Materials:

None

Instructions:

The students are in small groups and go out into the natural surroundings to enjoy a world of options for biology and geography

• Find ‘signs’ of spring/autumn in the natural surroundings.
• Find and classify plants and small animals in the forest floor.
• Find things in nature that make a mandala pattern (a symmetrical pattern that is drawn in a circle) in the playground, beach, forest floor or in a field. Students can make patterns out of the things they find e.g. berries from bushes, stones, shells and sea weed from the beach.
• Collect litter in the schools local environment and sort it indo metal, plastic and paper/cardboard.
• Find animal foot prints or animal droppings e.g. feathers, eggs, excrement or nests and try and guess which animal they come from.
• Run an orienteering course and learn to read the signs in the forest or local environment e.g. with focus on compass and ratio or by incorporating new technology such as mobiles, GPS and QR codes.

Variation:

• In home economics students could collect nettles from the wild and use them to make nettle soup. They could also collect other raw ingredients from the wild which could then be sorted according to their content of carbohydrates, fat or protein.
• In art students could find litter from the natural surroundings and work with their findings with paint, string and wire and exhibit it as ‘an artistic expression of the local environment’.
• In languages they can collect sticks, cones and leaves which can then be used in the students own stories or theatrical performances. A stick can symbolize a spear a fishing rod or a magic wand which are good props for stories.
• In languages the students could go on a walk without saying anything and thereby have their senses exposed to the many sounds and smells of the forest. These experiences can then be used in the creations of songs, small poems and stories. Perhaps the story could be about the ‘life history’ of a tree or animal. The well-known story ‘The Three Billy Goats’ could be given new life in the forest when students go over a bridge whilst the teacher is the troll.
• In Physical Education a coordination course in the forest or playground could be made. This could include jumping on tree stumps balancing on branches, climbing/clambering trees, crawling through tunnels in bushes.