Nature Lessons for Home Learning – How to Build a Hedgehog Home

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Nature Lessons for Home Learning – How to Build a Hedgehog Home

Summary:

Children and parents are struggling with staying indoors and sitting as a desk all day
Set outdoor activities that they can both get involved in
Time spent outside is good for the metal health of children and adults alike
Building a hedgehog home is a great way to build many skills that a laptop simply can’t

Whilst children are working from home, it’s widely known that children are finding it really difficult to sit down all day in their home environment and work through their lessons. To add to that, not only are children struggling but their parents have been tasked with a job that they have no experience in, resulting in many feeling out of their depths and rather stressed.

Just because we’re in lockdown, it doesn’t mean your pupils need to be cooped up inside all day, as long as they have a private outdoor space they can access such as a garden, outdoor activities will be a breathe of fresh air for you all. So, if your curriculum allows for it, now’s the time to get even more creative than usual.

Getting children outside in nature is great way to tend to their itchy feet and use up some of their built-up energy. Many studies have also found that time spent in nature is therapeutic and will therefore benefit your pupils, their parents and yourself.

Build a hedgehog Home
A great outdoor task can be to teach your pupils how to look after our wildlife such as our wonderful little hedgehogs. There are many tutorials that are widely available online which include using different materials and skill levels and of course, parents can improvise and use materials that already have around the home and garden. This activity would require parents to provide lots of help however, I think many parents may be grateful for a break from sitting a desk all day.

Outdoor activities such as building a hedgehog home can help build fine motor skills, communication skills, and team building skills. Here’s a couple of tutorials we found that are worth considering:

Image Credit: The Wildlife Trusts

The Wildlife Trusts have some fantastic tutorials for outdoor activities that children can enjoy both at home and at school. Their How to Build a Hedgehog Home activity is easy to follow however, it does require materials such as plywood and polyethene sheeting which many parents may not having laying around spare. I’m sure many other materials will make suitable alternatives such as swapping the polyethene for reusable plastic bags that do not biodegrade and swapping the plywood for any kind of wood or even cut logs.

Image Credit: Muddy Days Blog

The Muddy Days Blog also has a great tutorial for How to Build a Hedgehog Home that requires much simpler materials such as a cardboard box rather than wood however, it may not last long in the rain so positioning it under a sheltered area would be ideal.

These activities are also perfect for when children are back at school and can be enjoyed in all weather conditions under a school canopy. If you already have a canopy, you will know how invaluable they are and if not, download our brochure below to see how we can transform your outdoor lessons.

Able Canopies Ltd. design, manufacture and install canopies and shade structures at schools, nurseries and educational settings to enable year-round Free Flow Outdoor Play and Outdoor Learning.
For more information please contact us

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Disclaimer: We are in no way associated with The Wildlife Trusts or Muddy Days and this s not a sponsored post. We are simply sharing the information as they look like great resources, using them would be entirely your own choice.

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Nature Lessons for Home Learning – How to Build a Hedgehog Home

Summary:

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