forest school and outdoor education in wrexham, north wales

24 Jul

WOODLAND CLASSROOM LANDS IN WREXHAM!

We have some VERY exciting news! We are finally able to announce that we’ve gone into partnership with the National Trust at Erddig Hall & Gardens and Chirk Castle, both in the county of Wrexham. What this means is that James and Lea are moving Woodland Classroom up to Wrexham and from September we will be able to bring all our existing popular outdoor clubs, as well as some new ones, to children in the area and offer our outdoor education services to audiences in North Wales, Cheshire, Shropshire, Merseyside and beyond.

James explained his connection with the area; “I’m originally from this neck of the woods where I worked a lot with environmental organisations in Cheshire and North East Wales, so this feels like coming home and I’m really excited about this opportunity we have with the National Trust who have made us very welcome and have been totally onboard with all the ideas we have to offer our activities in the area.”

Our new base of operations will be Felin Puleston Outdoor Centre, which lies on the edge of the Erddig estate on the doorstep of Wrexham town. It’s a great location for locals to be able to access it easily and is currently also the home of the National Trust’s GAP (Green Academies Project) funded by the Lottery which has seen lots of new energy and restoration work go into Felin Puleston with a host of improvements to the venue which makes it perfect for visiting groups who want to learn more about nature.

Our new home at Felin Puleston, Wrexham. Kids building dens with us. The vegetable garden where kids can learn how to grow their own.

We feel incredibly lucky to have full access to this tailor-made venue. The Outdoor Centre includes an allotment for growing vegetables, a wildlife garden, orchard, den building area, indoor function room and kitchen for craft workshops and classroom sessions, and of course the beautiful 1,200 acre Erddig estate which lies on the other side of the gate for the children and groups to explore.

Our Little rangers parent & toddler group. The entrance to Forest Wood at Erddig. Boys learning fire-lighting skills at our sessions.

We also have the River Clywedog on our doorstep along with a wildlife pond both home to a wealth of water life which means that activities like pond and river dipping are going to be very much on the menu.

Susan Jones is the Volunteer & Community Involvement Manager at Erddig;

“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Woodland Classroom. Providing enjoyable and meaningful experiences in the outdoors helps us to connect with nature, improve our mental and physical wellbeing and value the world around us so we can continue to care for special places like Chirk Castle and Erddig, forever for everyone.”

Erddig Hall & Gardens. This stunning National Trust property sits at the doorstep of Wrexham town.

In addition to making the most of the Outdoor Centre, we’re going to be able to welcome groups of all ages to Forest Wood, a beautiful forest school site based in the heart of Erddig’s ancient woodland. Think tall trees, wild garlic and woodland wildflowers. It’s a fantastic spot for woodland learning.

About Woodland Classroom

So, who are we? Well… James and Lea have been running Woodland Classroom in Lampeter, Ceredigion since 2014 where they have hosted schools, organisations, adult learners, after-school clubs and kids birthday parties with a range of outdoor activities including; bushcraft, forest school, traditional woodland crafts, mindfulness and CPD training. All of this and more will now be offered at our new home.

They are also the creative minds behind the hugely popular Wildcraft Adventure™ which takes kids’ favourite video games like Minecraft and transforms them into outdoor adventures that engage children in a host of physical challenges and bushcraft skills which score them point along the way, just like a real video game. There’s even a monster to run away from! It’s been so popular that outdoor activity leaders across the world are nor running the game; from California to Scotland, from New Zealand to Canada. James and lea are planning many more Wildcraft Adventures at their new Wrexham home for the near future.

Woodland Classroom are members of the Institute for Outdoor Learning and Forest School Wales.

James Kendall

James is a qualified Forest School Leader, Social Forester and experienced Woodland Skills Tutor. He has worked widely with children, young people and adults, leading on a variety of outdoor education and environmental projects. He has worked for several well-known environmental organisations and was also Project Manager for Long Wood Community Woodland, the largest community owned woodland in Wales, overseeing management of 300 acres of forest. He enjoys working with schools and communities to raise awareness of the environment, where his enthusiasm for spreading the message of learning through nature comes through. Lastly, but not least, he is currently undertaking a 2 year long course to become a bushcraft skills activity leader with the Bushcraft Competency Certificate scheme run through the Institute for Outdoor Learning.

“As a child, my Mum would bring me and my sister to Erddig and Chirk Castle where our imaginations could run wild with all sorts of play. I never thought I’d get the opportunity to actually work here and it seems fitting that I’ll now be able to offer outdoor adventures and learning for kids coming to these National Trust properties.”

Lea Kendall

Lea has years of experience working with children and young people, including 4 years working in a primary school as a Learning Mentor focusing on the social and emotional aspects of learning and working one to one with vulnerable children and challenging behaviour. She shares her time leading activities for Woodland Classroom with my work as a qualified integrative Counsellor. Lea is also a qualified practitioner of Mindfulness in woodland settings.

“I am a firm believer in the power of nature to be therapeutic for everyone. I believe that play for all ages should be a large part of our lives. My training as a Counsellor worked toward my long-term goal to incorporate nature and play therapy into our future services. I am passionate about finding ways to increase the self-esteem of people and encouraging motivation through positive experience, shared enthusiasm and a nurturing environment.”

Lea is now offering the first of her planned nature therapy courses with two Mindfulness events for adult learners scheduled for this autumn. See our events page to find out more.

We Can Also Travel To You

Not every group who wants our services has been able to travel to us though, and for some schools such travel can be a costly or complicated business, so we’ve always offered the option for us to come to your school or venue and we have hosted many Forest School and bushcraft sessiosn on school grounds, at events, or anywhere that wants us really. Want to know more? Just get in touch.

About our Outdoor Kids Clubs

Little Rangers is a weekly woodland parent and toddler group for children aged up to 5 years which follows the Forest School approach of child-led play and outdoor activities in a welcoming natural space. Activities are based around our central campfire and tots can get stuck into the mud kitchen, build a den, explore the wood or do some campfire cooking. Sessions are also a chance for like-minded parents to meet and share time together whilst their children are at play.

Young Rangers is our weekly after-school club for primary school aged children from 6 – 11 years. Parents drop their kids off with James and Lea where children will get the chance to play off steam after a day in school and take part in guided activities including bushcraft, outdoor games, crafts and campfire cooking.

Pathfinders is brand new to Woodland Classroom, a regular group for Home Educated children and their families. It’s something we’ve been wanting to offer for a long time, and we’ve been asked my Home Ed parents time and again if we could do this. Our move to Wrexham has offered the perfect opportunity for it to start. Sessions will be fortnightly and children from 0-16 will be able to join either our Forest School group where they can engage in child-led play and outdoor activities, or they can join our structured learning sessions where they will get quality tuition from James or Lea in environmental education, bushcraft and traditional woodland craft skills.

We’re hosting a taster session for Pathfinders on Tuesday 22^nd August which is half-price for children and adults to come and see for themselves how this new club will work. If you’d like to find out more about the taster session, just CLICK HERE.

To find out more about our new kids clubs based at Erddig, and to take advantage of ‘early bird’ booking discounts just follow THIS LINK.

Even More Opportunities at Chirk Castle

The ‘woodland classroom’ amongst the ancient trees of the Chirk Castle estate.

Wrexham county is quite unique in that it hosts two major National Trust venues just within 15 minutes drive of each other. Not only will be offering our services to groups at Erddig but just down the road is the equally amazing Chirk Castle with it’s 480 acres of gardens and estate including deer parkland and ancient woodland. It’s a perfect venue for outdoor learning and we’re looking forward to getting stuck in and welcoming groups to our sessions.

Jon Hignett is the Visitor Experience Manager at Chirk Castle for the National Trust;

“We first started working with Woodland Classroom in April 2015 when our estate was used as the venue for their very popular Wildcraft Adventure sessions, using the clever template of explorer/builder type video games to engage with children in the outdoors. We could see from the first meeting that it would be a popular activity, and it has been a very effective partnership allowing experienced professionals to use Chirk Castle’s estate to help to move, teach and inspire young visitors and connect them with the outdoors at a young age. We’ve collaborated on a few projects since then, and throughout James and Lea have been wonderful to work with, positive, engaging, and committed. We’re eagerly looking forward to what future collaborations might bring!”

Chirk Castle & Gardens, hosts over 480 acres of parkland estate within which we will be running our outdoor events.

What the Future Holds

Not only will we be offering our tried and tested activities for children, our the plan is to expand our work with adult learners also, making Felin Puleston Outdoor Centre a real hub for environmental education for all ages. We plan to offer training to adult learners in the following subjects:

Bushcraft, Tree Identification, Greenwood Crafts, Woodland Management, Mindfulness, Eco Therapy, Nature Awareness, Foraging and Leathercraft.

So, it’s exciting times for Woodland Classroom and we can’t wait to meet all the new people we will be working with.

Right, that’s enough typing for now… we’ve got a whole house full of stuff to move.

If you’d like to find out what we could offer you or your group at Woodland Classroom, then please get in touch. You can email us at hey@woodlandclassroom.com or phone James and Lea on 07876 794098.

05 Apr

We’re in JUNO Magazine!

activity leaders, children, forest school, Little Rangers, wildcraft adventure forest kindergarten, forest school, health, kids, parent & toddler, parents, toddlers, video gamers, wildcraft

We’re thrilled to have been featured in the latest issue of JUNO magazine, talking about the success of our Wildcraft Adventures and the benefits of outdoor learning for children. JUNO aims to promote a natural approach to family life. Our article “Into The Woods” explains how we persuaded children to turn off their screen and come outdoors.

You can also read about us elsewhere in the magazine as we tell our story of hosting Woodland Walks at Underneath the Stars Festival in Yorkshire. The magazine has a whole feature on upcoming festivals in the UK which are family friendly and eco-minded.

There’s also a great piece by Danny English from Communitree where he explains how a connection to nature is key to the health and wellbeing of children. In fact, the magazine if full of good stuff to be honest.

JUNO is a natural parenting magazine that inspires and supports families through its range of features, columns and artwork. Established in 2003, it is published six times a year, in February, April, June, August, October and December. The editorial is broad, covering all aspects of family life for all ages. JUNO is loved by many readers for its articles that share personal experiences and reflections, and for the beautiful and striking images and illustrations from a range of artists.

JUNO offers fresh perspectives in this fast-paced technological world, creating a non-judgemental community for those who are keen to follow “a natural approach to family life”. There are columns on home-education, empowered birth, teens and nutrition; interviews, craft and recipe ideas and a mix of features that can help readers make informed choices as they journey through the challenges of parenting.

JUNO is available through WH Smiths, independent retailers, online at www.junomagazine.com and as a digital edition.

You can read the issue on iTunes too, right HERE

You can also grab this issue of JUNO at Exact Editions HERE

All subscribers receive free access to the full back catalogue of issues in digital format.

Thanks to Saffia and the team at JUNO for working with us and for making us look good 🙂

If you want to find out more about our Wildcraft Adventures as seen in the article, then just follow THIS LINK

Lea

29 Mar

Get a FREE Nature Scavenger Hunt

health, Little Rangers, woodland skills activities, forest kindergarten, forest school, identification, kids, parent & toddler, parents, toddlers, wildlife, woodland

We’re giving you our Nature Scavenger Hunt that we’ve had loads of success with at our outdoor kids sessions. It’s a FREE download which works great whether you’re a teacher or activity leader running an outdoor education session, or you’re a parent who wants to spice up a walk in the woods with their kids.

With some children, a walk in nature can be a hard sell if they prefer to stay indoors, watch videos or play video games. Many children might think twice before grabbing their coat and hat to head out into the woods for a day’s exploring. But could they resist the lure of a treasure hunt?

At Woodland Classroom we run lots of Forest School and outdoor education activities and one thing we’ve discovered is that kids love treasure hunts. So, we came up with a hunt of our own, which we use regularly at our sessions. Now you can use it to entice your kids outdoors during the colder months as they go looking for treasures from nature. You could even come up with a prize if the kids find everything on the list.

GET THE SCAVENGER HUNT

A couple of reasons why this particular Nature Scavenger Hunt works so well is that it is not season specific, so all the treasures can be found year round. Also many of the items are open to the child’s own interpretation, so it makes their experience a personal one. This activity also stimulates children’s natural curiosity. It’s the unexpected things that kids discover whilst looking for the items on their list that make each walk special.

You will notice one of the items to find involves a bit of litter-picking. This is our way of having an opportunity to talk with the kids we work with about litter and it’s impact on the land. We would, of course, advise that you check that the chosen litter is safe to be handled before adding it to the basket.

And for any parents thinking twice about heading out on a windy day, remember this; you can’t change the weather but you can change your attitude to it. An old saying goes, “There’s no such thing as the wrong weather, just the wrong clothing.” So, download your Nature Scavenger Hunt, get yourself and the kids wrapped up, grab a basket, a flask of hot chocolate and get exploring.

GET THIS NATURE SCAVENGER HUNT

29 Jan

MUD KITCHENS – free, easy & just brilliant!

activities, children, forest school, great winter activities, Little Rangers

If there is one thing you can guarantee in this country, it’s rain! We get a lot of rain, but if we let it stop us from doing things we’d almost never do anything or go anywhere.

So, we say embrace the rain, work with what you’ve got. Use all this water and mud to your advantage. It’s a resource to be cherished, after all, it is a giver of life and we wouldn’t have such beautiful countryside if it wasn’t for the rain. I thought back to the last time I went on holiday to a hot and dry country, beautiful but scorched landscapes with plant life struggling to survive, and then the feeling of returning home to the UK and seeing all the lush green abundance of growth around me. I know I felt blessed that I live where I do.

That said, the rain can and does get you down at times, especially when it seems relentless, but here at Woodland Classroom we try and find ways in which activities can still go ahead despite the weather and actually work with it, using the weather to our advantage. This is where the mud kitchen comes in…

We’d seen lots of pictures on Pinterest about mud kitchens so we dug out some old pots and pans, a few planks of wood, some tree stumps, wooden spoons and an old camping kettle; set it all up. The kids added the final ingredient… imagination.

It was the first time we’d done this activity but the kids new exactly what to do, some made apple pie, some made Christmas cake and some just liked the feel of the mud on their hands. For the youngest tots we say how they simply enjoyed pouring mud and water from one container to another.

One intrepid group of adventurers went in search of fallen apples to add to their mud pie. They came back with hazelnuts, pine cones and all kinds of ‘ingredients’ for their creations. We were over the moon at how much the kids loved it, it was easily one of the best activities we have done to date and so easy to set up and (best of all) it cost nothing.

If you want to try this for yourself and don’t want to use your best pots and pans from your kitchen then you can pick up suitable stuff at junk shops or charity shops for next to nothing and we promise it will be worth it. A little corner in your garden dedicated to a mud kitchen will keep your little ones happy even in the worst of weather, just kit them out with good waterproofs and you’ll be well away.

We decided to make a quick video showing you how we set up our mud kitchen and to show you that it doesn’t need to be fancy or overly engineered, so take a look for some inspiration for setting up your own mud kitchen.

Here is an account of one of one parent’s experience after watching our video:

“We set up our mud kitchen after your prompt over the holidays, something I’ve been meaning to do for ages… Took no more than 10 minutes, and they all have played and played out there. Lleucu was out ’til dark making snow soup this evening and only came in cause she was soaked through, literally down too and including her pants and she was freezing.” Belinda Knott (parent)

So what are you waiting for? Get out and get cooking. Mississippi Mud Pie, Chocolate Log, Stone Soup and more will be on the menu. What will your child cook up?

17 Apr

Our first Little Rangers!

activities, Little Rangers, Young Rangers

Well yesterday was the first of our Little Rangers sessions.

The sun was shining, the air was warm and spirits were high. Fourteen adults and about fifteen children had a lovely afternoon relaxing and exploring in the wooded area at Denmark Farm in Lampeter.

There were a few items to play with, washing bowls of water with cups, baskets with stones in, a net hanging in the trees, some tubs of rice and pasta and a few musical percussion instruments. There was also a blanket with nature themed books available and some planted herbs to ignite the senses.

The children enjoyed a very relaxed learning environment that evolved round child-led play. It was also a wonderful opportunity for parents to get together and connect in a beautiful setting.

I was particularly struck with how peaceful it felt and I was reassured that there really was no need to provide a structured set of activities for the children to engage in. The natural environment was stimulus enough.

I am looking forward to our second group next week. I hope the weather will be as nice as it was yesterday and thank you to all who came and made it a special day.

Lea. x

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