Children as young as two years old are to be introduced to the wonders of the natural world in a radical new approach to kick-start their learning at an early age.
The children, who attend 13 private nurseries and playgroups in the Bridgend area, will get their first outdoor educational experience under the scheme being led by Forestry Commission Wales’s Woodlands for Learning (WfL) team.
The WfL team hosted 45 early years practitioners on two training days to show them how to stimulate the toddlers’ senses.
The practitioners – who look after the children from a few months old to five years old – learned how to engage children through play at Rockwool Woodlands for Learning centre, near Bridgend.
They made stick figures and used their imaginations to create stories about their “stickman’s” adventures, and learned how to get children to explore the woodland with activities such as scavenger hunts, mud-based games, blindfold games, natural art and so on.
All the activities, which were linked to the Foundation Phase language, literacy and communication curriculum, were led by WfL team Education Officer Karen Clarke.
Karen devised the training after being approached by Bridgend Local Education Authority’s (LEA) foundation phase advisory team, who wanted to improve the outdoor learning skills of the private – or non-maintained – sector.
Karen said, “The non-maintained sector is not funded to the same degree as LEA settings so can find it hard to access training.
“These privately-run playgroups and nurseries must still adhere to the foundation phase inspection regime to provide quality care and education, so it’s important to encourage practitioners to undertake training when offered despite the difficulty in releasing staff to do so.”
The foundation phase sector works with babies up to five year olds but Karen’s activities focused on the two to five years age group.
She said, “Everyone had a wonderful time finding out what it’s like to play in the woodlands using only natural materials and went home with a new bank of outdoor activities to try out and share with the children.”
A training day was held for non-maintained sector workers last year and Bridgend foundation phase advisory team was keen to offer more training for those who had been unable to attend, and to build on the knowledge of those who took part.
The Bridgend Childminder team, which is part of the advisory team, has also asked the WfL team to train their clientele.
Childcare Development Officer Amy Castle said, “The forest training has given all the childcare settings fun, imaginative ideas and resources to take back and implement within their provision.
“All students were enthusiastic and inspired after attending this training.”
Another two days of training will be offered to the Bridgend non-maintained sector in the autumn.
Over the past year, the WfL team has held visits in woodlands around Wales to nursery, playgroups and pre-school groups benefitting over 300 children.
