Summer Term 2022 After School Club Report

Our after school clubs feature a different activity every week, alongside our favourite energetic games the kids love and often request. 

Here’s a snapshot of some of the activities our young adventurers got up to in summer term of 2022 at our after school clubs.

Bushcraft Fire lighting - solar, flint & steel and tinder piling
We embarked on a series of fire based bushcraft challenges to test our skills! After explaining the risks and rewards of fire, we introduced two methods of fire lighting – using ‘flint’ & steel rods to create a spark. Tinder is one of the most essential parts of fire lighting, so we explored how to carve tinder from sticks and light an effective fire. We then used magnifying glasses to focus the sun’s energy to ignite pieces of newspaper.

Lahal
Lahal is a game common throughout tribes of Southwest Native America. We first designed our own sets, then used them to play against an opponent. Great fun and excellent for social bonding.

Campfire Pow-wow
Gathering round the campfire for a North Native American tradition, a meeting of minds & laughter. We shared riddles, tricks, jokes & toasted marshmallows – yum!

Wild things Wilderness Adventure

Bringing literature to life by exploring the book Willow Wild Thing and the Swamp Monster by Gill Lewis. Riverside camp building, map making and swamp monsters all feature in this adventurous storytelling session. 

Paint Mural
Combining two popular activities – Water Day and painting – we embarked on the hugely creative and messy activity of ‘Paint Mural’ - using water pistols to fire paint at a huge canvas together as a group. As you’d expect, it turned into a big, wet, messy painting, but we had a lot of fun at least!

Nerf (return of the Bunny-nator)
Blasters, darts and goggles at the ready, we started off with some point-based target practice. Some pin-point precision here and some not so great shots – always a lot of fun though. Then a more competitive game (bum shots only!) based on collecting eggs from the Bunny-nator (“I’ll be back… for my eggs!”).

Egg drop
Crafting, engineering and design skills at the ready, we made structures to stop our eggs from splattering all over the playground when dropped from a 5 metre height. Some really innovative designs here and egg-cellent team work – doing a drum roll before each egg fell, and investigating each other’s egg fall outcomes. Kids and instructors alike had a blast!

E-pots and bug hunts
Reuse, Recycle & grow a better future! Biodegradable plant pots for your spring flowers or herbs, alongside minibeast hunting and identification. A dextrous activity but a fun one.

Nerf Water Games

A class water battle with Nerf blasters! The perfect summer activity. Adapted for age groups, sometimes involving our 'pass the sponge' game where kids and instructors 'avoided' getting the sponge wringed out over their heads.

Ambassador Awards

At the end of each term two of our members are chosen to win "The Outdoors Project Ambassadors Award". They receive a special golden patch and a certificate for their efforts!

What is an 'Outdoors Project Ambassador'? 
An ambassador is a representative or a promoter of a particular place or activity. In our case the outdoors! We feel they represent the club ethos well and carry our message of fun and play in the outdoors! 

Who is chosen? 
At the start of each term the leader will introduce the award and the group will discuss ideas about how you get chosen. Loads of different reasons from growing in confidence, being helpful, polite, particularly supportive to others, a team player and so on.
There are so many positive things to say about all the members who attend our club, and it is never easy for the club leaders to pick their Ambassadors!
We always praise our members efforts and achievements no matter how big or small. The award is simply that extra recognition from us for that individual for the term. 

The Award Ceremony
During a club towards the end of term we will make an effort to sit together as a group and announce the winners, with the reasons they have won. It's all kept informal and we have fun with it! The schools are also informed and occasionally they may choose to announce the award in class or in assembly. 
Good luck and remember award or no award you are valued by each and every member of the team equally. Being outside in the fresh air is rewarding for your mind, body & spirit, so technically you're already winning just by being there! 

Do we offer any other patches?
YES! All club members have the opportunity to earn unique and collectable patches when they attend any of our clubs – not just the After School Clubs.

Read more about our patch reward system HERE

What's next?

Autumn term '22 after school clubs

New activities next term include:

Circus Skills - Nerf “Spoons of Destiny” - Yeti Foot Print - Survival Dash - Leaf Bowls - Squirrel Uprising - Animal Ambassadors - Kensuke’s Kingdom Japanese Alphabet & Orangutang Rescue - Rafia Cordage - Bushcraft - Fairy Pillows & Flaming Fire Pits Tonnes of games, team building and the key ingredient lots of fun!

Booking for autumn term is now open!

Click here to read all about how our after school clubs run, including booking information