Outdoor Music Wall

There have been many outdoor music walls created and blogged about over the past couple of years. I have been telling participants on my courses about these and finally, not just any nursery but the one in the school where I work, has created this little beauty...

This was not the work of the nursery staff. In line with recognised good practice, they worked with the children to think about the sounds they might like and the materials which could be used.

Then the parents were asked for their input...

I think this helped as unwanted items were brought in from home such as pans....

.... and plastic buckets

.... and even an oven rack. Yay!

The school janitors are extremely helpful and were able to assist with the making of this wooden xylophone...

... and this pvc piping instrument...

Some old triangles also were added and I think that's a cowbell on the right...

I rather liked the wooden spoons being used as beaters too!

This wall is such a doable project, that takes up little space and can be varied as new sounds are discovered and added to the mix. If you want further inspiration, I strongly recommend visiting Child's Play Music. Watching this video made by Alex is an absolute must too. It's taking homemade instruments to a new level!

This post is part of an outdoor play link up happening over at Learning for Life, Greening Sam and Avery and Mama Peapod.

Czech Pre-schools - A Forest Project for All

Whilst in the Czech Republic in October 2008 I had the opportunity to visit three nurseries which had undertaken very different approaches to getting children outside and ensuring frequent regular contact with nature. This is the first of three blog posts about my experiences. I realised back in the summer that I had never actually written any thing about this trip.


In the Czech Republic, a German model of forest school is being given serious consideration by environmental organisations. Just under a year ago, the first state approved forest nursery school opened where children play outside all year round in all weathers. Last Spring, the Association of Forest Kindergartens was established which ensures that such ventures are legitimate alternative education approaches.

Background information

Children attend nursery school from the age of two and a half until they are six or seven years old. The nurseries often open at 7am and have children attending until 3pm or even as late as 5pm. Nursery staff do not require teaching qualifications and so the salary is lower than that of primary and secondary teachers.

The children then begin formal schooling.  From play based learning children enter a very formal system with rows of desks and predominantly secondary learning experiences. Like Scotland, the Czech Republic has a variety of primary schools.  Some are large urban schools. Some country schools take children aged 6-15 years and then the children move onto a technical college or high schools for 16-18 year olds. There are also small rural primary schools which cover grades 1-5 (P3-P7), with children moving onto high school afterwards. Most of the children that enter small village primaries continue their studies at secondary grammar schools in a bigger settlement and a minority make it to high school after that.

Children in a state primary school

A forest outreach programme

In 2005, a state-of-the-art forest school, Jezírko, opened on the outskirts of Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic. This day centre provides a range of practical and hands on forest activities for children to develop their understanding of natural ecosystems, environmental awareness and forestry production for 3-18 year olds. The children travel by coach to the centre and spend two or three hours undertaking an activity led by one of the centre staff.

The centre staff realised that nursery staff needed more support, beyond that which could be given directly by the children coming once per year to Jezírko. For the 2007-08 academic year, a series of monthly activities were developed specifically for the kindergartens in the Southern Moravian area. 

Nursery staff were able to visit a forest near their nursery and undertake the activities based upon a puppet gnome who lives in a chestnut tree. In addition to a teachers’ guide, equipment for planting flowers was included.  The teachers could contact the Jezírko staff whenever they wished to get further advice and ideas.

My friend Michal Medek holding the felt puppet that was used in the project

The programme was advertised through the Markev Markvička, a local kindergarten network.  Out of 86 nurseries in the network, 50 signed up for the project.

There followed a series of short meetings with the nursery staff coming to Jezírko to find out more about the projects.  At the end of the year there was a conference where everyone shared their thoughts and ideas and gave informal feedback to the Jezírko staff.

Thoughts of the participants

I visited the nursery in the small village of Krásensko, 25 miles north of Brno. Here the staff worked with children aged 2.5 – 6.5 years old.   There was 1.5 FTE staffing for the nursery which opened at 7am and did not close until 5pm.  As there were less than 20 children, only one staff member needed to be on duty.  The 0.5FTE teacher mostly worked in the afternoon.

The nursery teacher

The nearest wood was about a mile-long walk through the village.  Prior to the forest outreach project, the staff had rarely taken the children beyond the confines of the village. 

However as a consequence of participating in the project, the teacher now takes the children to the woods or the meadow beside the woods every week all year round. 

She was very happy with the project and the type of activities suggested.  There was follow-up work to be completed back at the nursery too, which for the older children, sometimes included a worksheet.  She thought that some tasks were quite challenging but the positive impact of the woodland visits and activities was overwhelmingly clear.  She now saw that the children needed to have first hand experiences of connecting with nature and this programme worked. The children learned a lot about woodland animals, plants and seasonal changes. The routines for going to the woods are now established and all the children looked forward to their weekly visit.

The ratio of staff to children is much smaller with only one adult required to supervise 25 children.  The Krasensko teacher takes all 14 children in the nursery by herself, through the village and into the woods where deadly nightshade grows and where poisonous snakes and wild boar live. When asked if she was worried about children getting hurt, the teacher smiled, stated that there had been no incidents last year and “touch wood” there would be none this year either.  Parental help was not an option as the nursery provides child care and parents work. 

The Krasensko teacher had signed up for the second year of the project.  In 2008-09 session, the materials were based around two children who get lost in the woods and have to acquire practical skills and knowledge of woodland plants and animals to find their way home. For example, in the month of September the children picked rosehips to make tea. 

In October the children needed to find the sorts of food squirrels collect and store over winter and leave any collected in the woods in order to help the squirrels. Each month, despite going out weekly, there were more activities given than the teacher had time to do with the children.  So she used her discretion over deciding which tasks to do and whether to amend them to suit the needs of her children.

The weekly outing was clearly integrated into the play experiences planned for the children. The teacher was fond of artwork and created displays to promote the woodland visits to parents and visitors. 

What impresses me is the interest and uptake of this programme by such a large number of pre-schools in South Moravia. Here in Scotland, the only equivalent I have seen is in Fife, where almost 80% of local authority nurseries ensure children have frequent and regular access to woods, beaches and other natural habitats. For more information about the Fife Nature Kindergartens Project, read this case study.

Lessons in life principles from the Okanagan people

When it comes to blogging, I have a mix of posts. Some are written completely spur-of-the-moment based on an event or activity. Others are written on a Saturday night in front of "Britain's Got Talent" or the "X-Factor" as a semi-social activity. Some are a work-hibernation stash. This means they are written over a holiday period to allow me to post even during very busy work times or when I'm away on holiday. Then there's the ones like this which were begun months ago and added to little by little. Piece by piece.

These are usually posts which require me to think a little more carefully. Or that have content that's particularly close to my heart. Or both. This is one of those posts. I'm actually rather nervous in that I would hate to misrepresent a traditional community's philosophy and approach. I apologise in advance and welcome corrections!

The Okanagan people know that their total community has to be engaged in order to achieve their sustainable lifestyle. This is true of any community. Dis-engagement leads to breakdown of support and trust, and a negative spiral can begin which can be hard to reverse. Thinking of a school community in terms of its engagement may be a good indicator of the sustainability and true success of a school's vision, values, principles and actions.

The Okanagan people have life principles which underpin the decision-making processes within their communities...

Firstly each individual may be gifted but their full human potential is only actualised through their physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual well-being. These four aspects of well-being rely on external things.

The Getting It Right For Every Child programme in the Scottish education system puts the eight well-being indicators at the core of any plan that is constructed or reviewed. They are used to summarise the child or young person's needs that will be addressed. It is very much emphasising that external support can make a positive difference to a child. What an interesting parallel to the first life principle.

Second, each person is part of a family, regarded as the powerful life blood of cultural transference which ensures the well-being of each generation.

The positive local and school cultures need to be nurtured, recognised and celebrated. Each person has a vital role to play. This is often most noticeable when there is a vacancy such as the need for a janitor or long-term teacher. Perhaps this is a key question to ask all those who are part of a school, both in the short and long-term. What part do they envisage playing within the whole school community? What legacy do they hope to leave? When do we ask this of children, young people, families and staff? If we did, what would the answers be?

Third, the family system is the foundation of the community which is regarded as a living network. This spreads its life force overs centuries and across physical space, acquiring collective knowledge. This helps secure the well-being of all.

Thinking of a family system, and immediately the learning community of Teacher Tom's Woodland Park Cooperative Pre-school and other such establishments spring to mind. The warmest schools are those where parents are fully involved and their input is truly valued. They are establishments that leavers return to, either as volunteers, staff or as parents. A positive cycle of belonging is in place. Puget Sound Community School also embrace a community and family ethic (and also happens to be based in Seattle). The I Ur och Skur schools of Sweden also expect a high degree of parental involvement with many volunteering to support the school during and outwith school hours.

At the moment I'm not so sure within Scottish education that we think about our role within a long term context that is needed to ensure a living network that is sustained, nourished and manages to grow within our ever-changing society. I still feel that at a societal level, schools have yet to fully embrace the true potential of parental involvement.

Finally the community is regarded as a living process that interacts with the land. Much of the Okanagan belief system celebrates life and regarding the plants, fish, birds and animals as relatives who share their lives with the human community. It's about the inter-connectedness that exists and our responsibility to every living thing that we are connected to.

Such a holistic view of any human community seems an alien concept within our society which is so isolated and disconnected from the natural world to which we belong. Yet there is now reams of evidence that suggests that direct, frequent contact with the natural world is vital for our health and well-being. Whilst we continue to keep ourselves apart and fail to consider the environmental impact of our actions then arguably we are failing our children and setting them up to fail in the future too.

This was exemplified years ago when I attended a meeting as a headteacher to look at sustainable development within schools. The subject of school buildings came round and I suggested that perhaps if the group and the local authority were truly serious about sustainable development then the construction of new schools would be based upon the principles of earthships and other eco friendly dwellings. It was the equivalent of admitting that I was a member of a far-out religious sect. My suggestion was treated with suspicion and ridicule.

There is always debate about the effectiveness of school systems. Perhaps the trick is to look beyond the traditional boundaries of education and consider approaches based on learning to live healthily, well and lightly on the land.

Measuring Sticks

During this past term, I've always taken a stick with me when going out and about. I stuck masking tape at 10cm intervals. This means that children can measure the size of anything when we are out and about.

I haven't made this a prescriptive activity. I model measuring and often the children rather enjoy following suit. The girl in these photos particularly likes finding things to measure. All children seem to enjoy being measured by the stick too. My plan is to see if they will be up for a horizontal measurement using cones or other natural materials out in the school grounds.

The stick is also used as a sign of respect and responsibility. Only children who can handle the stick properly get to take it from place to place. Many of the children with whom I work, prefer to drag the stick rather than use it like a walking stick. That's fine with me. I just like children enjoying being with a stick. 

I'd like to thank Niki Buchan for the inspiration behind this idea. She is an educational consultant with Awe and Wonder, who writes the Precious Childhood blog. She also pointed out, that a measuring stick has more purpose and meaning to a child who has cut or found their stick and made it their own. I think this is an important message in this consumer world of stuff. I did give the children in this class the opportunity to do this, but at the moment they just seem to prefer using my stick. 

The real objects we truly understand and treasure often have a personal rather than material value. We need to give children more opportunities to make meaningful connections with the world around them. 

A Portable Water Wall

I always enthuse about water walls to participants on all the many outdoor play courses I run. Many bloggers across the globe have posted enthusiastically about their versions including:

• Let the Children Play
• Teacher Tom 
• Child Central Station
• Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning
• and many more!

I work in an area where a lot of practitioners tell me they cannot leave equipment out overnight. Usually storage space is pretty tight too. Thus I wanted to look at ways of creating simple, portable water walls which children could create themselves.

This year I'm doing class cover in a large city school with mainstream and additional support needs classes at every primary stage. I never feel I'm in a big school with 21 classes and an 80-place nursery. The Primary 6 ASN class I'm working in have been really up for these practical design experiments.

Firstly we tried a water on a static lattice frame bought from a local garden centre. The beauty of these is the diagonal structure. This means that all the pipes and bottles tend to be fixed quite naturally with a lean on one side. Interestingly, the children opted for the animal tubes most of all from a range of materials offered. I think the bright colours appealed!

We put the lattice frames back-to-back so that the nursery children could access a water wall as well as the P1 ASN class and in the hope of generating some collaborative work through the fence. The children worked hard to ensure interesting designs. We also use a stretchy, flexible willow lattice frame. This is particularly portable as it squashes tight. It's not as wide though...

The children collected water from the nursery who are very tolerant of our constant interruptions. The children did not expect that water would be so heavy to carry.

However, all was not well. No child from either the nursery or the P1 class really played much with the water walls. The P6 children worked out why. The structures were simply too tall. So the following week, the lattice was set up horizontally and much closer to the ground. One boy spent a long time putting the water wall together that you can see below...

And hey presto! The wall got used for quite a while that afternoon!

The children used a variety of fastenings. I had foam-covered wire, soft anodised wire, plastic washing line and velcro straps available for children to use. The wall does take some continuous maintenance as children help themselves to the hoses and pipes during break and lunch times for their own play purposes, but no-one seems to mind this :)

The tripod made from guttering

Every good idea is worth sharing. When I was undertaking my Skogsmulle training course, we were shown how to make a tripod very quickly and easily, in less than a minute...

The trick is to put your three poles on the ground and loosely weave the poles together with a piece of thin rope. It's not unlike peg loom weaving on a large scale. To create the tripod, you lift the middle peg up and over the other two. It creates the tension needed to hold the structure together. You need to wiggle the legs about to get the positioning just right.

The resulting structure was very solid and can be used for campfire cooking etc. 

To help me remember what to do, I practised with some little sticks. This is worth doing until you've got the hang of it. 

Now in my current setting, I work a lot on asphalt. So I decided that as I already had guttering, this would do nicely for poles. It's lightweight and a lot of the children are very much into cause and effect play. They like to knock things over to see what happens. When this play happens, a child won't get badly hurt should the whole tripod come crashing down.

I tied a bottle of water with some leftover paint I found sitting in a sink. This was used as a pendulum. A lot of children came over and had a play with it. This boy liked what he saw but had a better idea. 

The sheet was wrapped around the tripod to become a parking place for his car. This made the tripod more robust.

Another child came to visit in his car too, but there was only room for one, carefully reversed car.

Undeterred, both children went off to find a more suitable place for parking at the other end of the playground. There also happened to be a car washing facility there where cars could be washed for £5 with leaves.

I love how ideas can be cross-pollinated, used, changed, adapted and turned through play into all sorts of explorations. That's the beauty of learning through play.

The Story of Fred the Ted

Many educators who work with children with additional support needs have a very real and genuine fear of children running off when undertaking outdoor activities. From the outset, I decided this was not going to deter me from letting children explore the grounds.  I knew that in order to engage children and keep their minds on other matters, I would have to ensure each session was planned around the children's interests. So here I enlisted the help of Fred the Ted. Here's the story of his first visit...

Fred the Ted was new to the school. He did not know the grounds and wanted to explore them. Could the children help him? They thought they could. In turn, the children took him to different parts of the grounds.

We started off going to a bench made by Primary 7 children. We sang "I know a teddy bear" especially for Fred. The next child saw some yellow flowers - ragwort - across the field and that was our next stop. We smelled, sniffed and rubbed the flowers and threw them in the air when we realised they didn't smell so good.

After that another child led the way through the rough grass and shrubs to a hawthorn bush. The children looked at the berries and wondered if they were raspberries. We worked out that they weren't and would give us a sore tummy if we ate them.

The next child took Fred the Ted to the patch of feathers on the field. We all wondered what had happened here.

One child then led Fred the Ted to the steps. We estimated the number of steps and counted them. There were lots more steps than we thought.

We ended up at the place with lots of tyres. Here Fred did a Very Naughty Thing. He went into a litter bin. Imagine that! Some bears like foraging for leftover food.

The child who had been looking after Fred was quite surprised when I insisted that Fred should sit on a bench and have a think about what he did.

After a couple of minutes, Fred the Ted said he was sorry about going into the litter bin and went to play in a tyre.

The next week I laminated the story of Fred the Ted. The children used this to re-trace their journey around the grounds, working out which places they had visited. We explored the area in different ways - mostly due to the excitement of have fresnel lenses.

Interestingly, the children have always asked to bring Fred's book along with them to look at. They are less interested in books about other subjects but like stories about themselves and Fred. So this is one "avenue" into literacy.

Since then, Fred the Ted has not misbehaved. The children enjoy having him accompany them. One child writes a letter to Fred's mum each week - the result of which, Fred now has outdoor clothing including pink boots to wear. It was a useful tip I picked up as a ranger whilst working alongside a professional puppeteer - if a puppet or masked character misbehaves, then it is the character and not the child who is admonished. I apply this to soft toys too and find that it's a helpful positive behaviour strategy for many children and a springboard into discussions about what behaviour is and isn't okay.

And no child has run off either! We let them walk or run at their own pace to different gathering spots. Usually one adult keeps up with the active ones and another adult ensures no-one is left behind.