Peter Samuel | Free Early Learning Resources for Teachers

Farming for children

Posted by: PETER SAMUEL On: April 30, 2012 our contributors

I’ve blogged recently about various outdoor play activities and the benefits of gardening and growing produce in early years settings. One of our visitors alerted me to a charity called Farming and Countryside Education (FACE), which may be of interest in this context. Read More...

Outdoor Play Activities and Ideas (Part 2)

Posted by: PETER SAMUEL On: April 18, 2012 our contributors

This is the second and final part of my outdoor play article – bringing together tips and ideas to encourage outdoor play. Please feel free to leave comments below or to contact us with further ideas. Read More...

Outdoor Play Activities and Ideas (Part 1)

Posted by: PETER SAMUEL On: April 18, 2012 our contributors

Ok here are a few outdoor play ideas that I’ve picked up from various sources. Some were given to me by visitors to the site, some I picked up from around the internet (credit given) and some I thought up all by myself. Read More...

ABC does….outdoor continuous provision

Posted by: PETER SAMUEL On: April 17, 2012 our contributors

I’ve been talking quite recently about outdoor play and the forest school approach. I thought I’d augment these articles with a selection of outdoor play ideas. However before I do that I’m going to highlight a little passage about outdoor continuous provision taken from the ‘ABC Does’ blog. If you’re not familiar with ABC Does it’s written by Alistair Bryce Clegg, (an experienced early years consultant and former head teacher of an Infant School and Early Years Unit) and it’s a treasure trove of creative and inspirational ideas for early years settings. You may already be familiar with his work as he’s a written a number of books and even a couple of articles specifically for our blog. Anyway, according to Alistair... Read More...

Early years stories about gardening

Posted by: PETER SAMUEL On: April 16, 2012 our contributors

As a follow to my last post about gardening in the early years I thought I’d put together a list of fun and engaging early years stories that touch upon the theme of gardening. I’ve provided links to Amazon in case something catches your eye that you would like to buy. If you can think of any others please leave a comment below... Read More...

Gardening in Early Years Settings

Posted by: PETER SAMUEL On: April 13, 2012 our contributors

The benefits of gardening with young children (or any children for that matter) are enormous. This goes without saying really but it’s always nice to have a study to back up your theories...A 2010 study commissioned by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) found that children in schools that encouraged gardening became more resilient, confident, eager to learn and have healthier life styles. It also found that gardening had a positive impact on children’s literacy and numeracy development and that it led to a more active, inquisitive approach to learning and improved problem solving skills. Read More...

Mark making ideas, resources and activities

Posted by: PETER SAMUEL On: April 13, 2012 our contributors

The first thing to note with mark making is that it’s important that activities are linked to children’s interests and are not overly prescriptive. Where a child is disinterested in mark making exercises a certain amount of tact needs to be used. One simple idea is to create bespoke dry-wipe writing frames. These can be done by firstly observing the interests of particular children during their play. Then stick an A4 piece of paper on to a larger piece of backing card. Stick a picture that relates to the child’s interests on the A4 paper and laminate in an A3 pocket. Read More...

Outdoor Learning: Forest School Approach

Posted by: PETER SAMUEL On: April 3, 2012 our contributors

In the wake of the National Trust’s recent report highlighting the decline in outdoor play in the UK I thought I’d provide a quick overview of the forest school approach as I feel it could help to reconnect children with the natural world. What is the Forest School approach? The Forest school ethos developed in Sweden in the 1950s but it is becoming increasingly popular here in the UK. It’s an approach that takes a long term sustained approach to outdoor learning. Forest schools seek to encourage, motivate, engage and inspire children through positive outdoor experiences. Read More...

Decline in Outdoor Play

Posted by: PETER SAMUEL On: April 2, 2012 our contributors

A report conducted by the National Trust has highlighted an alarming deterioration in children’s relationships with the natural world. According to the report (entitled Natural Childhood) less than 10% of children regularly play in wild places compared with 50% a generation ago. Moreover, the distance which children roam from their home has dropped by some 90% over the same period of time. This dramatic change can be attributed to a combination of several factors, primarily parents safety factors and children’s increasing interest in technology. Read More...