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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. This includes course information, dates, costs and how to book, as well as our short course workshops and Outdoor First Aid training.
Storytellers Apprentice
During 2024, I have been on the learning journey of my own as I work towards becoming a professional storyteller through the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Sharing stories is a deep human need and being part of the oral storytelling tradtion feels very important to me right now. Storytelling - both in and about the natural world - will feature much more highly in my work from now on.
Wilding Theatre Project
This beautiful Teacher Resource Pack (2022) was designed to compliment one of the theatre productions created by Miscreations Theatre. The activities link the story - in which a giant dreams the world into existance only to discover the importance of maintaining healthy ecological connections - to the outdoors in ways that bring the themes of the play to life in nature.
Nature Play & Nurture Training
Sadly, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nature Play & Nurture CLPL for Nursery and Early Years staff is no longer running. Aline & I would love to run it again so do get in touch if you are interested.
Identifying Trees
Online teachers resource 2021(PDF): Identifying Trees, created by me in collaboration with Aline Hill (FSTC) and 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.
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 Institute for Outdoor Learning's website, as well as on the Sustainable Learning website (sadly now closed). 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 (WTS). 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. Download from the Ledmore and Migdale woods webpage. Maybe you could visit those magical woods if 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.