At Alice Holt we offer a whole range of exciting programmes for Primary School children. We can help you teach many different aspects of the National Curriculum through hands on games and activities which are fun for children. Our education programme titles indicate themes rather than 'off the shelf' pre-set activity programmes, enabling us to plan the precise content of each visit to meet the learning objectives of each individual group. The subject of Climate Change, its effects and the role of trees in relation to it, will be touched upon for most groups. We have a range of activities on the subject which can be included in the programmes listed below. Alternatively, a programme with a climate change focus can be planned specifically for groups wishing to look at the subject in more depth. A visit to the forest will be an exciting cross-curricular experience for children. Learning in the outdoors provides the ideal opportunity for children to increase knowledge across a range of subjects and to gain self-confidence through achieving practical tasks, most of which don't require pencil and paper.
Care for the environment, climate change and sustainability are themes running through all our programmes and the main focus of Planet Earth, Amazing Americans and Saxons Alive is respect for the environmentand the need for sustainable lifestyles. All our programmes are designed for full day visits but are easily adapted for half days. Content and delivery vary according to the age of the children and the school's learning objectives.Children learn through hands on discovery activities and educational games.
New Campfire Option
We can now offer a short campfire session to complete your school visit to the forest. These sessions can take place at the end of a half day's learning or be fitted into a visit at an appropriate time for your group. If this is of interest then please let us know when you're booking your visit.
Programmes for Key Stages 1 and 2 at Alice Holt are as follows:
Super Sensations
Children make full use of their senses of smell, touch and hearing as well as sight to explore the forest and discover fascinating facts about its trees, plants and animals.This programme is particularly suitable for KS1 but is also ideal for any classes requiring a more general introduction to the forest. Blindfold games and smelly cocktails are particularly popular!
Tremendous Trees
This programme focuses on the life processes of trees and other plants,on the importance of trees in our world and how the lives of plants and animals are interlinked. Tree stumps, annual growth rings, photosynthesis, tree products and wood as a renewable resource are frequent features of this programme. Suitable for all of KS1 and KS2.
Forest Homes 
Children learn about habitats and encouraged to understand that tere is a considerable range of different habitats within the forest. They consider, as appropriate, food chains and food webs and look at the relationship between the animals and plants that live in the forest.
Activities available include minibeast hunts and 'sculpture', becoming a forest animal and finding your ideal home, and getting tangled in a food web. Suitable for all KS1 and 2
Fantastic Forests and Wonderful Words
This programme enables children to discover what an amazing place a forest is and encourages them to really let their imaginations go. After a morning discovering what a wonderful place the forest is, we enter the fantasy forest. In the morning adults are asked to keep a note of some key words used by the children. These can be used back in school for creative work and are usually employed during the visit for the children, in small groups with an adult, to create kennings or acrostics about aspects of the forest. In the afternoon we use classic stories or traditional tales to encourage children to imagine the forest as a place where nothing is quite as it seems. Ents, Minpins, dancing trees which talk of their lives in the forest, friendly dragons and much more are frequently encountered. Activities include 'magic painting' on tree trunks and creating fantastic forest animals from forest floor materials. It's great fun and will fuel creative work in the classroom in language and art. Suitable for all KS1 and 2 but most appropriate for children in Yr.3 and above. If a focus on fun with words is inappropriate for your group this aspect can be omitted.
Planet Earth / Amazing Americans
These titles represent two alternative ways of looking at sustainability and respect for our environment. They considers the importance of conserving natural resources, including trees and forests for economic and environmental reasons. The importance of trees in mitigating the effects of climate change and the effect it has on the ability for trees and plants to flourish are considered in terms which children can understand. Planet Earth approaches the subject by looking at some of the amazing features of Alice Holt Forest whilst Amazing Americans looks at aspects of Native American life and the ways in which these people lived in harmony with their environment. Children are encouraged to consider the effects of their own behaviour on the environment and ways in which they might reduce their impact. If required KS2 pupils can take part in a critical thinking exercise to highlight the links between our own lifestyles and the state of the environment.
Marvellous Maps
This combines mapwork at appropriate levels for children throughout the Primary School with learning about different aspects of the forest. Children in KS1 create a 'straight line' story map as they progress through the forest in the morning. They are encouraged to observe their surroundings and to grasp the basics of spatial relationships, drawing pictures to represent the things they see and do in the correct positions on their maps. KS2 children use a simple map of the forest which shows the route they follow through the forest. They are asked from time to time to pinpoint their location and to indicate the direction to be taken. In addition the children draw symbols to represent their observations and the activities they take part in, completing the map with a key. Full day visits include a poetry trail which is a version of orienteering undertaken in groups. Different courses are used to suit children of different ages and ability.
Saxons Alive 
This programme brings the Anglo-Saxons to life. The children become Saxons for a day and experience something of what it was like to be a child in Saxon times. They also learn that Saxons lived sustainably. There are games to play, skills to learn such as hurdle making, and riddles and runes to read and write, and it's great fun!
Team Tactics
This programme offers a really fun packed day for children in Year 5 and above. On a typical day the children take part in progressive team challenges, build dens in the woods and finish the day running around on a poetry trail and honing their map skills.
For more details and bookings contact the Education Team on 01420 23666 or email helen.wallace@forestry.gsi.gov.uk or kathleen.calver@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
