Education Programmes

The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire Manchester and North Merseyside presents a large number of exciting and interactive education programmes. The following list provides details of each of our programmes, their National Curriculum links and the key stages they are most suited to.

We always strive to be flexible and aim to fulfil the objectives of your visit.

Half Day Programmes

POND DIPPING                   Key Stage 1,2,3

National Curriculum Links: Science, Citizenship - Adaptation and feeding relationships of living things in their environment. Variation and classification of minibeasts. Responsible handling of living things.

The ever-popular pond dipping, using nets and trays, to catch and identify a range of wetland invertebrate life. We use our ID charts at the pond, but more detailed charts in the form of a binary key are available on request for Year 5 to Year 7 groups.

In addition to looking at key features and characteristics, we also discuss life cycles, adaptations, habitats and ‘job descriptions’ for the animals. Following the pond dip, further activities reinforce the concepts of plant/animal relationships, food chains and webs, feeding relationships and adaptations.

MINIBEAST HUNT             Key Stage 1,2,3

National Curriculum Links:  Science, Citizenship - Adaptation and feeding relationships of living things in their environment. Variation and classification of minibeasts. Responsible handling of living things.

Covering the organic garden and either the meadow or the hedgerow, minibeasts will be collected then taken into the cabin to be placed under the video microscope and discussed ‘live on TV!’ During the workshop the children use our own ID charts (please ask us for a copy!)  More elaborate key-style charts are available on request. Additional role-play activities complete this programme, as time allows.

RENEWABLE ENERGY         Key Stage 2, 3

National Curriculum Links:   Science, Geography and Citizenship - Fossil fuels, renewable energy sources and devices. Knowledge and understanding of environmental change and sustainable development. Topical political and social issues.

A series of activities look at energy in nature and in human activities, where our energy comes from and what it is used for. The activities take place indoors and out. Using environmental games and activities we show how energy from the sun provides for all our needs. We then demonstrate renewable forms of energy, such as solar power, wind and falling water.

LITERACY IN THE ENVIRONMENT    Key Stage 2,3

National Curriculum Links:   English  - Exploring language and words to focus our outdoor experiences, and developing appropriate words to create poetry.

Give your children some fresh inspiration from the countryside. This programme includes a special woodland walk and a descriptive poetry trail. Poetry from the woodland walk incorporates work on adjectives, alliteration, rhythm and textures.

ANIMAL & PLANT ADAPTATIONS      Key Stage 1,2 and 3

National Curriculum Links:   Science - Plants and animals in different habitats and how they are suited to their environment.

This workshop looks at animal adaptations as examples of different ways in which living things fit in where they live. Plants have equally fascinating survival methods, but are not so easy to illustrate through activities so please ask us if you would prefer more focus on plants. Activities typically include the Caterpillar Game, the Survival Game and Make your own Minibeast.

SEEDS OF LIFE        Key Stage 1,2,3

National Curriculum Links:  Life processes, growth, nutrition and reproduction in plants, including pollination, seed formation, seed dispersal and germination.                           We start with an introduction to pollination and how seeds begin. Using two giant buttercups, the children watch one of their classmates wearing the winged bee coat, buzzing around to look for nectar and accidentally pollinating the female flower en route. This is followed by explanation with working models of seed distribution. Information in reinforced with a series of environmental games and activities including Squirrel hide and seek, Seed Tig and the Seed Survival Card Game.

WOODLAND EXPERIENCE               Key Stage 1,2,3

National Curriculum Links:  Science, Citizenship - Using the imagination, exploring and developing ideas and sensitivity to the natural environment.

An Earthwalk leads us into the heart of the woodland, in more ways than one, opening up neglected senses and revealing the fascinating life of the woodland habitat and other wild places. Earthwalks do not concentrate on naming and classifying wildlife, or even on its scientific study. They are however a good motivator as part of the science curriculum, as they encourage care of living things and respect for nature. They provide a refreshing touch of the natural world which participants of all ages take to heart and remember for a long time to come.

GREEN FINGERS           Key Stage 2,3

National Curriculum Links:  Geography, Citizenship, DT  - 3D plan of a school wildlife garden, designing and making. Diversifying the variety of living things in the school environment.

If you are wondering about the design of your school wildlife area, let the children do the work for you! Each child creates a unique three-dimensional wildlife garden in miniature. This exciting game is a great stimulus to get the children enthused about their wildlife garden and to learn about what habitats are best for wildlife. We can also include relevant games such as Breathing Trees, to cover how animals depend on plants in their habitats.

Full Day Programmes

LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND YOU      Key Stage 2,3

National Curriculum Links:  Citizenship, Drama and Science - Developing responsible attitudes, understanding and appropriate actions. Understanding the role of food chains, water cycle and trees. Adaptation and feeding relationships of living things in their environment.

This programme is in three parts, each lasting forty minutes. All the children do all three parts, in rotation. It provides a unique opportunity to link Science and PSHE/Citizenship in one programme, covering as it does the linked areas of biodiversity and sustainability.

Life, the Universe and You sets out to explore how we are linked to the workings of the world, and to emphasise why the Earth needs all its parts in good working order to keep us all alive and well for a long time to come. Children gain insights into their place in the universe, the world and its processes, filling in a passport as they complete the Wizard’s challenge. They also take part in the puppet theatre play  ‘Why is the Earth like a Motor Car?’, and search for ‘biodiversity on your doorstep’.

THE GREEN MAN’S SECRET          Key Stage 2

National Curriculum Links:      Science, Citizenship - Habitat comparison, adaptation and feeding relationships of living things in their environment. Variation and classification of minibeasts. The responsible handling of living things. Developing responsible attitudes, understanding and appropriate actions.

The day begins with a minibeast hunt and reinforces the importance of minibeasts in food chains. They also play the board game ‘Pooter’.

After lunch we are all taken by surprise when someone bursts into the room bearing what appears to be a magic staff, plus an ancient leather wallet containing a map and a cryptic clue – the start of an adventure.

The rhyming clues do contain references to the Green Man from ancient myth and legend, keeper of the trees and guardian of a lost secret. Just as the children are really scared, they are attacked by a creature too horrible to describe, but vanquish this Litter Bug and call for the Green Man to help them. He shows the children his lost secret and they leave with the knowledge and understanding that ‘Nothing is wasted in the Green World. Everything is used again’. Powerful messages put across in a dramatic way.

EARTH CARETAKERS      Key Stage 2,3

National Curriculum Links:   Science, PSHE, Citizenship - Developing responsible attitudes, understanding and appropriate actions. Food chains, photosynthesis and environmental sustainability.

This Earth Education programme involves an hour’s classroom preparation a few days before the visit and 3 to 6 hours follow-up in school. A week or two before the visit, we deliver a 'surprise' parcel to your classroom, addressed to the children. These introductory activities motivate the children to take up the invitation and their visit to the Centre becomes their ‘training’. During the visit the groups focus on key environmental concepts and our place in the world.

HABITATS                Key Stage 2,3

National Curriculum Links:   Science, Citizenship - Habitat comparison, adaptation and feeding relationships of living things in their environment. Variation and classification of minibeasts. The responsible handling of living things.

Due to the success of this popular programme we have expanded it to cover a full day. The activities include fieldwork in two of the three main habitats at Penwortham – freshwater, meadow and woodland. In groups, the children gather a diverse range of insects, and other invertebrates. They will be collected in trays then taken into the cabin to be placed under the video microscope and discussed ‘live on TV!’ 

THE VIKING EXPERIENCE           Key Stage 2

National Curriculum Links:       Citizenship, History - Social and cultural, ideas and beliefs, attitudes and experiences of people in the past. Movement and settlement of peoples. Characteristic features of periods and societies.

The children enter the world of Od Bloodaxe and his family in Magic Wood. A day of role-play activities in full costume. The group joins the villagers for a Viking feast in the re-constructed Longhouse then work at four different activities as thralls (slaves). Those who work well may be sold to the Vikings. The children usually want to stay, but will they be good enough at woodcraft, weapons training, food preparation, spinning and weaving?  And if so. can the villagers afford the price demanded?

Self-Guided Half-Day Programmes

Scavenger Hunt          Key Stage 1   

National Curriculum Links:      Geography, Science, Citizenship

Especially for KS1 a scavenger hunt around the meadow and playarea. Children are given a map and a list of natural  objects to find around the centre grounds. 

 

ORIENTEERING       Key Stage 2,3

National Curriculum Links:        Geography - Simple fieldwork skills and knowledge and understanding of places.

The orienteering trail takes you and your children, in small groups, around our gardens and woodland using a map and a set of clues, searching out nineteen numbered marker posts. Each post bears a letter. Put together, these letters spell out a three-word phrase.

Our orienteering trail allows children to practice simple fieldwork and map-reading techniques. The guidance cards also point out things to do en route.

RIVER RIBBLE RAMBLE             Key Stage 2,3

National Curriculum Links:  Geography, Science - Simple fieldwork skills and knowledge and understanding of places.  Seasonal observations of living things in their environment.

A short walk from the centre takes you down the slope where relict woodland still survives. The Ribble Ramble takes you through the woodland and Howick Hall farm, across some large fields to the river. It then follows the river downstream for half a mile and back to the centre. To accompany you on this walk we have a  "Wildlife Detecting" booklet with points of interest described along the route.

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