Outdoor Science Bundle

Outdoor Science Bundle

Engage children with the outdoors and the science that is all around us.

• Includes Playground Science activity cards and bags, as well as two books full of ideas to enable teachers to use their outdoors as a learning environment.

• Developed by the Primary Science Teaching Trust (PSTT), Playground Science is a set of fun and informal, self-directed activity cards to support Science learning and add purpose and enjoyment to playtimes. Using simple instructions, encourage children to explore the world around them and develop their own scientific skills. The resource includes 5 cards featuring an activity, initial ideas and questions and 5 drawstring bags which can be used to include scientific equipment to support the activities. A guide for the teacher is also included.

• Each activity uses a small amount of equipment and are deliberately semi-structured so that children can follow the suggestions if they want, but they also have the option to make their own decisions about what to do. The children can do the activities independently or with other children. The five printed cards guide the children through the activity. Each card has a set of initial ideas and questions on one side, with a follow-up activity on the back. The follow-up activities are designed to encourage the children to work more scientifically. There are two sets available, lower primary aimed at children aged between 4-7 years old and upper primary aimed at children aged between 7-11 years old.

• For lower primary, the investigations focus on time and measurement, forces and motion, light and colour, investigating minibeasts and sound. For upper primary, the investigations focus on measurement and time, magnetism, magnification, observation and light.

• The Science and STEM trails books enable teachers to easily use their outdoor environment to discover and understand scientific and STEM concepts.

• Created by practising teachers, the books were designed to inspire and support educators and features 29 trail ideas as well as a huge range of other material. The original concept came from a group of teachers in the London borough of Haringey who recognised that their outdoor areas in Urban London were often an underused resource. The trails they created, provide a holistic way of looking at Science and STEM in the world around us, using the local environment. Each trail is designed to be easily adaptable to your own school’s environment and surroundings and provides support and ideas for outdoor learning, with a set of objectives, resources/equipment needed and health and safety implications.

• An invaluable resource for CPD with a huge range of ideas and materials to promote outdoor learning from EYFS to KS2. Curriculum grids, full scientific and STEM glossaries and cross-curricular links are also included.

• Numerous topics are featured in the books including animals, biodiversity and habitats, electricity, energy, forces, light, plants, properties and uses of materials, rocks, fossils and soils, seasonal change, sound and states of matter.

• The STEM trails also cover biology, chemistry, physics, maths, engineering and technology.

• Each of the books are paperback and contain 80 pages.

• Using the outdoor area as a teaching tool enhances a child’s learning experience as the natural world provides a stimulating environment that ignites curiosity and encourages exploration. Being outdoors is beneficial to a child’s physical and mental well-being and by interacting with the outdoor environment children can also make real-world connections to scientific concepts.

• The Primary Science Teaching Trust (PSTT) is a charitable organisation helping to improve the teaching and learning of primary science across the UK.