All Blog Posts Tagged 'outdoors' (17)

Last month, whilst back home in Scotland, I heard about a primary teacher from Peebles who was running forest school classes. I was intrigued how she was able to incorporate such classes into the school curriculum and wanted to learn more. Here is my short interview I had with the wonderful and inspiring Annie Edgar. (Later in the week, I was fortunate to visit the forest where Annie holds the classes. I took my niece and nephews with me. We had the most magical time and…

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"Creativity," says Ken Robinson, "is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status."







Creativity involves putting your imagination to work.









Being Creative In Nature - Trees and Leaves



The class… Continue

 

I don’t usually weigh-in on such things. but the premise of HGTV’s new show, My Yard Goes Disney, really ticks me off. We’re talking full Grass Stain Guru White Trash Fit.

 

And mind you, nobody loves…

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Last May, we made a bad parenting mistake. We let our younger son ride The Ribbon. The Ribbon is a gorgeous expanse of slickrock high above our valley which connects to a series of singletrack trails ending near our home. Our older son loves this ride and he was pretty sure his brother would love it too. Dad was enthusiastic and so without a second thought, I drove them to the trailhead and dropped them off.…

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Had the wonderful pleasure of spending time with artist Annabel Stanley. Annabel has her own vineyard in the Central Okanagan, from which she uses the vines to weave her baskets and sculptures.

Annabel Stanley outdoors making willow wreath.

Willow Mobiles and Stars make wonderful Christmas decorations!

Here’s a short…

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In April I wrote a blog post about Mission:Explore, our book which had just been published. I am very pleased to say that the book is now also available in the United States and is currently available on… Continue

Nature play nurtures a child’s body, mind and spirit.

When children and nature mix, something magical happens….Watch the video.

What a joy it was to share time with these children in nature…………Thank you! This event helped raise funds for children suffering from Cancer. The funds will go towards the …

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Despite the Government’s best efforts to sugar coat the harsh reality of the country’s financial situation, the idea that the ‘Big Society’ will offer a meaningful solution is proving a bitter pill to swallow for many people. Only time will tell whether phrases such as “the Big Society - a smoke screen masking impending deep cuts” materialise into anything other than…

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Building the Biggest Butterfly Girl Fairy House for Charity (part 2)

Getting kids outside and connecting with nature couldn’t be more FUN!

Upon arrival the girls were spotting all the Butterfly Girls hanging in the trees.

Once everyone had arrived I handed out some chalk and asked the children to draw their favorite animal, bird or…

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Another news bullet in about Government funding cuts pops up on my screen. This time it’s the Change4Life and Play England budgets that face the axe – a campaign and organisation that respectively centre on encouraging healthy lifestyles and children’s play. While I’m under no illusion about the dire state of the public finances and the need to cut necessary waste, the latest casualties concern me about what lies ahead for the future funding of the Learning Outside the Classroom… Continue

The UK Government have launched their plan for ‘Olympics style’ school games contests to introduce more children to the health and personal development benefits of competitive sport, backed by £10 million of National Lottery funding. I’m delighted; a renewed focus on young…

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What we have all been saying for years the White House is now pushing! This is good news for those of us with a passion for getting kids out of doors!

Here's a link:
http://www.letsmove.gov/blog/wenk.html

Enjoy!

On the 12th day of Christmas The Grass Stain Guru gave to me:



* 12 perfect snowflakes

* 11 stones a skipping

* 10 stars a twinkling

* 9 children giggling

* 8 frogs a croaking

* 7 kites a flying

* 6 rainbows gleaming

* 5 forts to build

* 4 scampering squirrels

* 3 trees to climb

* 2 box turtles

* And a grass stain on each knee!



No matter what you believe, or don’t, the holiday season is truly… Continue