Full-Day Activities:
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Canoeing Expedition
Children will prepare the equipment and canoes, before heading off for a full day’s journey through some of the UK’s most beautiful countryside. They will play games, observe wildlife and build bonds with each other during this thrilling adventure.
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Hiking
A great day out in the hills and mountains enjoying nature and the breath-taking views.
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John Muir Introduction
This module introduces the award to children and forms a basis on which to progress through the award. Each child should be challenged in their thinking and taking part in the award will develop an understanding of, and responsibility for, a chosen wild place or places. If you would like to continue with the award we can tailor the rest of your programme to be John Muir specific, through the Discover, Explore, Conserve and Share aspects.
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Mine Exploration
Journey through a real mine in Snowdonia. Discover the fascinating history and geology of the mine and surrounding landscape, and find out about mining techniques on your underground adventure.
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Rock Climbing
A chance to experience rock climbing on a natural rock face, gaining a real sense of mountaineering risk and adventure. Skills in balance, technique and control will be developed through ground based games and bouldering before moving onwards and upwards to practice these skills on the rock face.
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Think like a Scientist
Through a series of hands-on, outdoor experiments and activities, children will explore scientific ideas and what it means to work scientifically. They will invent, discover, trial and test, while learning how to think like a scientist and work in team. They will explore the natural world, looking for evidence that refutes or supports their ideas, and discover some ideas from famous naturalists and scientists.
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Tree-mendous
Children will discover forests, woodlands and meadows on a sensory level as well as through games and investigations, looking for the clues that make trees and plants special. They will see the fascinating features of plants and find out what plants need to survive and how plants work.
Half-Day Activities
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Abseiling
in this adrenaline filled activity children will lean back over a rock face to let the ropes take their weight, conquering their fear before enjoying the decent down.
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Canoeing Champions
An inspiring introduction to the sport of canoeing, including games and competitions designed to engage and enthuse. Working together, children prepare, launch and manoeuvre open boats within a natural water environment, while also taking opportunities to observe the wildlife and landscape.
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Compass Orienteering
Using key orienteering skills to explore inspirational landscapes, children will quickly and accurately navigate their teams through challenges and problems – mistakes cost time! Developing map reading, orientation and compass abilities, they will gain confidence in finding their way through unfamiliar terrain.
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Curious Coastal Creatures
Children will delve into the fascinating world of the seashore and enjoy active enquiry games to consider the adaptations and lifecycles of the animals they find in this unique habitat. Can you find the one-footed vegetarian with a hard hat? Or perhaps the “flowers” of the sea with stinging tentacles?
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Digital Stories
Children will use technology to share creative ideas, stories and feelings relating to the landscape. Their unique perspectives can be captured in a multitude of media, allowing each child to journey into expressive and vibrant areas of art, meaning and language.
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Disappearing Animals
Discover the world of wildlife hidden within the landscape; warrens, burrows, nests and hollows all hide signs of the animals that live there. Children will use all their senses to explore the busy world of wildlife that crawls, flies, walks and hops throughout the countryside. There may be opportunities to use IT to detect bats at dusk, as well as live trapping and observation of small mammals.
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Eco-action
Children will take part in exciting sensory games and activities to help build a bond with the natural landscape. They will participate in some active conservation or habitat management, such as bird box building or pond restoration. Children will consider human impacts on the environment and sustainability.
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Exploring Place
Children will build their spatial and locational knowledge creatively exploring the distinctive landscape and settlements surrounding the centre. They will use innovative ways to answer their own geographical questions, such as: What makes this place special? How is it connected to my place? Why is it like this? Locations explored could be coastal tourist areas, Olympic Park, World Heritage sites etc.
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Geo-journey
On an expedition through the local landscape, children will challenge themselves to uncover the mysteries of our countryside. They will employ cutting edge digital technologies and apply their geographical knowledge to a series of exciting activities which will deepen their curiosity and understanding of the natural world.
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Ghyll Scrambling
Children will step outside their comfort zones as they journey upstream and experience the flow of an impressive mountain river as it cuts its path through the wild environment. They will work together to scramble up the sides of waterfalls and jump into plunge pools. Journeying up the river they will encounter the unique habitat and wildlife of the gorge.
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Hidden Histories
Uncover fascinating local histories through hands-on enquiry. Active participation and immersive activities guide children through our ancient past hidden within our modern landscapes. Iron-Age hill forts, medieval timber-framed buildings, Roman remains, castles and watermills provide the settings which reveal the secrets of our past.
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High Ropes Challenges
Children will be given the chance to experience fun, outdoor challenges at height in a safe environment, they will push themselves out of their comfort zones and face personal challenges. They will take part in activities such as the leap of faith, abseil tree and zip wire.
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Hiking
A great day out in the hills and mountains enjoying nature and the breath-taking views.
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John Muir Introduction
This module introduces the award to children and forms a basis on which to progress through the award. Each child should be challenged in their thinking and taking part in the award will develop an understanding of, and responsibility for, a chosen wild place or places. If you would like to continue with the award we can tailor the rest of your programme to be John Muir specific, through the Discover, Explore, Conserve and Share aspects.
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Literacy Through Landscapes
The outdoor landscape will provide the inspiration and focus to stimulate children’s creative thinking, enabling them to build and improve their literacy skills. By exploring poetry and stories, then using a combination of tactile and visual experiences in a local landscape, children will create characters, develop plots and generate ideas to form a story of their own.
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Low Ropes Challenges
These low rope challenges are the perfect setting for children to develop flexibility, strength, control and balance in an exhilarating outdoor environment. Balance beams, rope bridges and scramble nets allow the whole group to keep active and try different ways to conquer the challenge.
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Maps and Geometry
Activities introducing the geometry of the Earth and basic mapping techniques will outline the science of map making. Children will use IT and a range of different maps, to explore spatial dimensions, angles, shapes and distances, while relating these concepts to the landscape surrounding them, for example within relief, contours and scales. They construct 2D and 3D maps, to different scales and find out which maps are most useful in different situations, as well as considering the history of map making.
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Mine Exploration
Journey through a real mine in Snowdonia. Discover the fascinating history and geology of the mine and surrounding landscape, and find out about mining techniques on your underground adventure.
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Nature’s Numbers
Children will become maths detectives, discovering the numbers and patterns hidden in nature. They will take part in mathematical games, finding patterns in snail shells, symmetry in leaves, angles in trees and fractions within animal populations. This session will use the environment to inspire children, improving their mathematical literacy and problem solving skills.
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Obstacle Course
Can you successfully navigate our on-site obstacle course? This activity can combined with low or high ropes, orienteering or team challenges.
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Raft Building
This is a wet, challenging and fun activity to increase teamwork and communication skills. Children will consider buoyancy, stability and steering when designing and building a raft to launch onto our wild lakes or rivers. Aboard the raft, with others, they will take-up their paddles and work together to face races, wet games and time trials.
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River and Life Everywhere
Using a variety of engaging activities, children will discover the physical geography and river processes, which have formed this distinctive habitat. Working scientifically to gather data children will ask questions to build a picture of the river and the life that surrounds it. They will journey beside and within the watery world, discovering the plants and animals that make rivers and streams their homes.
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Rock Climbing
A chance to experience rock climbing on a natural rock face, gaining a real sense of mountaineering risk and adventure. Skills in balance, technique and control will be developed through ground based games and bouldering before moving onwards and upwards to practice these skills on the rock face.
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Science Rocks
Children will immerse themselves in the impressive rocky outcrops and cliff habitats to become rock detectives, uncovering the secret stories and origins of creatures, rocks, fossils and minerals. This hands-on adventure clambering session, will provide inspiration for scientific questions such as: Why does this live here? Why are the textures different?
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Sea Level Traverse
Children will be provided with an opportunity to scramble along around and over rocky obstacles at the foot of cliffs, hunt for fossils and look for crabs.
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Secret Ponds
Delve into the unseen watery depths to discover the life teeming beneath the surface. Children will explore pond margins for signs of life and investigate the life support systems behind the abundance of pond invertebrates hidden from everyday view.
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Team Challenges
An exciting and challenging introduction to the concepts of working well together, using a wide variety of fun activities and puzzles designed to encourage problem solving and teamwork.
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Think like a Scientist
Through a series of hands-on, outdoor experiments and activities, children will explore scientific ideas and what it means to work scientifically. They will invent, discover, trial and test, while learning how to think like a scientist and work in team. They will explore the natural world, looking for evidence that refutes or supports their ideas, and discover some ideas from famous naturalists and scientists.
-
Tree-mendous
Children will discover forests, woodlands and meadows on a sensory level as well as through games and investigations, looking for the clues that make trees and plants special. They will see the fascinating features of plants and find out what plants need to survive and how plants work.
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Wilderness Bushcraft
What do you need to survive a night in the wilderness? Students to discover what they would need to survive a night in the wild. They will work in teams to build their own shelters and have a go at lighting a fire using natural materials. Depending on the length of the session, students may also have ago at making elder beads, whittling and cooking some nettle tea to have round the fire.
Evening Activities
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Disappearing Animals
Discover the world of wildlife hidden within the landscape; warrens, burrows, nests and hollows all hide signs of the animals that live there. Children will use all their senses to explore the busy world of wildlife that crawls, flies, walks and hops throughout the countryside. There may be opportunities to use IT to detect bats at dusk, as well as live trapping and observation of small mammals.
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Green Artist
Great environmental artists will be introduced to the children who will then have the opportunity to blend together different artistic materials and media to create 2D and 3D outdoor nature art. Children will use the outdoor environment as inspiration and resource to explore their relationship to the natural world.
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John Muir Introduction
This module introduces the award to children and forms a basis on which to progress through the award. Each child should be challenged in their thinking and taking part in the award will develop an understanding of, and responsibility for, a chosen wild place or places. If you would like to continue with the award we can tailor the rest of your programme to be John Muir specific, through the Discover, Explore, Conserve and Share aspects.
-
Low Ropes Challenges
These low rope challenges are the perfect setting for children to develop flexibility, strength, control and balance in an exhilarating outdoor environment. Balance beams, rope bridges and scramble nets allow the whole group to keep active and try different ways to conquer the challenge.
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Music, Stories and Camp-fires
Huddle together around the fire, for an evening of entertainment, stories and music. Tell your own story, make your own drum or just sit back and relax with a hot chocolate and enjoy the fire.
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Night Walk
Children will use their senses to explore the inspiring dusk environment, engaging in activities underneath big open skies. Working together, sharing an exploratory journey they will discover the wildlife that inhabits our nocturnal world.
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Obstacle Course
Can you successfully navigate our on-site obstacle course? This activity can combined with low or high ropes, orienteering or team challenges.
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Orienteering Puzzles
An action packed introduction to orienteering and maps. Children will complete a series of games designed to progressively develop their spatial and kinaesthetic skills while in the natural environment.
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Star Gazing
Children will discover the cosmic night sky away from the busyness and brightness of normal life. Viewing the night sky without any light pollution, they will find out more about the moon, stars and planets of the solar system. They will use a range of astronomical equipment to explore the constellations and the myths and legends around the oldest features the solar system has to offer.
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Team Challenges
An exciting and challenging introduction to the concepts of working well together, using a wide variety of fun activities and puzzles designed to encourage problem solving and teamwork.
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Wildlife Rescuers (Egg Drop Challenge)
Pupils will be challenged to work in teams to create an egg ‘safety pod’/device, from limited materials which will allow an egg to survive a fall from a height. Pupils will learn about different conservation efforts that are in place for an endangered bird species. Egg related puns are actively encouraged.