Our Wild Workshops
This is a list of all the Wild Workshops available at our Centre of the Earth and EcoPark environmental education centres. Workshops cost:
£185 per class for ½ day
For more information and bookings, email education@bbcwildlife.org.uk
@WTBBC
Nature Friends
EYFS and into KS1
A seasonal selection of nature-based and sensory activities to connect our youngest learners to their natural world. Explore EcoPark’s meadow, woodland and orchard habitats; seeing, feeling, smelling, collecting, creating and having fun.
Helena Dolby, Sheffield Wildlife Trust
Seasonal Changes
EYFS and Year 1
Explore the beauty of the EcoPark woodland on a nature trail, seeing and feeling how trees and plants show us signs of the changing seasons. Notice the weather and make winter-time hedgehog homes or spring-time nests for our British wildlife friends.
Wild orchids at Moseley Bog
Plants
Year 1
Listen to the story of The Green Giant where plants come in all shapes, sizes and shades of green. Go on a Plant Hunt to see some of EcoPark’s biggest, smallest, softest and most fragrant plants. Activities may include observing and drawing plants with their roots, collecting ‘a hundred greens’, making a leafy smoothie or creating a plant parts picture with natural materials.
Flowers and Seeds
Year 3 / Year 5
This adaptable workshop covers plants and flowers for Years 3 and 5. Plant parts and functions, flowers and plant life cycles, and seed dispersal can all be covered with a variety of seasonal, hands-on, practical activities such as wildflower surveys, seed hunts and dissecting flowers. Pupils will explore and ask and answer questions about how plants grow, spread and bloom., taking in all of EcoPark’s varied habitats.
Habitats and Microhabitats
Year 2
Take a walk with us to see EcoPark’s different habitats and microhabitats to find out which British wildlife species live there and why. Ask and answer questions about their food, shelter and body shapes. In season, go on a minibeast hunt or a pond dip to find out which plants and animals are in our log pile and pond microhabitats.
Animals
Year 1: Carnivores, Herbivores and Omnivores
Embark on a full-site habitats hunt to find clues to who eats what in the orchard, meadow, woodland and pond. Discover which animals are carnivores, herbivores or omnivores among EcoPark’s visiting wildlife species. Begin to link animals’ favourite foods with their habitats and the idea of simple food chains.
Food Chains
Year 2 / Year 4
Another year group adaptable workshop designed to fit your Key Stage science topic. Embark on a full-site habitats hunt to find out who eats what in the orchard, meadow, woodland and pond. Construct a food chain or food web of carnivores, herbivores and omnivores among EcoPark’s visiting wildlife species. In season, take a closer look at minibeasts or pond creatures to see food chains in action with our smallest animal inhabitants.
Wood-carving leafcutter bee flying towards an insect hotel with a leaf to seal her nest © Nick Upton
Classification, Grouping and Sorting
Year 4 / Year 6
Join us on a site-wide nature trail to find out which vertebrate and invertebrate animals live in and around EcoPark’s varied habitats and microhabitats. Use your knowledge to complete the grouping and sorting challenge then find, identify, name and record invertebrates and their groups living in and around our minibeast hunting area using branching key ID guides.
Male emperor moth © Matthew Hazleton
Adaptation and Evolution
Year 6
Investigate how different native animals are adapted to their specific habitats. Looking in our grassland, woodland and ponds, identify which animal features and characteristics have evolved to help animals thrive where they live. Predict and design new animal adaptations to help animals navigate climate change.
Orienteering for Beginners
Year 3 / Year 4
Orienteering skills for absolute beginners. Learn how to ‘set’ your map in the right direction then follow a map around EcoPark, labelling the significant features. Put your new skills together to find a series of hidden markers to reveal the clues to who is hiding in the basket.
Adrian Clarke
Den Building
Year 4 / Year 5 / Year 6
Join us for a practical, team challenge workshop. Pupils work in small teams, using a variety of equipment, to construct a range of shelters for survival in the wild. Gross and fine motor skills merge with communication skills in this fun, wider learning activity.