Tag outdoor education

The Muddy Puddle KS1 Teacher

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The Muddy Puddle KS1 Teacher
Sarah Seaman
Bloomsbury Education

Brimming over with outdoor activities, this handbook is based on the Muddy Puddle Teacher Approach and follows the Three Muddy M’s – mother nature, mental health and movement, and includes activities for every season. As Sarah Seaman says in her introduction, ‘My work and this book, is about more than outdoor learning. it is about inclusion, confidence and self-esteem.’ – three elements that should be at the heart of any learning establishment.

Muddy Puddle teaching is presented in eighteen succinct chapters starting with safety, then planning and assessment, followed by supporting neurodivergent and SEND children, before moving on to areas of the curriculum. It’s great to see that chapters include group activities. You’ll find lots of cross curricular ideas and suggestions for using very basic equipment creatively. Many activities are differentiated and whether you wish to develop a child’s fine motor or gross motor skills, you’ll find ideas.

Every chapter includes colour photographs, contains useful links, a ‘top muddy tip’ and no activity is going to break the budget. Whatever the weather or season, whatever outdoor space you have, use it as your classroom and watch the learners thrive. I thoroughly recommend this book for any KS1 teacher, no matter your experience; Sarah’s passion will surely be your motivating guide.

Forest School Handbook

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Forest School Handbook
Naomi Walmsley and Dan Westall
GMC Publications

It’s great to see husband and wife team Naomi and Dan, who run Outback2Basics bringing their passion for the outdoors to the pages of another book.

As a teacher, I’ve long been a firm believer in the vital importance of outdoor education for children right from their early years and consequently many of the activities in this handbook are not new to me. Nonetheless, it’s always good to be reminded of things as well as to discover fresh ideas.

After an introduction, which talks about the purposes of forest school activities and the benefits from playing outside and interacting with the natural world, the book is divided into ten sections, each with an abundance of colour photographs, and the age appropriateness, time, materials and tools needed for every activity.

Controlled risk taking and developing social skills, both of which are fundamental to forest schooling are two of the most vital elements of education and the sessions this book offers are so much more worthwhile than being cooped up all day in a stuffy classroom. What would you rather your child(ren) did: make charcoal (and perhaps use it to draw with), build a shelter from the materials lying around in the environment or spending hours staring at a screen?

One activity that appealed to me especially from he ‘Things to do with conkers’ spread is creating conker animals, in particular a conker caterpillar.

Making soap from conkers also sounds interesting .

Altogether a smashing little book that deserves to be in every family and class collection.