Iditarod inspires Iditanature

We are having a snowfest in Aberdeenshire this winter! Yet again the schools are closed owing to snowfall. My son is having a lie-in and is yet to learn about my plans for a snowball fight later on today. Surprise will be my key tactic.

So imagine what life must be like in Alaska or other places far north. Our Scottish subzero temperatures are mild by comparison. But this does not seem to stop outdoor play. I popped onto the Children & Nature Network Connect website this morning to see an announcement of the Iditanature event.

Headstart preschool students in Homer, AK have been challenged to spend 1 to 1.5 hours outdoors between March 6 and March 20, while the Iditarod Great Sled Race is underway. Kids will log their minutes spent outdoors in a booklet similar to summer reading program logbooks, which will then be approved and signed by teachers and parents. Those students who spend at least 1,150 minutes in nature (ie. the same number of minutes - or more - as the miles travelled by Iditarod mushers during the race) will win a fantastic prize - an opportunity to visit a local sled dog kennel and go mushing through the snow.

Now I think both the scheme and the prize for participating are great. Many thanks to Carmen Fields for sharing. She fuels my imagination with her ideas and activities which also happen to cover dog sledding parties (makes a change from a MacDonald’s Party) and a Mud Games event.

Before I forget, the Children & Nature Network are actively encouraging teachers from across the world to join the Natural Teachers Network. Click on the logo below to find out more and sign up.

Mission Explore

In March 2010, the Geography Collective is launching an inspirational book of activities to undertake in an urban setting. As a taster of what's to come they've launched this video clip.

Will this motivate children to get out exploring? What do you think? 

How to make a felt outdoor seat

In 2001, on a Comenius outdoor learning course in Sweden, I had the opportunity to try felting. It was a disaster. I managed to dye my wool using fresh birch leaves and carded it reasonably well. But the felting process was my failing. Once I returned home, my enthusiasm was undaunted. I found a local person who was passionate about dyeing wool and roped her into a felting project. Alas the wool the children had collected from the fences and fields was unsuitable. The woman kindly brought along her own wool and plans were put in place to create seating mats...and then I transferred to another school!

So when I found a starter felting pack in a nearby craft shop, Touched By Scotland, it felt like a timely opportunity to have another go. And this is how I got on...

First I unravelled and untwisted the skein of wool...

I spread the wool out to a similar thickness, with all the fibres laid horizontally on a piece of bubble wrap, bubbles up.

The next layer of wool was added with the fibres placed vertically....

A third and final layer of horizontal fibres was added...

After that I moved the felting piece over to the kitchen sink and sprayed hot soapy water onto the felting wool, using a milk bottle with holes punched into the bottom.

Next the bubble wrap was placed onto a towel and a second piece of bubble wrap was placed, bubbles down on top of the felting wool....

More hot water and a little soap was put on top of the bubble wrap. For five minutes I rubbed the surface in circles. After that I rolled up the bubble wrap containing the felt and squeezed out the water. Next the top layer of bubble wrap was rolled up and put on one side of the felt...

The felt was rolled up into a sausage shape with the roll of bubble wrap inside...

The bubble wrap sausage was wrapped up inside a towel and kneaded for a couple of minutes. After that, it was unwrapped and the felt rotated ninety degrees before being wrapped up in the bubble wrap and the towel once more. Again I kneaded the sausage repeated the process two more times to make the wool shrink in an even direction.

Then the felt square was unwrapped and rinsed a couple of time with a little warm water. The excess water was squeezed out and the felt left to dry on a towel...

As you can see, it's not the tidiest of seats, but the colours are lovely. The seat provides a layer of insulation even when wet between the ground and one's rear. However you do need to be wearing over trousers if the ground is wet because the felt does absorb water. Alternatively, put the mat inside a plastic bag.

For children of all ages making felt outdoor seats is a very satisfying art project with a practical outcome. With a little adult help for the kneading and rubbing, pre-school children can manage this activity. The whole project is quite wet. This makes it an ideal outdoor water art activity for a warm day. Once the seats wear out, they can be composted too!

Rather than buy merino wool tops through an education catalogue, it's worth searching online for better deals. The World of Wool has a great range of colours and mixes at very competitive prices. Just bear in mind that the wool will shrink considerably so experiment to find the size you want first. My attempt is a little on the small side.

So I'm interested to know if anyone else out there has tried this activity before or used felted seats on a regular basis with children. The seats are incredibly warm and light. They are easily rolled up or folded and make a beautiful addition to the whole excitement of taking children outdoors. 

Imagination Playground in a Box

This brilliant video demonstrates a super way of enabling outdoor free play anywhere. I think the idea is so transferable. Thanks very much to Jennifer and her Let the Children Play blog where I saw her posting about this clip. This is one of the best pre-school outdoor blogs I have seen. A great mix of practical advice, photos mixed with doses of theory and opinion from Australia.

On the subject of pre-school blogs, another favourite has to be Teacher Tom, based in Seattle. Tom runs a cooperative pre-school that is developing outdoor play and the nursery's outdoor space. This is a joyful blog, brimming with love and passion for being a pre-school educator. 

A Lamb Gets Slaughtered, the Head Teacher Gets Slated

Outdoor learning has suddenly got ugly! Yesterday I found this article about Marcus the Lamb whose fate caused uproar in a Kent School. It has resulted in the resignation of an inspirational head teacher. 

Last year, the school undertook a practical project that involved rearing three lambs. When the male lamb came of age, the Pupil Council and the school’s Board of Governors were consulted and voted overwhelmingly in favour of Marcus the Lamb being slaughtered. The enterprising plan was to raffle the meat as a fundraiser.

However a minority of parents, children and some animal rights campaigners were seriously offended. A Facebook and publicity campaign ensued. One parent claimed her child needed counselling to help her overcome the trauma of Marcus’s death. Even the celebrity, Paul O’Grady joined the campaign. He purportedly offered to look after Marcus to save him from getting the chop!

What intrigues me is that rearing an animal and getting is slaughtered is not a new venture. Many schools keep animals. One Primary 5 class in a local school bidded for a sheep in an auction. They paid a farmer to look after it and got it sold at another auction later on in the year – for meat!

The outdoor centre where I worked in the mid-Nineties had farm animals. The visiting children had to undertake jobs such as feeding and mucking out their stalls as part of their duties. Every Wednesday night, the children ate burgers that came from the cow which had been slaughtered the year before. All the eggs came from the 30 hens. When an audit of the outdoor activities was undertaken to the Ontario curriculum, farming activities covered more learning outcomes than any other activity. I strongly suspect that we would find the same here in Scotland with our Curriculum for Excellence.

Today I had an interesting discussion with a Primary 3 class on this matter. One child lives on a farm and helps his dad with all the livestock. He can recognize every sheep and cow on the farm and has names for all of them. He is perfectly matter-of-fact about the fate of these creatures. He knows and likes them and understands what happens and why. 

Many of his classmates were aghast. They did not know that farm animals are raised and killed for food. This is not unusual. According to the Royal Highland Educational Trust, the vast majority of the population don’t realise that the animals in the fields are only there because they are a source of food. Our detachment from our land is strong. We have become a fluffy bunny society with a Disney-esque perception of animals.

Other countries adopt a more pragmatic approach. Outdoor pre-schools regularly go fishing in Norway. In Denmark, chickens are reared by Danish pre-schools and slaughtered in front of the children. There is no counselling organised after such an event and Danish society does not appear to be suffering as a consequence of offering this education experience to its children.

So, what are the implications of Marcus, the silenced lamb, for British schools? My Facebook and Twitter friends did come up with a few suggestions, one being that any school looking after lambs should grow mint too! 

Whatever happens I hope that schools and children who wish to rear animals feel they are able to do so without fear of reprisals. Looking after animals, including making responsible decisions about the fate of animals in their care brings home the practical and ethical issues of one aspect of our society and lifestyle choices. Without this, we are in danger of further isolating children from every day reality of their existence.

Merino Sheep at Garfield Farm Museum, Illinois

Outdoor Pre-Schools in Norway

Since the previous posting was about trolls, which are residents of Norway, I thought I'd share with you the programmes which was shown on Teachers TV last year.

There is a YouTube video where you can watch the programme in one go but it's not available to embed in a blog!

I really like this film because it demonstrates that outdoor pre-schools or nature kindergartens are much more than taking children into forests. It's a philosophy and an approach that capitalises on the local natural environment, whatever and wherever that maybe. 

Supportive, understanding and committed adults play a vital role. It's a positive demonstration about the power of interactions of people, place and the activities that arise through children's interests, weather conditions and seasonal events.

Trolls, treasure and outdoor learning

If your class is studying Scandinavian countries or undertaking a Vikings project, then a wee focus on trolls can be a lot of fun. Trolls are part of Scandinavian folklore and any child who has read the films or read the Harry Potter books knows a little about trolls.

Background information
Lots can be found on the internet. Trolls don't see very well. Trolls hate the daylight. Some people say that if trolls are caught in the sun, they will turn to stone. The worst thing you could ever do to a troll is be happy. They hate happiness and things that make people happy. They tend to live in caves but some may be found in other dark places such as under bridges.

Outdoor activities
When the class is moving outside, encourage them to walk like a troll – arms hung low,slightly hunched shoulders, cross look and glum face.

Once the class is outside, everyone should practice being miserable. Walkabout the playground. Whenever the teacher blows a whistle find a person, look at them and say “Hello, how are you?” Answer in a glum voice “Alright, I suppose, etc”, “fine” See how many different ways you can answer. After a few minutes, stop the class and get children to share their troll voices and actions.

Caught in the sunlight
The class lines up at at one end of the playground. One child stands at the other side of the playground with a torch. Whenever the child turns his back, the class can start creeping forward towards child with the torch. When child turns around and shines the torch, children must freeze. If a child moves they must go back to the start. The game ends when a child can touch the torch.

Troll’s treasure game
One child is blindfolded and crouches in the middle of the circle of children to guard her treasure. The treasure can be any collection of objects such as stones, or even 3D shapes if you want the reinforcement opportunities! One by one the children take turns to try and steal one piece of treasure. If the troll touches them, they must give up their quest. The troll may not touch the treasure. She may only guard it. Get children to discuss strategies for stealing the treasure. This activity can be self-directed with many groups of children.

Which treasure is mine?
Everyone stands in a circle holding a stone in each hand behind their backs. An adult or a child who isn’t part of the circle counts to twenty quickly. The children in the circle close their eyes and start passing stone to their left as quickly as possible. Once the counting ends, the aim is for each child to have a stone in each hand. Those without a stone in each hand are out. The rules can be varied, e.g. if a child has more than one stone in each hand, he or she is out. Another option is for the child who is counting to walk around the outside of the circle, feeding stones into the game. Discuss strategies for children helping each other to achieve whole group success.

Gathering treasure
Split a class into groups of around 4-6. Each group has a hoop placed at the edge of the playground. Scatter unifix cubes, stones or other "treasure" in the playground. When the whistle blows, the children start gathering treasure one piece at a time and take it back to their hoop. When the whistle blows again, the group must gather round their hoop and start counting their treasure. The teacher can assign different values, e.g. each stone is worth two points (if counting in twos is needing practice - change this for other multiplication tables). For older classes, each colour of cube or stone can be worth a different amount, e.g. blue cubes - 1 point, green cubes - 10 points, red cubes - 100 points. Oh! That's place value work!

The above is just a small selection of the possibilities that exist. If any teacher has a troll collection, then now is the time for them to resurface from the attic (another dark place) and have the dust brushed out of their hair! Let the children search around the school grounds for a good home for a troll and use this as a springboard to a descriptive writing activity.