Busy Birds – Foundation
Available in Spring
Aim of session: To find out more about the small birds around us.
Learning Objectives / StructureTo find out what birds need to eat and survive
To find out about simple life cycles
To treat all creatures with respect / Play the Life Cycle game
Build a bird’s nest
Play the Hungry Chick game
Make bird feeders or collect nesting material to take home
Before your visit
Ø Read “Spike’s Best Nest” by Tony Maddox.
Ø Set up a bird feeding station and observe the birds that visit.
Ø Encourage children to look closely by matching pictures of birds
Ø Arrange bird pictures in order of size e.g. wren – sparrow – thrush - magpie
After your visit
Ø Make some simple food chains and join together with string
Ø Use pictures cut from magazines to make a bird collage
Wonderful Wildfowl – Foundation
Available all year
Aim of session: To observe the ducks, geese and swans that live on water.
Learning Objectives / StructureTo observe, record and identify ducks, geese and swans
To look at the adaptations of wildfowl
To find out how wildfowl survive, feed, breed and their life cycles
To be safe near water
To treat all creatures with respect / Five little ducks rhyme
Observe ducks, geese and swans
Duck life cycle jigsaw
Make a simple bird feeder to take home
Before your visit
Ø Look at pictures of ducks, geese and swans. Explain that they are all water birds
Ø Look at a picture of a duck’s webbed foot and discuss how this is useful for swimming.
Ø Look closely at a duck’s feather and talk about why it is so important for feathers to be waterproof.
After your visit
Ø Draw or paint a picture of a duck, goose or swan
Ø Make a class collage of a pond or lake with water birds and vegetation
Life in Water – Foundation
Available from April until October
Aim of session: to investigate the small creatures that live in ponds and appreciate the variety of pond life.
Learning Objectives / StructureCollect and record fresh water invertebrates
Recognise the variety of pond life
Develop understanding of adaptation
Learn about simple life cycles
To treat all creatures with respect / “Build a pond” activity. Introduction of pond mini habitats and mini beasts
Pond dipping - collection of mini beasts using nets
Investigation of finds - a closer look at mini beasts using pond magnifiers and tick sheets
Life cycle role play - Learn about simple water life cycles
Before your visit
Ø Talk to the children about pond dipping and how they need to look really carefully to see everything.
Ø Discuss which creatures live in a pond and the life cycles of some of these creatures.
Ø Talk about pond safety and why it is important to be safe around the water’s edge.
After your visit
Ø Think about what we need to survive. Use pictures of different creatures to think about what creatures eat, how they move and where they live.
Ø Think about the creatures you found on your visit and work together in small groups to build up a creature using people as legs, feelers and bodies.
Ø Do more work on food chains and think about linking pictures with string to show what eats what.
Marvellous Meadows – Foundation
Available April to October
Aim of session: To recognise different plants and mini beasts in the Wildlife Garden.
Learning Objectives / StructureTo collect and observe mini beasts
To treat animals and the environment with care and sensitivity
To recognise different flowering plants / Flower Spotting
Use a tick sheet to record different colours and shapes of flowers
Be a Bee Game
Team game to show the importance of bees in pollination
Mini beast Hunt
Use bug pots and paint brushes, trays and sticks to search for mini beasts.
Before your visit
Try to identify some habitats within the school grounds e.g. playing field, hedge, tree.
Talk to the group about what a mini beast is and where they might find them.
Discuss how the children need to handle mini beasts very carefully to avoid damaging them.
After your visit
Look at different plants and their seeds, reinforce the importance of bees as pollinators.
Why not aside an area of the school garden to grow bee friendly plants?
Make a mini beast hotel (hibernaculum) to encourage mini beasts into your school grounds.
Ten Tiny Seeds - Foundation
Available from April to October
Aim of session: To learn about the main parts of a plant and its life cycle
Learning Objectives / StructureLearn about plant life cycles
Name the parts of a plant: roots, leaf, stem, seed, flower
Find out what a seed needs to grow and survive / Read Eric Carle’s story, “Ten Tiny Seeds”
Collect the pieces to make a flower jigsaw
Seed role play
Look for different flowers
Plant a sunflower seed
Before your visit
Ø Read Eric Carle’s book to the children. Talk about how the seed is changing on each page.
Ø Look at different plants, identify the leaves, roots, stem and flower
After your visit
Ø Plant a seed and watch it grow. What grows first? What do the roots do for the plant?
What grows next? What do the leaves do for the plant?
Ø What do seeds need to survive?
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Foundation
Available April to November
Aim of session: to investigate the small mini beasts which live all around us and look at the caterpillar life cycle
Learning Objectives / Structure· To know that caterpillars turn into butterflies
· Learn about mini beasts - what they are and where they live / Read the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Make a group caterpillar by collecting materials for a body segment each.
Find the caterpillar’s food for the week.
Collect food for a caterpillar
Use bug pots to search for mini beasts
Caterpillar life cycle role play
Before your visit
· Talk to the group about what a mini beast is and where they might find them.
· Discuss how the children need to handle mini beasts very carefully to avoid damaging them.
After your visit
· Think about some other creatures and see if your group can put their life cycles into the right order.
· Think about camouflage and why it is so important to little mini beasts and why some mini beasts are really bright in colour and do not need camouflage.
Exploring Attenborough - Foundation
Available all year
Aims of session: To use the senses to explore a local habitat.
Learning Objectives / StructureChildren to use their senses to explore the local surroundings. / Photo trail – Use observational skills to identify places in the garden
Tickly prickly – Use the sense of touch to complete a scavenger hunt
Smelly Pots – Activity to focus on the sense of smell.
Mini gardens – Using natural resources
Before your visit
Ø Develop the children’s vocabulary linked to the sense of touch – e.g. smooth, soft, rough, prickly. Provide examples of these for the children to feel.
After your visit
Ø Take photos of locations in the school or school grounds, perhaps close ups or from unusual angles. Challenge the children to find them as part of a treasure hunt
Teddy Bear’s Picnic – Foundation
Available all year
Aim of session: To find out more about our native woodland creatures.
Learning Objectives / StructureTo find out which other creatures live in the woods and talk about their needs.
To explore the use of camouflage / Explore the woods to find some of Teddy’s friends
Use natural resources to make a party hat
Play some party games
Collect party food for Teddy and his friends
Before your visit
Ø Children to make an invitation for their Teddy Bear
After your visit
Ø Collect pictures of different bears, find out where they live and what they eat.
Terrific Trees – Foundation
Available all year
Aim of session: To use your senses to find out more about trees.
Learning Objectives / StructureTo recognise the main parts of a tree
To appreciate the variety of trees
Trees as micro-habitats
To begin to understand the importance of trees in the environment
To know that different creatures rely on trees. / Sounds of the Wood. Listen carefully –
What can you hear?
Meet a Tree –
Explore your favourite tree from a different perspective
Woodland Mini beast Hunt –
Use paintbrushes & bug boxes to look for mini beasts under logs
Woodland Mini beast sculpture
Make a sculpture of a favourite mini beast using twigs, stones etc.
Before your visit
Ø Talk to the children about showing respect for the plants and creatures that they may find in a wood.
Ø Look at trees in the school grounds/pictures of trees. Identify the root, stem, trunk, branches, twigs and leaves.
Ø Find out about the birds and creatures who might live in trees
After your visit
Ø Make some leaf rubbings or prints of the trees in your school grounds.
Ø Look at the shapes and sizes of different types of leaves. Find out the names of some trees.
Ø Plant an acorn
Woodland Symphony – Foundation
Available all year
Aim of session: To use natural materials to make musical instruments and perform as a group.
Learning Objectives / StructureØ To listen with concentration
Ø To create musical patterns
Ø To play un-tuned instruments
Ø To explore how sounds can be made in different ways
Ø To perform with others / Ø What sounds can they hear in the wood? Which are natural: birds, wind…
Which are manmade: lorries…
Ø Woodland Scavenger hunt. With an adult, explore sounds in the wood, tapping sticks, rustling leaves…
Ø Use natural and recycled materials to make own musical instrument.
Ø As a group perform a song/group activity using their instrument
Before your visit
Ø Experiment with playing different rhythms, copy a pattern and make up your own.
After your visit
Ø Make your own instrument from recycled materials to make a rain maker or drum
Ø Why not make a musical washing line for your school?
Wild about Art – Foundation
Available all year
Aim of session: To create artwork inspired by the natural world.
Learning Objectives / StructureTo use natural materials to create artwork
To investigate colour, shape, pattern and texture within the natural environment
To explore the local environment / Scavenger Hunt
Sounds of the Wood
Who lives in the wood
An opportunity to explore the wood to look for clues as to who may have been there before you.
Clay animal sculptures
Make your own woodland animal using clay and natural resources
Before your visit
Ø On a guided walk around school can the children find/make rubbings of different textures e.g. brickwork, wood.
Provide natural materials to feel, compare and sketch e.g. pine cones, smooth pebbles, feathers
After your visit
Ø Collect different leaves and make leaf prints, make a collage using natural materials, leaves, grasses, twigs,
Ø Make a mobile of pine cones, feathers, leaves, seed heads…
Patterns and Numbers in Nature - Foundation
Available from September to April
Aim of session: Search for the lost five little ducklings and look for patterns and numbers along the way!
Learning Objectives / StructureTo enhance a range of numeracy skills including:
Counting
Collecting
Symmetry
Sequencing by size
Measuring using non-standard units / The children will work in groups with an adult to follow a series of numbered trail cards. Each trail card has a different task to be completed such as:
Counting wildfowl
Collecting a specified number of natural objects
Finding symmetrical objects
Sorting leaves by order of size
Working out how to find the circumference of a tree.
Before your visit
Ø Talk to the children about staying together in a group
Ø Make sure children are dressed properly for the weather conditions
After your visit
Ø Make symmetrical patterns using paint – butterflies, leaves, flowers
Ø Provide natural resources for the children to sort into groups, by size, by colour.
All programmes can be tailored to meet specific requirements.