Latest News
Forest School Training
Latest courses The next Scottish Forest School and Outdoor Learning (FOLA) training blended-learning course dates are available for all levels can be found on the Forest School Training Collaborative website at www.forestschooltraining.co.uk. This included course information, dates, costs and how to book.
Nature Play & Nurture Training
Nov 2021: Sadly, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic limiting external educators goining into many settings, our Nature Play & Nurture CLPL for Nursery and Early Years staff is on hold. I will post an update when we are able to start them up again.
Identifying Trees
NEW online teaching resource 2021 (PDF):In 2018, we won a tender to write and create a new resource called Identifying Trees on behalf of OWL Scotland. We wanted to share our experince of the many ways in which tree identification can be explored through the curriculum, not just through science. Sadly, due to the pandemic, production of the final resource was delayed until 2021, so I am really excited to be able to say that it is finally available!
Brilliant Bumblebees
RBGE online teaching resource 2020: Marley's School of Garden Magic was where all of the schools teaching moved to during the pandemic. My role was to write and create the section called 'Brilliant Bumblebees', to bring the fascinating lives of these wonderful little pollinators into the homes of primary-aged children, as well as encouraging them outdoors to discover and learn themselves.
Outdoor Learning Pack
Still going strong!: The hugely successful 'Outdoor Learning Pack' that I wrote for the Woodland Trust Scotland back in 2009 is still being recommended by educators (it has been updated by me since it was first written). During the rise of lockdown learning, I was thrilled to see it was listed in the Good Practice section on the Institue for Outdoor Learning's website, as well as on the Sustainable Learning website. It can be downloaded from both of those sites.
Into the Wildwoods
Outdoor Archaeological learning: As a critical friend, I was asked to cast a professional eye over 'Into the Wildwoods', a fabulous learning resource which uses archaeological evidence to discover the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, produced by Forestry and Land Scotland. It is a follow-up to their beautifully illustrated booklet called The First Foresters, which links today's native woodlands, the ancient wildwood or the past and the Neolithic pioneers.
Soil: The World Beneath our Feet
International Year of Soils (IYoS) 2016: As part of the IYoS, we were asked to research and write the content for an online resource linking the Scottish curriculum to the best Soil activities we could find! The result was The World Beneath our Feet: Connecting Soils and the Curriculum (2MB pdf) which can be downloaded from the OWL Scotland Learning Resources or from Scotland's Soils website. And very proud of it we are too!
The Carnegie Story Trail
Launched July 2015: A great deal of time, enthusisam and expertise went into making the wonderful Carnegie Story Trail for the Woodland Trust Scotand. Working with local crafts people, designers and experts, we devised a seven-part Geocache trail based around a unique story, The Legend of Ledmore and Migdale, written by Carnegie awrd-winning author Theresa Breslin and illustrated by Kate Leiper.
My part was to create the site-specific family activities which help to connect poeple to the story and the woods. See and download the finished product at www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods and visit Ledmore and Migdale woods next time you are in the area and discover the beautiful caches hidden there.
Into the Forest: An Anthology of Tree Poems
2013: I am very proud to have contributed a poem to the anthology Into the Forest, edited by the wonderful Mandy Haggith, from which all the proceeds went to support the rewilding chartity, Trees For Life. This was my first piece of published fiction.