, balance along the line of leaves, do five star jumps, hop on one leg and then run back to the starting point etc.

6. Natural scavenger hunt. Can you find three different shaped green leaves? Can you find four different sizes sticks. Can you find something that you find interesting or pretty. Can you find any woodlice etc?🐞🐌🌿🍁🐛🐜

7. Gardening. Help at home with the garden or plant your own seeds or bulbs in a plant pot and observe them as they grow.🌻🌱

8.Den making. Use whatever resources you have at home to make your own den. You could use old sheets and clothes pegs. Eat your lunch in your den and snuggle up and read a story too.

9. Take your toys outside for an adventure. Invite them to an outdoor picnic.

10. Zip line. Create a zip wire for your toys using string and a paper clip. Tie the top of the string up high and attach the end of the string to an anchor point. Tie some extra string around the waist of your toy and then open up the paper clip and attach it to your toy’s waist and then make a hook at the end of the paperclip which will glide and move down the zip wire string. Have fun!

11. Water play. Use old pots and pans, washing up bowl, bucket etc to play with the water. Investigate different size containers. Which objects float / sink? Which materials are waterproof? Use toy cars / boats in the water. Give your dolls a bath.

12. Rainy days. Don’t let the rain stop you going outside. Put on your coat and go and enjoy the simple delight of splashing in puddles! You could also make a rain gauge using an empty plastic bottle.(Google ideas.)🌧💦

13. Bubbles. Make your own giant bubble mixture.

6 cups (1500ml) hot water mixed with half a cup of cornflour.

Add half a cup (125ml) of FAIRY washing up liquid.

Add 1 tbsp baking powder

Add 2 tbsp (30ml) Glycerine

Cup = 250ml

Half a cup =125ml

Nature Detectives

1.Be a nature detective. Can you spot any signs of Spring? Can you see any daffodils, new green shoots or buds growing on plants and tress?

2. Listen to the birds singing. Close your eyes and relax. How many different sounds can you hear? (Wind whistling, branches swaying, leaves rustling, birds singing etc.)

3. Do your own garden birdwatch
https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun
-and-learning/forteachers/schools-birdwatch/
Can you present your findings in a tally chart,graph?

4. Mini beast hunt. Go on a mini beast hunt. How many different mini beasts can you find? Maybe make a tally chart of your findings. 🐞🐛🐌🐜

Interesting Forest School ideas

For more amazing Outdoor learning and Forest school ideas have a look at the following …

1. The Muddy Puddle Teacher

(on Instagram) the_muddy_puddle_teacher

(on Facebook) The Muddy Puddle Teacher

2. Badger Forest School (Based in Cardinam Woods, Cornwall.)

Look on You Tube – ‘Badger Forest School Sessions Online.’

(Also on Instagram and Facebook.)

We can’t wait to hear about your outdoor adventures together. Have fun. 😀🌞🍄🦋🌈🌳🐞🐌🍁🌻🌱🐛🐜🌿