Nature Led Learning: Woodland Walks

This week, we wrapped up warm and went for walks in the woods every day.

Here’s how I support all areas of children’s development on our woodland walks.

Communication and Language

· Read and discuss picture books about being outside in the woods. We like Tidy by Emily Gravett, The Gruffalo, and Stanley’s Stick.

· Hide objects and either give clues or describe where they were hidden to support the use of prepositions, e.g. “Betty has hidden the ball under the leaves” or “I have hidden the ball behind something.”

· Model asking how and why questions to encourage the children to do the same. Wonder out loud why the leaves are on the floor, how they got there, etc.

· Go on a listening walk. Keep stopping and asking the children to listen carefully. Can they identify any familiar sounds?

· Teach key vocabulary such as branch, bud, trunk, roots and bark.

· Point out any signs that you notice, whether they use words or symbols to convey a message.

Physical Development

· Take a ball to practise throwing, catching and kicking.

· Use natural materials to create homes for woodland animals.

· Use sticks to write our names in the mud.

· Climb trees and play equipment.

· Get dressed warmly and talk about what we will wear to stop us from being cold. Encourage the children to put on their own coats, shoes, hats and gloves.

· Do some yoga and be a tree!

· Practise pencil control by drawing and labelling some of the things that we found on our walks.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

· Encourage the children to work together to build a den or help to clear a nice space for us to sit and eat.

· Take a ball to play with together.

· Read and discuss picture books about being outside in the woods. We like Tidy by Emily Gravett, The Gruffalo, and Stanley’s Stick.

· Plan some ‘unplanned’ time when the children can roam freely. It is during this time that children collaborate to make up their own games. On one outing this week, Betty decided that they were going to make leaf soup. She instructed the younger ones to gather leaves, they put them in a tree hollow which was full of rain water and all stirred it with a stick.

Literacy

· Play ‘I Spy…’

· Read and discuss picture books about being outside in the woods. We like Tidy by Emily Gravett, The Gruffalo, and Stanley’s Stick.

· Identify some of the trees that you find using a reference book.

· Write names or letters using natural resources that you find in the woods.

· Practise pencil control by drawing and labelling some of the things that we found on our walks.

· Point out any signs that you notice, whether they use words or symbols to convey a message.

Mathematics

· Sort leaves into piles according to shape, size, colour, etc.

· Play games where we count steps, jumps, claps, etc.

· Sing ‘Ten Autumn Leaves Hanging on a Branch’ to the tune of Ten Green Bottles.

Understanding the World

· Take a magnifying glass to investigate things that we find.

· Collect interesting things to take home.

· Ask the children to close their eyes and put something like a pine cone in their hands. Can they use their other senses to guess what the object is?

Teach key vocabulary such as branch, bud, trunk, roots and bark.