Articles To Support Outdoor Learning:

Eight great articles that support going outside, being outside, and learning outside! How it can help life post covid, and aid adulthood. How it improves mental health and supports learning INside!

Grab a cuppa...











Location: Canterbury, UK

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Indoor Forest School

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On rare occasions, we need to cover a Forest School session INSIDE. It may be because the weather prevents a session, it may be a staffing issue, it may be an introduction for children who will find the outdoors challenging, but whatever causes it, there are times when setting up activities in a classroom is suddenly needed. I've said before that I have a large IKEA blue bag that I keep certain activities in, these are not necessarily ones I can/will use in Forest School, like jigsaw puzzles, colouring, cutting out, etc. It's fairly quick to add some of the nature table items, bug ID, and bird guides, etc. into the bag to make what is basically 'nature learning' feel a little like Indoor Forest School! One week in December started with me under the duvet with a fever and headache, and a PCR test pending. School canceled Forest School because waiting each day to decide what the following day's timetable would be was too hectic. So once back in on the Wednesday indoor
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Stormy weather

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At the risk of sounding even older than I actually am "We have way more storms than we uses to"! Which may or may not be statistically true, but definitely a lot more have impacted our Forest School since 2021 than before. (Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning!) Often, these charge in overnight or at weekends leaving me tip-toeing onto site to see what damage has been done. Frequently they gather pace at 4pm leaving the school day clear from session, and sometimes, the gods are smiling and they blow themselves out in the morning before the first class is due on site! They always make their mark though. Torn parachutes, flapping tarps, tree debris everywhere, litter blown in, on one occasion a 6ft trampolines rolling across the school. Field... There's the risk assessment required to ensure the site is fit for use, and damage to manage or remove. We're never totally unscathed! Sitting on a plateau at the edge of the South Downs doesn't help. The wind rush
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Outdoor Learning

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In my own head, I separate Outdoor Learning and Forest School.  They are interconnected but to me, FS offers activities and supports what the children choose to do, whereas OL has learning intentions and aimed-for outcomes. Year 3 are currently looking at the Stone Age as a theme, and I was asked if I would provide activities to support this. In doing so I would have to remove the children's usual choice, their opportunity to follow their own interests & learning outside, and the ability to respond to what they discover and expand on it. This isn't a 'bad' or 'wrong' thing, but it isn't Forest School. Hence approaching it with a different ethos. In giving 21st Century children a tiny taste of life over two million years ago the week began with a definite learning intention. I went with 6 activities that every child could try on rotation. They would end up with perhaps 10 minutes at each exercise in life long ago, after a chat at basecamp that explained w
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