Wonderful Woodland Fun with Well Natured - Explore. Learn. Outdoors

(Review - Gifted)

If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise! Hidden away, just off the beaten track in the beautiful grounds of Rudyard Lake (in the Staffordshire Moorlands), you'll find a miniature woodland wonderland waiting to be explored!

Well Natured - Explore. Learn. Outdoors is run by Nicola, who has a background in education and working with children. She has recently taken the brave step to put her lifelong passion and dreams into action and create a magical, outdoor, multisensory learning experience for young adventurers.

I asked Nicola what her motivation was for starting up her woodland stay and play sessions (suitable for early walkers up to 4 years of age) -

"I have always had a love of the great outdoors, having had lots of exposure as a child on long country walks and bird watching with my parents and nana. Something I continued to do once I had a family and in schools setting up nature clubs. It was whilst completing my degree I discovered forest schools and the benefits of outdoor learning. Since then, I have continued to read more research and discover the benefits to children’s well being. More than ever now children spend much more time using technology and children’s access to outdoors is decreasing because of this. I feel that children are so much happier and creative when the walls are removed!"

We had the pleasure of joining Nicola on one of her exciting sessions this week, to try out all of the activities she had on offer - and we were not disappointed! I'll let the photos tell the story of our afternoon...

A - Z of Multisensory Language Learning for Kids: Letter E

As you may know, in this series, I'll be sharing some multisensory language learning ideas, which will help you to teach languages to your young children in a fun, engaging way. If you're not teaching languages however, most of these activities can be adapted to fit many themes in your own language too! I'm sorry there's been such a big delay in getting the letter E to you - life just seems so busy at the moment!

You can find quick links to our previous posts in this series, including other language learning blog posts on our Language Learning Adventure page. 

E is for...

5 Fun, Easy Ways to Introduce Languages at Home

You don't have to come from a multilingual family to introduce foreign languages to your children at home! But why should you bother? And how can you introduce languages at home in fun, easy ways? 

The best time to learn a second language is during early childhood, when the brain is like a "sponge," and is more open to learning new words. Children are already used to imitating sounds with great pronunciation, so learning accents comes naturally at this stage. They have no inhibitions and are willing to try out new things too. Language is therefore acquired faster and remembered better at an early age. 

Phonics: How to Teach your Child "Tricky Words" - A Multisensory Approach

If you have a child in Reception or Year 1, you may have been thrown into the world of Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) or Phonics for short. Not only are there 44 sounds (phonemes) to learn, there are also "tricky words" to get your head around too!

For first time parents, supporting your child on this learning journey may seem like a daunting prospect. So I'm hoping this post will explain things in an easy to digest way, and give you some ideas to help your child learn to spell tricky words in a multisensory way.

What is Phonics?

Phonics is a systematic approach to learning to read and spell. Children are taught approximately 5 sounds (phonemes) a week in an explicit, rapid way. Most schools will have a daily phonics lesson (approximately 20 minutes), and each day follows the same format - Introduce, Revisit, Teach, Practise, Apply, Assess. 

A - Z of Multisensory Language Learning for Kids: Letter D

In this new series, I'll be sharing some multisensory language learning ideas, which will help you to teach languages to your young children in a fun, engaging way. If you're not teaching languages however, most of these activities can be adapted to fit many themes in your own language too!

You can find quick links to our previous posts and the reasons behind them on our Language Learning Adventure page. 

D is for...

A - Z of Multisensory Language Learning for Kids: C

In this new series, I'll be sharing some multisensory language learning ideas, which will help you to teach languages to your young children in a fun, engaging way. If you're not teaching languages however, most of these activities can be adapted to fit many themes in your own language too!

If you follow our blog posts, you may already know that I am documenting our German language learning journey. You can find quick links to our previous posts and the reasons behind them on our Language Learning Adventure page. 

C is for...

A - Z of Multisensory Language Learning for Kids: B

In this new series, I'll be sharing some multisensory language learning ideas, which will help you to teach languages to your young children in a fun, engaging way. If you're not teaching languages however, most of these activities can be adapted to fit many themes in your own language too!

If you follow our blog posts, you may already know that I am documenting our German language learning journey. You can find quick links to our previous posts and the reasons behind them on our Language Learning Adventure page. 

B is for...

A - Z of Multisensory Language Learning for Kids: A

If you follow our blog posts, you may already know that I am documenting our German language learning journey. You can find quick links to our previous posts and the reasons behind them on our Language Learning Adventure page.

In this new series, I'll be sharing some multisensory language learning ideas, which will help you to teach languages to your young children in a fun, engaging way. If you're not teaching languages however, most of these activities can be adapted to fit many themes in your own language too!

A is for...

AQUABEADS

Aquabeads or water beads are a cheap and easy way to add a simple sensory element to your learning. Children love the feel of them and they are quite therapeutic to play with! 

Let's Go: Teaching road safety to under 5s with The Children's Traffic Club

Teaching my two young children (2 and a half and almost 5) road safety is high up on my list of parenting priorities, so when The Children's Traffic Club asked me to review their new interactive road safety programme, I jumped at the chance! 

The Children's Traffic Club (CTC) is an award-winning road safety and active travel education programme aimed at the under 5s. For over 25 years, the CTC have been positively influencing children's road side behaviour and helping to reduce casualties involving children, by teaching them the skills and attitudes needed to ensure they stay safe when out and about. 

German for Kids: Krabbeltiere Suche! - Minibeast Hunt!

Minibeasts and Creepy Crawlies!

Outdoor learning

This week, we took our German lesson outdoors! My son was set some half term homework to go on a minibeast hunt so I decided to use the opportunity to introduce some new topic related German vocabulary! A "Krabbeltiere Suche" was born!

I put together a tick list of common little creatures found in British gardens, and added bright colour photographs to aid learning. (You can download it for free at the end of this post.) We spent a little while saying the new German words and repeating them, and having a giggle at some of the funny translations! The kids found the literal English translation of slug really funny - die Nacktschnecke means the naked snail! 

Easy bird feeders to make with children

The children love to feed the birds when we're out and about, so I decided to bring some of that excitement into our own garden. We chose to make some bird seed feeders to hang outside, to attract some birds into our back yard. They are really quick and easy to do, making it a simple activity for children of all ages to join in with. 

Here's how to make your own easy bird seed feeders!

German for Kids: Fünf Osterküken - Five Easter Chicks

Counting to 5: numbers in practice!

A little recap

The aim of today's lesson was to get the children to practise using German numbers 1 - 5 for a purpose - counting!

It is always important to recap any prior learning before introducing anything new; this promotes confidence and helps them to retain information. For our first lesson earlier this month, I decided to introduce the children to German through one of their favorite songs, Five Little Ducks. We used the song to learn numbers 1 to 5. To refresh the children's memories, we listened to the song again and we held up the correct amount of fingers everytime we heard a number. For ideas on how to introduce numbers 1 - 5, read our post called German for Kids: Fünf kleine Entchen - Five little ducks. We then counted up to 5 together and checked their pronunciation of each word. I encouraged Stanley to count back from five too, and he did it with a little help.

German for Kids: Fünf kleine Entchen - Five little ducks

Counting to 5 - Our first lesson!

A familiar song 

I decided to introduce the children to German through one of their favorite songs, Five Little Ducks. Using a song with a familiar tune captured their attention straight away and allowed us to chat about the reasons why it sounded different to them.

I explained to Stanley that we live in a country called England and we understand each other because we speak language called English. I showed him where England was on the map, then went on to explain that people from other countries often speak other languages. I showed him Germany on the map and told him that Mummy lived there once and that I had to learn another language called German so I could understand the people that lived there.

A messy kind of Monday!

Sticky fingers, mucky toes 

This week, Rosie and I decided to try out a "messy" playgroup. For some parents, this is a couple of hellish hours of trying to dodge sticky fingers and mucky toes, as half naked toddlers wander round aimlessly with handfuls of whatever this week's gloop is made of! Rosie and I are not bothered about getting our hands dirty, so we set off with plenty of wipes, a change of clothes and high expectations! To be honest, I was just looking forward to not having to clear up after her for a change!

A real treasure! 

The group was a mix of tea and toast, free play, followed by the messy stuff (World Book Day themed this week) then parachute games, singing and bubbles! In my opinion, it was well worth the £5 entrance price as the resources were plentiful and very well planned; you could tell how much preparation had gone into giving our little ones a great multi-sensory experience. I think this photo really captures Rosie's sheer surprise as the magnetic wand picked up all the treasure out of the sand! These moments of real awe and wonder make all the mess worthwhile! We'll certainly be going back!

Edit: Well, since writing this post, Rosie's mugshot above has won us free entry into the messy playgroup for the whole month of March! Keep making people smile with your adorable facial expressions Rosie!

Finding joy in the little things: Just look at that face! Says it all really! It was so nice to spend time with Rosie doing something new while her brother was at school. She's such a happy, sociable, inquisitive little girl, it's a real pleasure to be in her company.