1. sports
2. golf

Forfar Loch
Country Park
Facilitator
Pack
Early
Years
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee wellie wander
Aim
Outdoor activities are a great way to explore, engage and have fun in your natural
environment. This pack aims to highlight how the outdoors can provide a rich and
meaningful context for learning across the curriculum by stimulating the senses to create
a memorable experience and to inspire questioning, critical thinking, creativity and
expression.
Welcome
Welcome! I hope that you enjoy using some of the creative activities in this pack. It has
been great fun creating them and I hope that you and your pupils have a terrific time
investigating the outdoors with them. Please use this pack creatively to suit your needs,
perhaps as a starting point or to further develop learning ideas. I am always inspired by
being outside and I hope that you are too! I would like to thank Mhairi Kimmet,
Countryside Ranger at Forfar Loch, for sharing her passion for the park and the natural
landscape and partnering me on this.
Louise Kirby, Project Artist in Residence, Schools & Learning, Angus Council
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Welcome
Countryside on your doorstep
Forfar Loch Country Park is an idyllic, natural environment for children of all ages to
discover, explore and take ownership of. An outdoor Wee Wellie Wander learning
experience will be one that is remembered for all the right reasons! Learning outdoors
can be enjoyable, creative, challenging and adventurous.
Forfar Loch has an abundance of learning opportunities within your grasp, together you
can explore a variety of habitats, each of those supporting their own micro habitats, just
waiting to be discovered. Explore the Millennium woodland home to an array of mini
mammals, mini beasts and woodland birds. Twisting trails leading children and adults
through a woodland storybook of activities and learning experiences.
The wildlife gardens are bursting with wildlife worlds in miniature and support an
abundance of mini beasts. The wildlife pond can lead the imagination deep down into a
watery world of discovery. Wild flowers and leafy trees in the woodland loop provide a
rainbow of colours throughout the year. Stop, look and listen to the bustling thoroughfare
of birds visiting the garden. These resources at Forfar Loch will provoke the natural
curiosity, regardless of the weather! It is the ideal location to interest and engage
children in their learning.
Mhairi Kimmet, Forfar Loch Ranger Service, Forfar Loch Country Park, Angus Council
Suggested dialogue for children
We are taking an adventure through Forfar Loch Country Park, looking, listening,
imagining, immersing ourselves in the journey through the woods, searching around the
garden and staring deep down into the pond. We will be looking up, looking down,
looking under, looking inside; I wonder what we will discover? We shall collect treasures
along the way and attach them to our Story String so that we may share our adventure,
encourage us further along our path of discovery, reminding ourselves of our journey and
find out what we want to learn more about.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Window into a wildlife
garden
Borders and beds for B’s
The Millennium Woods
Woodland Loop
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Suggested activities for each area
Millennium Woodland
Story String (whole journey)
Bug Eyed
Stacked Leafy Sculptures
Woodland Coats
Natures Palette
Mirror Mirror
Leaf Trail
Grain Graffiti
Creative Creatures
I See a Shape (whole journey)
Land Shapes
Woodland Storytime (find the
tree stumps)
Fabric of the Land
Walk Like the Animal
How Do You Do?
Bug Eyed
Wullie the Woodlouse
Wish You Were Here!
Borders and Beds for the B’s
Story String (throughout journey)
Bug Eyed
One Two Bee – How many can
you see?
Mirror Mirror
Walk Like the Animal
How Do You Do?
Bug Eyed
Wish You Were Here!
I See a Shape (whole journey)
Woodland Loop
Story String (throughout journey)
Bug Eyed
Stacked Leafy Sculptures
Woodland Coats
Natures Palette
Mirror Mirror
Leaf Trail
Grain Graffiti
Creative Creatures
I See a Shape (whole journey)
Land shapes
Fabric of the Land
Walk Like the Animal
Bug Eyed
Wullie the Woodlouse
Wish You Were Here
Window into a Wildlife Garden
Story String ( throughout
journey)
Bug Eyed
Mirror Mirror
Woodland Storytime ( gazebo)
Waterworld Window
Peeping in the houses
How Do You Do?
Walk Like the Animal
Bug Eyed
Wullie the Woodlouse
Wish You Were Here!
I See a Shape (whole journey)
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Story String
Idea
Create a visual journey of your outdoor adventure. A Story String is a creative way for
children to reflect and tell the story of their journey/experience by pegging on reminders.
Photos can be added later and the Story String used to recall information and
discoveries. If the story becomes too adventurous, a new string may be added to make
it longer or at different angles.
Working as a team, children hold the string and stop at appropriate spots where
interesting smells, sounds and sights have been detected. This might include such
items as leaves, pine cones, old crisp bag and helicopter seeds to peg onto the string.
(Keep the string taut to peg on the reminder)
Discuss the items - What is it? What is it made from? Where did it come from?
Photograph the area for future reference.
Move along on the journey to discover what other natural treasures exist in the outdoors.
At the end of your travels, discuss and recall what you saw, heard, smelled and made.
This activity can be used throughout the outdoor journey.
Resources
Wool, string, shoe laces (Approx 2 metres per group of 6)
Pegs (Approx 12 per group of 6)
Further Ideas
Display the Story String as a physical map back at your setting and add photographs
and artworks to it.
Watch how the Story String changes as the natural materials decay over time and new
stories can be created.
Literacy:
Encourage literacy with descriptive words to describe the objects collected, e.g. rough,
smooth, worn, natural, manmade, organic, stem, veins.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Bug Eyed
Idea
Look through the hexagons to see the world like a bug would see it.
Look through the different colours.
Viewing the surroundings in different colours can help to focus attention on things that
might normally have gone unnoticed!
Try layering up the hexagons and colours to what happens.
Prompt lots of thinking/questions.
How does an image change when looking through?
Look at the sky, how has the sky changes?
Look at the leaves, does it make it darker or lighter?
What would a fly’s eye look like close up?
Insect and bugs see things differently from us – shape, motion and colour and have
compound eyes made up of lots of receptors. A bug can see lots of different pieces of
an image, just like a jigsaw – when all the bits fit together it give you the full picture.
Try looking at different objects both big and small.
Resources
Looking Tool (resource bag)
Further Ideas
Create your own glasses with cellophane or recycled sweet wrappers, lay out in between
laminate sheets then laminate to change the colour.
Create your own picture and cut it up into fragments like the facets of the bugs eye.
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. Vision, pattern, compound, sections,
rotation, hexagon, shape, organic.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Stacked Leafy
Sculptures
Idea
Create a mini sculpture with leaves.
Find a stick and pierce it into the ground, then gather fallen leaves to sort/match/organise
to create the Stacked Leafy Sculptures.
Lay out the leaves and group into and/or colours/shape/size. Examine the leaves,
describe the shapes and ask questions where the leaf has come from, what clues are
there to find which the tree it has come from?
Stack the leaves by gently piercing through the twig varying the distance between them.
Leaves could be spun or rotated to match shape before. Make aware of any risk of
hurting self or add a piece of plasticine to any sharp/dangerous areas.
Photograph your stacked leafy sculpture.
Make lots to create a group of stacked leafy sculptures.
Discuss what will happen to the sculptures over time.
Prompt an enquiry into why the leaves change colour and how this happens.
Resources
Found objects on location - leaves and a stick
Plasticine (if required for sharp bits)
Further Ideas
Pierce coloured papers onto pencils and stand with Blu tac.
Sort leaves into colour, shape and size.
Take rubbings of the leaves with a thin paper and soft pencil or crayon.
Take an imprint of the leaf in plasticine.
Look at the work of artist Andy Goldsworthy for further ideas about creative use of
natural materials.
Take a print of the leaves by lightly covering with paint and printing onto paper.
Place the leaves on a light box or overhead projector to see the detail in the lines on a
big scale. Follow line with finger or drawing materials.
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. shape, organic, natural, pierce, stacked,
layer, fragile, land art, sculptural.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Woodland Coats
Idea
Create your own imprint of the outer layer of the tree. Recording the fashion of the forest
by capturing the texture and pattern of a woodland coats for further discussion.
Squish a ball of plasticine in your hands to warm up. Pat the plasticine out flat and
smooth then press onto interesting texture on a tree bark then peel off gently to reveal.
Look closely and see the texture, lines and patterns of the bark. Talk about the
shapes/textures/patterns you see. Compare and contrast different tree textures, inviting
further enquiry questions. Ask what it feels like?
Take a photo as a memory jogger.
Squish it up again and try another tree.
Resources
Plasticine
Camera
Further Ideas
Try rubbing different bark textures with thin paper and soft pencil or crayon.
Photograph close ups of the tree bark texture.
Create mixed media texture with a variety of materials such as scrunched up tissue,
cotton wool, shavings, mixed with paint and PVA glue to replicate bark texture.
Take imprints of other textures – leaves, walls, manhole cover to investigate.
Close your eyes and feel the texture of the tree bark or smell the bark
Measure the tree with your arms, how many to get round, measure with wool and take
back to setting to find out
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words to describe the various textures, e.g. rough,
smooth, soft, hard, spiky, spongy, fluffy, bumpy, knobbly, scratchy, furry, prickly,
crumbly, waxy, sticky, bark, scarred, imprint, print.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Nature’s Palette
Idea
Find nature’s natural colour palette in your surroundings.
Find an area and place the colour spots on the ground. Find something small of that
colour and bring back to the palette, only picking things that have naturally fallen.
Place next to the colour palette then discuss the colour match, e.g. is the colour the
same? Different? Lighter? Darker? Brighter? Duller?
Decide which object is the closest in colour.
Take a photo as a reminder.
Look at the colour through the Bug Eye Glasses and see how it changes.
Scatter objects back to the land and pick up the colour spots.
Resources
Colour Spots Artist Palette (resource bag)
Further Ideas
With paint and one colour, mix light colours and dark colours to get a range of shades
and tints by adding white and black to the colour, then when dry cut up and rearrange to
sort from light to dark.
Sort a box of buttons to create a giant colour palette.
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words to describe the colour, e.g. dull, bright, subtle,
contrasting, lighter, darker, brighter, vibrant, pale, muted.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Mirror Mirror
Idea
Use mirrors to see the world from a different perspective and look at symmetry.
Place a mirror at the bottom of the trunk of the tree. Can you see all the way to the top?
Place a mirror just under a bush to discover what’s inside – creatures, trunk, branches,
nests or spiders.
Place a mirror under your chin and see if it takes you to the top of the trees. How does it
make you feel?
Place a mirror beside an object or artwork to see the symmetry/mirror image. Can you
see the sky? Can you see the symmetry? Why are the trees upside down?
As you go on the journey in the park see if you can see other natural mirrors that have
reflections – puddles, ponds and reservoirs!
Resources
Mirrors (resource bag)
Further Ideas
Place a mirror beside an object or artwork to see the symmetry/mirror image.
As you go on the journey in the park see if you can see other natural mirrors that have
reflections – puddles, ponds, reservoirs or in peoples eyes!
Place mirrors around your building and see the patterns near the walls, gates or climbing
frames.
Create a painted artwork and while wet take a print of it to view the symmetry.
Use mirrors to bounce off each other to see a different viewpoint
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. reflection, symmetry, upside down,
underneath, dark, nest, branch, bark, bushy, inside, outside.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Leaf Trail
Idea
Create a path of leaves.
Gather fallen leaves then sort into categories, e.g. shape, colour, texture or size.
Working together as a team, decide where the trail is to start then create the trail, making
decisions about direction as a group throughout.
The trail should be constructed systematically, children taking turns to lay out one at a
time on the ground. Look at the interesting shape that it has made and how the line
moves.
Photograph to document.
Resources
Bag to collect leaves
Further Ideas
Try with lego, buttons or shells back at your setting.
Draw pictures and shapes with objects.
Take leaves back and take a print to see all the pattern and lines within the veins.
Look through a magnifying glass to see the detail in the leaves.
Draw round the different leaf shapes, overlap them in different positions to create a
design.
Collect leaves and make a carpet of leaves to sit on.
Hang out on a line to dry out and see what happens to the leaves.
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g Straight, curvy, wavy, scale, blended, big,
small, similar, vein, stalk, lobed.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Grain Graffiti
Idea
Create your own patterns and images with stencils using the ground as your canvas – as
well as feeding the birds!
Place stencil on the ground, holding with one hand. Take a small handful of grain and
gently sprinkle over the stencil. Fill the shape so that the stencil area is full of grain then
gently lift up the stencil. Look at the artwork you have created. Repeat the process to
create patterns, pictures and designs. Flip the stencil over to create symmetry.
Stay quiet and sit still and see which birds visit and eat the grain!
Take photographs to record.
Look at how the pattern changes over time…
Resources
Stencils (resource bag)
Large tub of grain (available to buy at Ranger Centre for small fee), Camera
Further Ideas
Draw and cut your own stencils or use objects to get interesting silhouettes.
Try the activity indoors using small objects like buttons, sand or glitter.
Photograph the artworks and use in collage and mix media art activities.
Fill seeds into old salt cellar and draw pictures using the salt cellar as a pencil.
Make a fat ball by mixing up lard and seed and string up and watch to see what birds
come to eat it.
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. symmetry, mirror, stencil, sprinkle,
pattern, round, square, quietly.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Creative Creature
Idea
Create a creature from found objects.
Gather natural objects then sort into categories. Choose a body shape, e.g. a spruce
cone is ideal as its structure is good for attaching other materials to. Leaves and
helicopter seeds can be good for wings. Twigs can be good for legs.
To attach either poke in or find ways to tie or wrap using found materials, such as
grasses. Play with combinations to create your creative creature.
Take a photo of the mini creative creature sculptures.
Can you name and make characters and interactions for your creative creatures?
Resources
Natural objects gathered from the surroundings, e.g. spruce cones, leaves, helicopter
seeds, twigs, etc.
Further Ideas
Group characters and interactions together to make a story.
Draw a background scene for the setting for display.
Recreate with other materials in larger scale such as papier mache or using recycled
materials.
Make an animation or film the creatures.
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. organic, shape, cark, prickly, symmetry,
underneath.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Land Shapes
Idea
Create shapes with found objects using the ground as your canvas.
This is an activity that can be tackled individually or in small or large groups.
Gather materials from the forest floor. Find a suitable space of ground as your canvas
then decide upon the shape and size of the canvas. Using the stick as a giant pencil,
draw the shape then define the canvas outline with pine cones. Fill the shape with
leaves etc, either by ordering them systematically or at random.
Create another shape.
Take some photos of the creations.
Try with other found objects, such as cones or twigs.
Will they still be there the next time you pass?
Resources
Twigs, leaves or cones
A stick to be used as a giant pencil
Further Ideas
Create trails and journeys with natural objects.
Sequence natural objects into size or colour
Take some found materials to add into mixed media artwork.
Create with other objects, like lego, bean bags, buttons in the playground or indoors.
Use hula hoops and fill with petals, cones, leaves or objects.
Create a stick picture frame and create a picture with the natural objects discovered.
Draw or write in the mud or snow with a stick as a pencil.
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. diamond, heart shaped, pointed & curvy,
soft, hard, bark, square, round.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
I See a Shape
Idea
Find shapes that are naturally created on nature’s own canvas. This is a very simple
activity that requires no tools other than looking and imagination. The activity can begin
as soon as you arrive at the Forfar Loch Country Park or even on your walk or bus
journey.
What shapes can you see – circles, hearts, stripes……? Prompt questioning and
thinking e.g do all shapes exist in nature? Where do we see them?
Take photographs of your shapes for reference
Resouces
None (just looking with your eyes)
Camera (you may want to document the shapes you see)
Further ideas
Encourage literacy by making up sentences with the shapes and the surroundings with a
bit of imagination. e.g. My tree has a big heart and it loves living in the woodland
Ask one child to find a shape either in the sky, the trees, leaves, puddles or surrounding
landscape etc., and then the rest of the group has to hunt around to find the shape in
another form
Find shapes in the sky and tell stories
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g.circle, square, heart, long, short, rough,
smooth, hard, soft, rounded.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Woodland Story Time
Idea
Tell a story in a magical place to create a bit of ambience and drama. Find a the
woodland stools/stumps see map.
Read the story book to the children, bringing it to life by adding noises that can be heard
in the environment or children adding noises, e.g. rustling leaves, whistling, clapping,
rustling bags, using a stick as a drumstick, birdsongs.
A prop from the natural surroundings, e.g. a stick or leaf can be used to add drama if
appropriate to the storyline.
Resources
Picnic blanket (optional)
Story book (not provided, suggestions in Notes Prior to Visit)
Natural object for props.
Further Ideas
Tell stories in other unusual places such as tents, in the garden.
Retell today’s journey discussing the sights, smells, sounds and artworks created.
Make a den with some old fabric to create your own special story place.
Add a bit of drama by involving children in acting out bits of the story, e.g. the character
is cold and shivering so the children make corresponding actions/movements.
Make up your own story on the journey by picking up a leaf and asking who might this
belong to? What might his/her name be? What might he/she do here?
Ask one child at a time to find a prop to bring to the story to life/change events of the
story.
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. character, sound, atmosphere. (depends
on the story)
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Fabric of the Land
Idea
Create your own natural fabric. Using the hazel rods from the Resource Bag, pierce
them into the ground about 2-3cm evenly apart these will act as the warp. Find natural
colours and textures from the forest floor (long grasses, twigs – things that are flexible)
and gather together these will be the weft. One by one each person adds a small strip of
colour, weaving it into the weaving loom.
To weave move the object in and out of the sticks, push the strip down to compact
together. The next person weaves in the opposite pattern.
Take a photo as a reminder of your woodland fabric.
Remove the sticks and put back in your resource bag
Resources
Hazel rods (resource bag)
Gather natural objects on the woodland floor – grasses, thin twigs, leaves.
Further Ideas
Weave ribbons, string, wool, willow, grasses or raffia on your gates back at your setting.
Try this in your own setting and see what happens to the woodland fabric over time.
Pleat grasses together to make a fabric
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. rough, smooth, natural, organic, smooth,
scratchy, warp, weft, wooden, woven, on top, underneath, position.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Water world
Idea
Get a closer look at the water, what’s on the surface of it, what lies underneath it, what
can you see in the water in the reflection?
Lying on their tummies and rolling up sleeves. What can you see when the pond is still?
Can you see any reflections? Can you see yourself? Can you see the sky? Why can
you see the sky? Gently dip your hand in, how does it feel? Does anyone live in this
pond? What can you see? Can anyone spot any creatures? (frogs, newts, diving
beetles) Can you find a big creature? Can you find a small one?
Gently place any creatures back. Discuss how the creatures move on the water.
Take photo to document
Resources
None
Further Ideas
Try this activity in other places of water - puddles, bowls of gathered rain water, ponds.
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. reflection, mirror, wavy, smooth, natural,
and organic, ripples, slimy, floating, underneath.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Peeping in the houses
Idea
Who lives in a house like this?
Have a guess at what will be underneath a stone/log “who lives in a house like this?”
Gently turn over a log /stone to see what is hiding under it. Get closer views using the
magnifying glass? Prompt lots of thinking/questions. Can you see any markings?
Where are their eyes? How many legs do they have? How do they eat? Can you see
their mouth?
Where else may they live?
Resources
Magnifying glass (resource bag)
Mirror (resource bag)
Further Ideas:
Also peep in the windows of the cairn, can you see any animals? (Window into a Wildlife)
Add a bit of drama by demonstrating with bodies how the animal moves and lives it daily
life
Use a torch to look in the gaps and small spaces to see if any creatures are lurking.
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. damp, dry, dark, light, rough, smooth,
eroded, decay, underneath, insect, home, safe, bigger, replace.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Walk like the animal
Idea
Explore the area to find animals in their habitats. With your body imitate the movement
of your chosen animal. Such as how the animal lives, moves, talks, sleeps and has for
tea.
Working individually/pairs or small groups.
Sharing with other groups as the audience.
Resources
Magnifying glasses (optional)
Further Ideas:
Draw pictures of the animals in their houses/habitats
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. movement, habitat, home, slowly, fast,
loud, quiet, hopping, crawling, pecking, flying, fluttering, sucking.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
How do you do?
Idea
Introduce yourself to different textured leaves and surfaces. Gently shake the plants
leaves. Feel the different leaves with your fingertips; watch out for the prickly ones!
Can you find a fuzzy one, smooth one, prickly one?
Encourage questioning and thinking around the leaves. Use the magnifiers to look at the
textures felt.
Resources
Magnifying Glasses (resource bag)
Further Ideas
Close eyes and partner leads you to touch different surfaces
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words to describe the various textures, e.g. rough,
smooth, soft, hard, spiky, spongy, fluffy, bumpy, scratchy, furry, prickly, crumbly, waxy,
and sticky.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Big up the bugs!
Idea
Using the magnifying glasses get up close to another world.
Look through the viewfinders to see what you can see – animals, textures, details. Try
different distances to get the image into focus. Zoom into a mini world. What can you
see in a mini world? (mountains/hills, valleys, houses, river, sounds and smells)
Describe what can be seen in the mini world.
What can you see? What shapes can you see? What is the story happening in the
Magnifying glass? What can you see that you couldn’t see before with the naked eye?
Encourage imaginative storytelling.
Take a photo to document
Resources
Magnifying Glasses (resource bag)
Further Ideas
Make up a story with images back in your setting. Use magnifiers in your own setting at
unusual places outside.
Find footprints
Literacy
Encourage literacy, e.g. magnify, zoom, close up, enlarge, scale, lens.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wullie the Woodlouse From the Woodpile
crus·ta·cean
krəs-tā-shən\ : a type
of animal (such as a
crab or lobster) that
has several pairs of
legs and a body made
up of sections that are
covered in a hard
outer shell
Welcome to the woodpile.
I’m Wullie and this is my home.
Some people call me a slater. I’m a
crustacean with 7 pairs of legs. My
suit of armour protects me from
drying out. I like to eat decaying
leaves, rotting wood and fruits.
Look out for me in damp, dark
habitats. You are welcome to look
into my home but please put the
roof back as it keeps it dark and
damp.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wullie the Woodlouse
- Where’s Wullie?
Idea
Create a story inspired by the surroundings.
There is a world at your feet and many stories to be told and things to discover. By lifting
up or rolling over stones or decaying logs you can find creatures.
Meet Wullie The Woodlouse, and his world at your feet. Can you find Wullie or one of
his relatives? Be careful when picking him up. How does he feel on your hand?
Describe how Wullie likes to move from place to place? Wullie is friends with lots of
other creatures that aren’t woodlouse; can you find any of them? What are their names
and describe their characteristics?
Ask questions to prompt possible stories – What has he been doing today? What was
he doing at home? What has he had for breakfast? What is the weather like in his/her
world? What adventures has he been on today? What can you see to add to the story?
What smells can Wullie and his friends smell? What tastes does he like? How does it
move/walk?
Put everything back as you found it and don’t upset his world. What do you think would
happen to Wullie if you took him away from his world?
Resources
Dictaphone or write to record
Further Ideas
At your own setting find your own creature and watch his/her activities and make up
stories and pictures.
Make your own group centipede with pupils being all the parts of the body and try
walking in sync.
Create your own story stones.
Literacy
Encourage literacy, e.g adventure, habitat, crustacean, damp, dark, camouflage, habitat,
textures.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Miss Mini Beast
Mossy Top Motel
Forfar Loch Country Park
Forfar
Scotland
Mrs Toad
The Log Pile
Wildlife Garden
Forfar Loch Country Park
Forfar
Scotland
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wish You Were Here!
Idea
Look through the frames to make your own postcard.
Hold the frame out at arms length, look through and move around to find the best picture.
Encourage to try portrait or landscape layouts. Think of an animal back in your
school/nursery grounds and find a view that you would think they would like to visit or live
in. Take a photo of the frame and the view. These could be printed at your setting and
made into postcards.
What shapes/colours/textures can be seen inside? Why would your chosen animal like
it? Ask probing questions.
Resources
Picture Frames (resource bag)
Camera
Further Ideas
Use a variety of old picture frames of all different shapes and sizes and make pictures
looking at different landscapes.
Use a camera like a picture frame to make the perfect picture.
Place a picture frame on the ground and place objects inside to create artworks.
Imagine you were as small as a woodlouse or spider, can you find hotels, caves….. that
they would like to live in?
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. focus, object, shape, texture, pattern,
smooth, furry, edges, frame, perspective, scale, composition, oval, rectangle, square,
habitat.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
You’ve been framed
Idea
Look through the frames to make your own pictures. Hold the frame out at arms length,
look through and move around to find the best picture.
Encourage to try portrait or landscape layouts. Take a photo of the frame and the view
as a reminder.
What shapes/colours/textures can be seen inside? Why would your chosen animal like
it? Ask probing questions.
Resources
Picture Frames (resource bag)
Camera
Further Ideas
Use a variety of old picture frames of all different shapes and sizes and make pictures
looking at different landscapes.
Use a camera like a picture frame to make the perfect picture.
Place a picture frame on the ground and place objects inside to create artworks.
Place the frame on interesting things on the ground.
Try looking through binoculars, magnifying glass or make finger frames
Make a postcard of your favourite picture.
Imagine you were as small as a woodlouse or spider, can you find hotels, caves….. that
they would like to live in?
Frame yourself with a scenic background and take a photo.
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. focus, object, shape, texture, pattern,
smooth, furry, edges, frame, perspective, scale, composition, oval, rectangle, square,
habitat, portrait, landscape.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
Carder
Bumble bee
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
One, Two, Bee – What
can you see?
Idea
There are different types of bumble bees and you can tell by their stripes. (Bumblebee
resource card)
Standing still, have a look to see how many bumble bees you can spot! Can you spot
different ones with different stripes or bums? Are they thick or thin, straight or wobbly….
What colour is its tail? Check the chart to see if you can see the one you saw. Just look
with your eyes and don’t touch them.
Prompt lots of questioning and thinking - Bees are busy what are they doing? How many
flowers do they stop at before they fly off? What do they like to land on and why?
With your magnifying glasses have a looking inside the flower, can you see the pollen?
This is what the bees are looking for. Have they found any? Bees have pollen baskets
on their sides. Which bee is the busy bee with the pollen baskets? Bees work hard to
feed the young bees in the nest and they are also helping to take pollen from flower to
flower. The pollen dust is important, it help creates new flowers.
Resources
Bumblebee Card (resource bag)
Magnifying Glass (resource bag)
Further Ideas
Can you spot any other stripes in the park or in your own setting?
Literacy
Encourage literacy with descriptive words, e.g. repeat, pattern, stripe, fuzzy, sting,
pollination, pollen, stem, leaf, petal, buzz.
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park
People Involved
This Pack was produced by Louise Kirby, Artist in Residence with Angus Council
Schools & Learning, Creative Learning Team, in partnership with Angus Council Rangers
Service.
Photos by Louise Kirby, Mhairi Kimmet and Ranger Service archive.
Thanks to the Bumblebee Conversation Trust for the resource.
Artist & Designer Information
Scottish artist & designer Louise Kirby brings her create skills and passion for nature and
the outdoors to a range of education development and art workshops.
As a textile and surface pattern designer she creates sophisticated patterned artworks,
capturing the drama of Scottish wilderness with nature at the heart of her designs. Her
signature style has a lovely organic movement using repetitive marks and textures in
delicious colours. Her patterned artworks explore the juxtaposition of colour, scale and
pattern to hide and reveal camouflaged creatures within her designs.
The changing seasons and the blending and harmonisation of nature continually inspires
her. She is often found exploring knee deep amongst the grasses and dotted wild
flowers, wandering through the woods of dappled trees and patchwork fields.
Her designs capture perfectly the essence of the great outdoors and encourage people
to stop and stare as see the vitality of the woodlands.
For more information and images please view my website www.louisekirby.com
Wee Wellie Wander
Forfar Loch Country Park