Get Wild About Learning! 15 ways to explore the outdoors
- Laura Hutchinson Posted On Jun 9, 2017 | Learn
This month we are getting wild about learning and taking to the great outdoors to spend time surrounded by nature. The outdoors offers rich learning experiences and inspires creativity and imagination! Nursery educator, Margaret McMilan, once said ‘The best classroom and the richest cupboard is roofed only by the sky’ and we agree!We’ve put together 15 family friendly ways to explore the outdoors, ranging from butterfly spotting and nature trails to raft building and flower pressing.We even have some free downloadable spotting sheets for you to try too! What will you discover? 1) Butterfly Spotting
2) Bird Watching
3) Nature Trail
4) Dinosaur Habitats
5) Garden Olympics
If the sun is shining, why not encourage active play with some fun outdoor games? Obstacle courses are a great and simple way to get the whole family competing and having fun! Lay out challenges in different areas of the garden such as:- Hula-hooping
- Bean-bag balancing
- Cone weaving
- Relay racing
- Tunnel crawling
- Limbo
- Stilts walking
6) Composting
Composting is nature’s way of recycling biodegradable materials. Go on a scavenger hunt around your house and local area to collect as many biodegradable items as possible.- Things like paper, food scraps, wood, grass and leaves are biodegradable and will easily decay.
- Things like aluminium cans and plastic bottles are non-biodegradable and will not decay.
7) Hedgehog House
8) Digging for Nature’s Treasures!
Fill a large tray with sawdust and bury several items from nature such as:- Pine cones
- Leaves
- Sticks
- Acorns
- Stones
- Flowers
9) Flower Pressing
10) Exploring the Night Sky
11) Colour Scavenger Hunt
Create a worksheet that has a sample of seven different colours in the margin on the left hand side. Next to each colour, stick a horizontal strip of double sided sticky tape so there is a sticky surface on show. Go on a nature trail and collect things that match the colours, sticking them to the sheet as you go!12) Investigating Plants and Trees
- Woody plants
- Aquatic plants
- Grass-like plants
- Orchids and related plants
- Ferns
- All other flowering non-woody plants
13) Raft Building
It’s a raft race! Collect sticks when out and about or from the garden (you’ll need approximately 50). Once collected lay them out on a table with some string, scissors and craft materials. A perfect activity for a large group, ask each child to build a raft that floats and has a customised flag! Once completed, take them to a stream or pond and test them out!14) Shadow Painting
Find a spot in a garden or outdoor area where shadows of the branches of a tree are clear on the floor. Place a giant piece of card on the floor so that the shadow fills most of the page and colour it in using pens or paint!15) Creepy Crawly Count
- Dragonflies
- Grasshoppers and crickets
- Flies
- Beetles
- Bees
- Wasps
- Ants
- Butterflies
- Moths
Visit our Facebook page and share your images of you and your youngsters having fun and going #WildAboutLearning
*Browse our outdoor exploration and discovery tools on our website!#LoveLearning #Wildaboutlearning
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The Importance of Getting Wild
This month we are taking part in The Wildlife Trusts’ #30dayswild campaign! We took a trip to Cley Marshes Nature Reserve on the north Norfolk coast to meet with their Community Education Officer, Rachael Wright. We asked her all about the campaign, why it is so important and how you can get involved!
Tell us about Cley Marshes Nature Reserve:It is Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s oldest and best known nature reserve and was purchased in 1926. The reserve includes an award-winning visitor centre, a gallery and a Wildlife Education Centre named in memory of the naturalist, Simon Aspinall.
We are well known for the birds on site. The shingle beach and saline lagoons, along with the grazing marsh and reed bed support large numbers of wintering and migrating wildfowl and waders, as well as bittern, marsh harrier and bearded tit.
[Image of Marsh Harrier, credit: Norfolk Wildlife Trust Website]
What does your role at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust involve?I organise our events programme and exhibitions. We work with local community groups and I take school groups and other education visitors out on the reserve. The Cley Marshes provides school groups with great opportunities to explore both coastal and wetland habitats!
What’s your favourite thing about your role?Working with school groups and inspiring the next generation to explore wildlife and have fun outdoors!
What is #30dayswild and how can people sign up?30 Days Wild is a Wildlife Trust campaign aimed at getting people outside enjoying the living landscape. We encourage and support people to take a little bit of time every day to do something wild! People can sign up on their local Wildlife Trust website and will receive a digital support pack with ideas, inspiration and information on local events and places you can explore! You can share your wild adventures using the #30DaysWild hashtag.
What do you have planned for #30dayswild during June?We have crafts and activities in our education centre throughout June and events on throughout the month. From nature walks to pond dipping there’s something for everyone, take a look on our website for events this June!
What is a Random Act of Wildness?A Random Act of Wildness is about making time to connect with nature around you, or doing something small yourself to help nature. Random Acts of Wildness are all about experiencing, learning about and helping your local wildlife. They can be simple, small, fun and exciting too. You can use our ideas as inspiration or get creative and make up your own!
Why is getting out into nature so important?It’s important to stay in touch with the natural world and appreciate all that nature does for us. It’s also incredibly important in our busy lives to take time to relax and exploring nature is a fantastic way to do that. A recent poll of 101 people in Norwich revealed that 90% of Norwich’s city-dwellers feel that nature is important to them but 86% of adults in Norwich don’t think that they spend enough time in nature.
What are the educational benefits of exploring nature?Many people learn more effectively through hands on activities and nature provides so many great opportunities. Watching nature events creates memories that will last forever. Every subject taught in a classroom can be taught outside in a more fun and engaging way that will inspire children for a lifetime!
EI-5126 GeoSafari® Jr. Aqua Magnifier
If you are visiting the centre this June, pick up your free Aqua Magnifier (while stocks last) and Learning Resources discount code!
#30dayswild #wildaboutlearning
*Browse our outdoor exploration and discovery tools on our website!
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Nature’s Code: The life and work of Fibonacci
Fibonacci
Liber Abaci
-Fibonacci
Problem with Rabbits
The book demonstrated how a decimal number system could make it easierto complete calculations. In order to do this Fibonacci included number problems and showed how to solve them. He posed the problem:“If two newborn rabbits (one male and one female) are put ina pen, how many rabbits will be in the pen after one year?â€
- A pair of rabbits always produce one male and one female offspring
- A pair of rabbits can reproduce once a month
- Rabbits can reproduce once they are a month old
- Rabbits don’t die within a year!
The Golden rectangle
The Fibonacci sequence can be used to create a range of number patterns. The golden rectangle is an example whereby a rectangle’s side lengths are successive Fibonacci numbers. The example below shows the side lengths 34 x 55. The rectangle can be divided into a series of squares which also have lengths that are successive Fibonacci numbers. When an ark is drawn from one corner of each square to the next, they join to form a perfect spiral. Any two successive Fibonacci numbers have a ratio very close to the golden ratio, which is roughly 1.618034. As the numbers get larger in value, the ratio gets closer. The Golden Ratio is denoted by the Greek letter phi: φ.
Fibonacci in Nature and Human Design
The Fibonacci sequence and Golden Rectangle appear surprisingly often both in nature and human designs. In nature, Fibonacci numbers manifest themselves in lots of places from the numbers of petals on a flower to the number of spirals in the seeds of a sunflower. The relationship between the Fibonacci sequence and the arrangement of things in nature is highly efficient as it allows flowers to pack in as many seeds as possible into a small space or branches to grow in such a way that allows leaves to receive equal amounts of sunlight.
Fibonacci Day
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