Welcome students to an engaging day exploring the fascinating world of materials! Through hands-on activities, experiments, and creativity, they will discover the properties of wood, clay, metal, and slate.
The day consists of 3 X 90 minute activity sessions. We combine our Bushcraft activity, Orienteering and Aerial Trekking, to bring a unique day, with lots to learn and lots of fun.
A typical programme includes:
Testing Properties on our Aerial Trekking
Students will move around our Aerial Trekking course, as they reach each station they will perform their own little experiment. They will test materials on their:
Electricity conduction
Thermal conduction
Magnetism
Students will discuss their findings as they learn how the materials behave differently.
Orienteering – natural craft
Students will navigate around our 15 acre looking for different natural materials, exploring their properties. From this students are encouraged to create their own natural artwork. Teachers can decide prior what kind of artwork they would want their students to make. Options include:
Wood – Simple wood carving (taken out shapes)
Clay – Modelling figures or objects
Slate – Arranging small slate pieces into mosaics (creating a slate item and carving on it)
Cordage – Create your own string weaving natural resources
Bushcraft – Shelter Building
Students can build a shelter using either natural or man made materials. Which works best? What are the pros and cons of each?
Why Choose Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre?
A fully immersive day designed to meet curriculum needs while sparking curiosity.
The day can be finished with discussions on what has been learned about the different materials and their uses.
Book Your Materials Day Today!
Curriculum links include:
‘They should use simple features to compare objects, materials and living things and, with help, decide how to sort and group them, observe changes over time, and, with guidance, they should begin to notice patterns and relationships’
‘Identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses’
‘Find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching.’