There are many things that make Folly Farm special. It's a place to learn and explore, a place for inspiration, a place to lie in the grass and discover a new world.
The Folly Farm Centre has a brand new education programme filled with exciting hands-on activities and games to challenge every learning style. The Centre is set in a stunning 250-acre nature reserve and offers comfortable en-suite accommodation in the restored farmhouse.
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We do our best to provide a day that fits in with the individual teacher's requirements. A visit to Folly Farm is ideally suited for National Curriculum studies in Science, History and Geography, but the visit will also cover many other subjects - including important well-being and life-skills development. A curriculum link is offered with each programme, but note that all of our courses are designed to have a cross-curricular appeal and link to the broadest spectrum of learning.
I have really enjoyed the last three days here at Folly Farm! I have learned a lot about specks, Mother Nature's munchline and how all living things are connected. Earthkeeping training has been great!
During the morning discover the secret of SWAF through a story and some energetic games, followed by a special Earthwalk using all our senses in the natural world. At lunch set off on a trail to find the missing teddies and learn how they have been helped in their survival by the plants and animals of the woods. After a picnic, create a miniature woodland island for the teddies, complete with shelter, water air and food (SWAF).
National Curriculum links – Geographical and social: how people, communities and places are connected and can be interdependent. Scientific: exploring ways of looking after living things and keeping them alive and healthy; investigating the local environment and using findings to inform actions to care for it.
The concept of life cycles and how insects use their senses, colour and camouflage to survive are explored through a focus on caterpillars and butterflies.
Start the day following a fun trail through the woods to find out what a caterpillar really needs before it can turn into a butterfly. A leaf hunt for the hungry caterpillar and a chrysalis building activity complete the morning in the woods. After lunch enjoy a lively butterfly feeding game, make a colourful butterfly collage with natural finds and learn about camouflage and symmetry in the natural world.
National Curriculum links – Geographical and social: understanding the needs of living things and our responsibilities towards them. Scientific: how the natural world evolves; thinking creatively and inventively about how things work, identifying patterns and establishing links between causes and effects. to look at how butterflies use their senses, colour and camouflage to survive.
Immerse yourself in the nature of Folly Farm through a wide range of sensory activities and games. These could include: making a colourful collage from natural finds; creating a cocktail of smells; focusing on the sounds of the woods; performing a play through touch, smell and sound; meeting a tree or appreciating the woods in an upside-down way! There are plenty of other sensory experiences to be had, all of which take place in the woods and the garden.
National Curriculum links – Art: exploring, investigating and experimenting with a range of stimuli, techniques and materials.
The importance of minibeasts to nature and our world and how we can help them to thrive are the focus of this day.
Follow a game of chance trail through the woods and understand the vital role minibeasts play in our world through the clues you find on your way. Learn about their importance as pollinators, decomposers and as part of the food chain. Explore a miniature world which provides everything minibeasts need to survive and thrive. In the afternoon focus on a special minibeast and armed with bug viewers, go on a hunt in the garden to find out what is hiding there.
National Curriculum links – Geographical and social: the impact of people’s actions on the environment; understanding the needs of living things and our responsibilities towards them. Scientific: exploring ways of looking after living things and keeping them alive and healthy; investigating the local environment and using findings to inform actions to care for and improve it.
Look at how important water is to children in other parts of the world and in small groups build a water saving device which also helps to prevent the spread of disease. Make a time-line to find out how quickly – or slowly – rubbish breaks down in the sea. What takes longest to decompose – a nappy or a glass bottle? Together we think about how we can help to save the water and keep our seas cleaner and why these two things are important.
For Key Stage 2 students we also discover how the water cycle is one of the earth’s natural cycles and follow a single drop on its journey through time.
National Curriculum links- Science; engage safely in practical investigations and gather evidence by observation; explore and observe in order to collect data and compare observations and findings; sort and identify familiar living things according to observable features; investigate the properties of everyday materials and find out how they can be disposed of or recycled; explore simple mechanisms and structures to investigate how they work.
Home Sweet Home – Years 3&4&5
Investigate three of Folly Farm’s habitats – wetland, woodland and meadow – and the communities of plants and animals found there. Find out what happens when the wetland dries up. Will its inhabitants find another community to live in? This highly imaginative hands-on programme explores habitats, adaptation, interdependence and what happens when habitats are harmed. After lunch explore the miniature world of some of Folly Farm’s smaller inhabitants.
National Curriculum links – Science: Living things in their environment (habitats); life processes; adaptation; food chains; natural cycles. Geography: Landscapes changing over time; interdependence.
By investigating the resources used on a daily basis, pupils learn how to reduce their impact on their environment and their ‘footprint’ on the planet.
Whilst based at Folly Farm, a newly restored Eco Centre, students will investigate how they could reduce, reuse, recycle as well as be involved in practical conservation projects for the Centre and Nature Reserve or to take back to school.
Curriculum links – Science 2b/ 2c/ 3b/ 3d/ 4b/5b/6a, Geography unit 8, Design & Technology.
Living History (Years 3&4)
Investigate what life was like by meeting people from the past (Celts, Saxons or Vikings) and taking part in practical activities indicative of these times. Get your hands dirty with wattle and daub, do some basic weaving with wool and willow, make some felt, enjoy a historic walk through Folly Woods and listen to a traditional story round the fire. Take back to school a mini willow hurdle, a woven Y-stick and a sample of felt you have made.
National Curriculum links: History: how life in Britain has changed over time – beliefs, attitudes and experiences. Geography: changing landscapes and settlements; human impacts. DT/Art: developing new skills through a variety of materials and techniques; the vital role these skills played in ancient Britain and currently in the wider world.
Nature’s Gallery – Environmental Art day
Using the natural world as inspiration, spend the day being creative using the colours and shapes of nature.
Investigating the food chain students explore Folly Woods searching and identifying minibeasts before continuing up the food chain to investigate what mammals need to survive. Evidence from our top predators (owls) is gathered and owl pellets are dissected to discover what the predators have been eating by identifying bones in the pellets.
The fine balance between predator and prey populations and relationships will be discussed and threats to this balance identified through games and environmental activities.
Compare terrestrial and freshwater habitats building on identification skills.
Learn what invertebrates need to survive in our woodland and pond environments and discover how they are adapted for their habitat.
Curriculum links – Science: life processes 1a/4b/6a, Geography & Citizenship.
Earth Caretakers (Years 4, 5&6)
Where does our energy come from and how does our use of it affect the natural world? This programme starts with a tutor coming into school to make you think about our ‘throwaway planet’ and continues with a day at Folly Farm to train as an Earth Caretaker. During this action-packed day examine food chains, explore the woodland in search of the mysterious lost letters and experience the natural world around you to learn the secret of ‘care for the planet’.
National Curriculum links – Science: living things in their environment; life processes; adaptation; food chains; materials changing over time; natural cycles. Geography: landscapes past and present; human impact on the environment; interdependence; environmental change and susatinable development. Citizenship: social responsibility; confidence and a ‘can-do’ attitude to new challenges.