Forest School or outdoor activity for EYFS and Key Stage 1. Mini shelter building activity. Topic: Seasons (Winter) and Habitats. Can be used as part of a topic on Winter, encouraging the children to think about how they can keep warm in cold weather. The activity could also be used as part of a topic on animal habitats or used to explore materials that are good insulators. Using the story ‘One Winter’s Day’ by M. Christina Butler as a stimulus, the children will help hedgehog to find the matching hats and gloves before building mini shelters for the woodland animals. This open-ended mini shelter building activity encourages the children to investigate and ‘have a go’, to keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and to have and develop their own ideas. The perfect recipe for a fun filled Forest School session!

Living Things and Their Habitats Year 3 and 4 planning and resources. Part of Creative Curriculum Topic: A World of Living Things (Living Things and Habitats). Ideal for teaching a mixed age range. Can be used as a complete scheme of work or individual lessons. Planning includes success criteria, key skills and questions, and links to other resources. Each lesson includes an introduction presentation and a Creative Learning Challenge. These are designed to allow all children to show you what they have learnt, by allowing the children to choose how they show their learning (written, drawing, drama, using technology). Driving Question: How could we, as scientists, improve the habitat in our school grounds to support a world of living things. Our planet is full of remarkable animals, it is an incredible world of living things, but what is special about something that is alive? Question, problem solve and classify. First you will discover MRS GREN and how living things are grouped according to their features. You will become a trainee zoologist and design a zoo of the future. Can you help classify the animals? What do straws and Post It Notes have to do with branching trees? What environmental dangers do living things face? Finally, can you make a positive impact to a local environment? Using your knowledge of environments, habitats and living things, redesign an area of our school grounds to change it for the better and support a world of living things. Lesson 1: How do we know something is alive? MRS GREN and the 7 life processes. Lesson 2: Can you sort living things into groups? Explore criteria for sorting living things into groups. Using Venn and Carroll diagrams. Lesson 3: Can you classify species from the wild? Similarities and differences between vertebrates and invertebrates. Generating closed questions ready for classification. Lesson 4: Straws and Post It Notes! Can you construct a branching tree? Exploring classification keys. Show the characteristics of living things in a table and create a branching tree using straws and paper. Lesson 5: How can we protect the environment? Exploring environmental dangers. Research project on an endangered species. Lesson 6: Can you make a positive impact to a local environment? Using everything they have learnt, carry out a survey on an area in the school grounds. Use tables, tally charts etc to record and then think about the environment and how could it be improved to support a variety of living things. There is a PDF and an editable version of each file (PowerPoint).

STEAM challenge for use in your Makerspace, classroom or at home. Great activity for Key Stage 2 project on electricity. Fun and hands-on creative activity that encourages creative thinking, problem solving, decision making, communication and collaboration through practical activity. With this STEAM Harry Potter Magic Wand project, children create their very own wand that lights up using a simple circuit. The wand includes an on/off switch. The activity allows the children to make lots of creative decisions and personalise their wand. PDF instructions (blueprint) includes full instructions with photos, so children can complete as an independent activity.

Living Things and Their Habitats Year 5 and 6 planning and resources. Part of Creative Curriculum Topic: The Cycle of Life (Living Things and Habitats). Ideal for teaching a mixed age range. Planning includes success criteria, key skills and questions, and links to other resources. Each lesson includes an introduction presentation and a Creative Learning Challenge. These are designed to allow all children to show you what they have learnt, by allowing the children to choose how they show their learning (written, drawing, drama, using technology). Driving Question: How can I, as a visual artist, demonstrate the life cycle story of plants and animals. On 24 May 1948, Agnes Arber became the first woman to receive the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society, a world-famous institution dedicated to the study of natural history. Agnes was a botanist, and she researched and drew beautiful illustrations of plants. In 2024, The Linnean Society wants to create a new, modern collection of scientific illustrations on the theme of animal and plant life cycles. The Society wishes the collection to reflect a more modern and diverse view of art in the 21st century, incorporating all areas of the visual arts. Can you create accurate and eye-catching pieces of work that tell the life cycle story of a range of nature’s wonders? Lesson 1: How do plants spread their seeds? Parts of a flowering plant (pollination) and seed dispersal. Lesson 2: Who will win The Great Plant Debate? Advantages and disadvantages of sexual and asexual reproduction in plants and the life cycle of a plant that reproduces asexually. Lesson 3: Are the life cycles of all mammals the same? The life cycles of mammals (monotreme (for example a platypus,) a marsupial (for example a kangaroo) and a placental (rabbit). Lesson 4: What is metamorphosis? The life cycles of insects and amphibians. Lesson 5: Are all living things the same? Similarities and difference between the life cycles of plants, mammals, birds, amphibians and insects. Lesson 6: Who was Carl Linnaeus and why is he famous? Who is Carl Linnaeus was and how living things are classified using the Linnaean system and classify things using the system. Lesson 7: Can you solve the classification conundrum? Sorting, grouping and classifying animals. Lesson 8: Can you identify the evil microorganisms in the police line up? Identifying different types of microorganisms and which are helpful and harmful. Lesson 9: Bacterium, virus, or fungus? Which will you choose? Describe the characteristics of different microorganisms, and using this information to design and make your own microorganism. There is a PDF and an editable version of each file (PowerPoint).

Forest School activity for EYFS/KS1 - a twist on making magic potions and a great starter session for your Forest School journey. Can you help Blackberry find her magic stars? Search the woods for stars, collect natural materials, make potions and help save the animals. The perfect recipe for a fun filled Forest School session!