A 210 hectare nature reserve with a diverse mosaic of habitats including marshes, ponds, pools, woods and grasslands. Find the Kingfisher Tearooms nestled in the middle of the reserve serving delicious homemade food. Lots of accessible paths and hides to view the brilliant wildlife. Take a session out with the education team to find out more!
Early Years (2-4)
Early Years (2-4)
In recent years there has been a cultural shift in our society that has reduced the access and use of outdoors for many young children.
A number of factors are blamed, including increased fear amongst adults in relation to children’s safety, anxieties about the threat of abduction, and technological advances leading to an overwhelming prominence of more sedentary indoor activities, such as television and computer games. However, the developmental needs of young children have remained constant and the outdoor environment continues to be essential to their health, development and well-being. Therefore, regular opportunities for sustained periods of play in a rich and stimulating outdoor environment offer a wide range of benefits to babies, toddlers and young children.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum, which covers children aged birth to the end of the Reception year, became statutory in September 2008 and places strong emphasis on the importance and value of daily outdoor experiences for children’s learning and development.
Learning outside the classroom supports the development of healthy and active lifestyles by offering children opportunities for physical activity, freedom and movement, and promoting a sense of well-being. It gives them contact with the natural world and offers them experiences that are unique to outdoors, such as direct contact with the weather and the seasons. Outdoor play also supports children’s problem-solving skills and nurtures their creativity, as well as providing rich opportunities for their developing imagination, inventiveness and resourcefulness.
And, of course, the outdoor environment offers more space than indoors and therefore is particularly important to those children who learn best through active movement. For many children, playing outdoors at their early years setting may be the only opportunity they have to play safely and freely while they learn to assess risk and develop the skills to manage new situations.
While many of these experiences will take place on-site, outdoor learning may also take place within the local community, for example a walk to the bakery, or past the building site on the way to the park. These off-site ‘expeditions’ offer both children and adults a catalyst for play and conversations. Ultimately, play and learning that flow seamlessly between indoors and outdoors make the most efficient use of resources and build on interests and enthusiasms. Forest Schools are growing in popularity across the UK and are increasingly offered as part of the early years curriculum in schools and settings.
Finally, parental involvement in children’s learning is particularly important in the early years as parents and carers are the child’s first educators. Early years settings, including children’s centres, are increasingly involving parents in developing and using their outdoor areas and in supporting other outdoor learning opportunities.
Suitable Venues
Large indoor play area with 3 levels and loads of classic adventure play features from slides to balls via tunnels, and with a separate area for under 3s.
The play facility is within the Magnet Leisure Centre, so there are opportunities on site for team and track sports plus a swimming pool which also offers lessons.
See a bus so old it was pulled along the street by horses. Get behind the driver's seat of our tube train simulator, experience journeys of a bygone era. Your only problem will be trying to fit it all in!
School Trips
Opened in 1865 the Watercress Line connected rural Hampshire to the heart fo London by rail. It got its name from the fresh produce it carried to the city making the movement of fresh produce in bulk a realistic possibility allowing urbanisation and fuelling the Industrial Revolution.
How big is a Penny Farthing's wheel? And just how uncomfortable were those early bikes compared with today's hi-tech versions? Journey through the lanes of cycle history and see bicycles from 1819, such as the Hobby Horse, Boneshakers and Penny Farthings, up to the most modern Carbon Fibre machines of today.
The brand new Belfairs Woodland Centre offers your school the perfect base to discover the natural world. With guidance from our skilled education team, children will experience hands-on learning in both an exciting and safe environment.
EYFS:
Exploring Senses, Pond Power, Go on a Bug Hunt, Teddy Bears Picnic, Natural Art
Explore the greatest collection of artillery in the UK and discover their fascinating history, and learn about the roles of Gunners. Free entry for kids under 4 years old.
There is plenty to see and find out in a variety of different displays and exhibits, some of which are audiovisual. There are also clearly written information panels.
Brings together an award winning archaeology museum and one of the region's premier art galleries, the Usher Gallery, in the heart of historic Lincoln. Play at The Collection is an exciting free activity centre for younger visitors which encourages learning through play!
In a fantastic waterside location at the heart of Bristol’s harbourside, Arnolfini is one of Europe’s leading centres for the contemporary arts, presenting innovative, experimental work in the visual arts, performance, dance, film, music and events, accompanied by a programme of learning and participation activities.
Saltburn Leisure Centre offers a fantastic range of activities for the local community from gym to sports hall, outdoors sports to two swimming pools.
Found on Deepdale Road in Loftus, Cleveland, Loftus Leisure Centre provides a great community activity centre. In the leisure centre you will find two swimming pools, a sauna and spa, a gym, squash court and group exercise studio whilst outside there is a recreational field.
Making the most of the available space, Everyone Active Leisure Centre: Ashdown in Poole, Dorset, offers a range of indoor and outdoor facilities that are open to the public.
You can paint your own pottery in our beautiful studio or we can come to you! It’s a fun and interactive activity for all the family to enjoy with a great range of pots to choose from!
Perfect for those interested in locomotives and kids who just want to see something fun and different. Running on coal fired steam and diesel engines, you'll enjoy your ride, taking in all the sights as you head down the tracks.
A museum with over 50 micro cars from the 50s and 60s, plus scooters on display, a row of recreated shops to explore, and loads of memorabilia to look at.
Some of these displays are pretty entertaining, and others are through provoking.
Set in Basildon, Essex, Basildon Sporting Village has fast become one of the leading leisure and sports centres in the area.
This spectacular leisure centre offers two swimming pools, a regional gymnastics centre, an 8-court sports hall, 100 station gym, two group exercise studios, an indoor climbing wall, an athletics stadium and outdoor pitches.
Learning at our outdoor education centre makes Mill on the Brue a perfect environment to inspire people. With over 40 activities to choose on our 25 acre estate, we can tailor-make your programme to suit the needs and requirements of your group.
A former gravel pit turned nature reserve and a good venue for families to explore
A 144 acre country park sandwiched between the villages of Harrold and Odell 10mls NW of Bedford. It features 2 picturesque lakes and a stretch of the River Great Ouse with wheelchair and pushchair friendly paths round the main lake and outdoor play areas.
here are small play areas at each end and opportunities to view plants and animals as you stroll round.
Yorkshire's Finest House & Gardens
Castle Howard is Yorkshire's finest stately home and garden near York. Grand interiors, gardens and an adventure playground make for a great family day out.
This 500 acre country park is one of Liverpool’s most important heritage sites and is Grade II listed.
A great visitor attraction for families, the park has something for everyone including:
Based in an eco-refurbished Victorian former terraced house in Sheffield, South Yorkshire Energy Centre (SYEC) demonstrates the practicalities of Green refurbishment and renewable energy and offers advice, training, education, consultancy and project management to a wide variety of clients, as well as providing Sheffield's first Green Building Service.
Taurus Crafts is a vibrant visitor centre celebrating creative design and healthy living. Bringing together arts, crafts, designer gifts and wholesome food, we offer an alternative to the high street experience where you can eat, shop and relax.
Taurus Crafts Pottery Activity
Open weekends and Holidays. Your chance to throw your own pot, paint your own pot.
Rockbourne is near Fordingbridge in a picturesque and peaceful part of Hampshire close to the New Forest. The Roman villa once stood in the centre of a large farming estate, and is the largest known villa in the area. Its history spans the period from the Iron Age to the 5th century AD. The villa includes bath houses, living quarters, farm buildings and workshops.
Take a ride on this fun narrow gauge railway that trundles through the heart of Sherwood Forest which runs for one mile through the area's farm land with two crossings a tunnel and a couple of stations cute 5/8ths scale locomotives the kids will love pulling open carriages behind them.
Experience the thrill and challenge of Quad Biking, negotiating a 250cc or 90cc Honda all-terrain vehicle, with a trek through our cross-country nature trail whilst enjoying some of the best views of the Taff and Rhymney Valley's in South Wales.
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The Bushcraft Company offer residential school trips with a difference, taking students into the wild and giving them real back-to-nature experiences they will never forget.
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