For more inspiration and fun ideas to entertain which don’t involve the screen during the long summer holidays, have a look at our newest book. The Den Book.You can build dens anywhere, on the beach, in the garden, even under the trampoline.
Are you a KS2 teacher? If so, come and join us for a fun training day at London Zoo.
Going Wild have partnered up with The Discovery & Learning team at ZSL London Zoo to create an exciting outdoor learning CPD opportunity for KS2 teachers.
Cost: £55 per teacher
Capacity: 40 participants
Includes: Entry to Zoo, training, refreshments, lunch and a copy of a Going Wild book (choose from the Stick book, Wild Weather or Wild City book)
Date: PLEASE NOTE that we have sadly had to postpone this event in September. We will re-schedule it, so please keep an eye out on our website for news if a new date.
Location: Discovery & Learning department, ZSL London Zoo, Outer Circle, Regents Park, London NW1 4RYF
Learn all about a range of practical ways to engage your students in outdoor environments using specific practical tasks that link to science and cross-curricular subjects.
The training will take place in a range of indoor and outdoor spaces across ZSL London Zoo where you will undertake a range of activities covering a range of topics that include, but are not limited to, exploring biodiversity (an easy-to-do bioblitz!), food chains and interdependence (food chain totem poles!), comparative and fair testing (parachutes for stickmen!) and observing change over time (ice windows!). We will also ensure you have some time to explore the Zoo at the end of your day.
As part of your ticket, take home one of the Going Wild books of your choice (from The Stick book, Wild Weather or Wild City book) to plan activities for your students back at school!
Well done Treehouse School. Thank you for sending us pictures of your wonderful micro dens, they are fantastic!
A cow micro den!
The Den Challenge…Go outside and build a den this half term. You can build it in your garden, in the park, in the woods, anywhere you have permission. Build it out of cardboard, rubbish from the recycle bin, over the trampoline, under the garden table, throw a rug over a washing line….be creative….have fun!
Send a photo of yourself in your den to us on facebook (Going Wild) or tweet it to @goingwildnet using #thedenbook for a chance to win a copy of The Den Book. We will be giving away books every month to the best entries.
How about creating some shadow transformers!
On Saturday June 25th Harrow Nature Conservation Forum will celebrate the opening of Harrow’s latest public wild open space. Wood Farm is 24 hectares of meadow, ponds, scrub and woodland in the north of Stanmore, close to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Shree Swaminarayan Temple – Dharma Bhakti Manor and the Husseini Islamic Centre. The views over London are remarkable, and with the help of the board at the site you can pick out nearby landmarks such as Alexandra Palace and Wembley Arena, all the familiar London landmarks, and the more distant hills of Crystal Palace and Box Hill. It is the best site in Harrow for breeding warblers, while on warm days the wild flowers are busy with butterflies and bees.
The opening event on June 25th will have something for everyone. The Appreciating Animals petting zoo will be free for children and accompanying adults. Children will also enjoy storytelling by Pippa Reid and Vivien Keiles, as well as pond dipping, building bug houses, and a collection of animal skulls and snake skins to handle. For adults we’ll have guided tours of the site, telescopes to look over London, and a wide range of stalls and exhibitors.
The event, which is free to all, will begin at 12 noon and run to 5 PM. The entrance is on Wood Lane, Stanmore, post code HA7 4LG. Car parking is available at Shree Swaminarayan Temple – Dharma Bhakti Manor next door. Alternatively, take the 142 bus to the Little Common stop and Wood Farm is a ten minute walk away along Wood Lane.
For more details see the web page at http://www.harrowncf.org/SCP_home.html
Over the next few weeks we will be featuring some fun ideas from The Beach Book to help make beach days full of fun. If you haven’t got a copy get yours now!
If so, here is a den building challenge for you…
To coincide with the publication The Den Book we thought we would set all you den builders a challenge. Have a go at building the most spectacular outdoor den in your local woodland, park or garden. Then post up a picture of it on Going Wild facebook page, or tweet it using the #thedenbook. We will be giving away signed copies of The Den Book to the best entries over the summer.
Only conditions, it must be outside, it must be yours, you must respect nature and it must be wild!
It may be a temporary structure enjoyed in the moment, or it might be built on a site where it can be re-visited regularly and worked on over time. We believe it is important for children to have freedom to design and build outdoor dens themselves with only a little help if absolutely necessary; it needs to be their space and adults are only allowed to join in if invited!
Was there a single life-changing moment that opened your eyes to the wonders of nature? Or were you drawn in over endless days of freedom playing in wild places? Experiences such as crawling through long grass, playing hide-and-go-seek, perching in the swaying boughs of an ancient tree or playing with friends in your very own fort built of sticks and leaves draw children into nature and lead to an insatiable curiosity about the wild world.
Why are outdoor dens special?
Outdoor dens are universal play spaces; you can make them almost anywhere out of almost anything. They are all about escaping and using your imagination. They are places to be creative, to make up the rules, to explore the natural world and to create magical play spaces.
Most people have a story to tell about their special childhood dens. Mine was an amazing hollowed out tree, which we named ‘The troll tree’. The entrance was too small for adults to squeeze into and there was a narrow escape exit out back, just in case the troll came home to surprise us. Likewise my children, given a bit of scrubby area at the back of our garden away from adult prying eyes, with permission to do pretty well what they liked in it, (within reason of course), happily put down their screens and spent many hours, day after day, playing and perfecting their den.
They built it themselves using old bits of pallet in and around a leylandii hedge. They climbed up inside to reach a lookout at the top and made an upper story on the roof of the garden shed. They ate their supper in it, dug and planted the garden round it, and were constantly remodeling and filling it with precious keepsakes. It became a place to ‘chill’, or the venue for wild parties and sleepovers. They loved it because it was theirs, but most importantly they had time to explore, judge risks for themselves and learn from their mistakes.
More den ideas
An outdoor den might be a stick camp in the woods, a hideaway in a garden hedge, a leafy shelter for spying on wildlife, or a little house nestling among the branches of a favourite tree. It may be a driftwood shelter at the beach, an old shed converted into a mud cafe, a green leafy hidey-hole in a living willow dome or a hobbit hole among ancient tree roots.
Throw a rug over a washing line, turn a garden trampoline into a space rocket, a football goal into a cowboys camp, or a cardboard box into a castle. Take indoor furniture outside so you have an outdoor indoor den! Or perhaps a den will be on a miniature scale; a castle for a toy soldier or a mini tipi for a teddy. Be creative, encourage children to use their imaginations; perhaps they will disappear into other worlds or times through a portal into a parallel world where woodland warriors, forest fairies or dangerous dragons hide among the trees.
Responsible den building
Of course we don’t want to see our precious woodland, parks or gardens destroyed. Always make sure that young den builders understand their responsibilities and become nature’s caretakers. Encourage them to look after wild places wherever they are, to be careful not to damage living trees and plants and only collect loose building materials. If making dens from non-natural materials, be sure to clear them up when you leave and take everything you took out with you back home.
We at “Going Wild” believe making space in our children’s lives for some “wild”time makes them happier and healthier. It is vital this generation of children spend time outdoors, interacting with the natural world so they become as familiar with it as they are with technology. Only then will they understand their connection with the fragile ecosystems on which all our futures depend.
If you need ideas more ideas have a look at The Den Book. Post pictures of your wonderful dens on facebook: going wild or tweet using #thedenbook. Write a few words about why your den is so special; we will be giving away copies of The Den Book to the most inventive and imaginative entries.
For further details about The Den Book and our many books encouraging fun outdoor adventures, visit our website Our Books on this site or go to our publisher’s wesbite www.franceslincoln.com
Why not start practicing now!
Here is the Treehouse gang’s hedge den. Thank you for all your great ideas which feature in the book.
Not long to go until our new book is published. The Den book, will be available from May 19th but why not go out this Easter holidays and start practicing!