What do the children do all day at the Holiday Clubs?

"What do the children do all day at the Holiday Clubs?" - We get asked this question frequently by people who hear enquire The Outdoors Project for the first time. Is it a forest school? Do they need to bring anything? Is it best if they come with a friend? Do you cancel the clubs in bad weather? The answer to all of those questions is no. 

The simple answer to what children do all day at our clubs is that they have lots of fun, embracing the fresh air, grounding themselves in nature, and being as loud or quiet as they like. The environment allows them to be themselves, and with activities ranging through den building, nerf games, wand making and toasting marshmallows on the campfire they have built, there is always something interesting, and they learn at the same time.

A typical day at The Outdoors Project

Whilst each session is completely unique due to the nature of different children attending, the personalities that our amazing instructors bring, and the weather and seasons offering different environments in the same places, there is of course a little structure needed when working with groups of children, in order to make the day go smoothly.

After registration, we start with a few fun games to ease the children into the day. We know that coming to a new club all day can be daunting for the first time and the starter games always break the ice for children meeting for the first time, allow friendships to start building, and give us a chance to get to know your children and their individual personalities. 

Small group sizes
We divide children into smaller groups with an instructor who will stay with them throughout the day. Children can request to switch groups if they want to be with certain friends and we try to make sure everyone is happy with their group for the day ahead. Instructors will run the activities, as well as supervising toilet breaks, frequent water breaks and lunch. We run three activities a day, based around that day's theme with our snack and lunch breaks (late morning and early afternoon), acting as pit stops between each activity. 

What kind of things do they get up to?
We are always developing new games, to ensure that our children (many of whom come for several years to our clubs) experience something new each time. In bushcraft sessions, activities include: learning how to build a freestanding shelter, learning and practicing different fire lighting techniques, making paracord survival bracelets and often the chance to toast some s’mores or marshmallows on the campfire they have made and lit. Our tech meets nature sessions (Minecraft, Among Us etc) bring to life elements of the games that many children love. The meeting of the two worlds often encourages somewhat reluctant children to come for the very first time, only to find that they return for other sessions non-tech related, once they discover how much fun there is to be had at the clubs. 

Is it fun or are they learning things?
Our main goal is for kids to have fun at our clubs, whether that comes from high energy games, like Nerf days, zombie apocalypse (Halloween) or capture the flag, or more static activities like fire lighting and whittling wands. We find that children are learning all the time throughout the day, improving on things such as working as a team, and needing to use strategy and communication skills to reach their end goals of activities such as ninja warriors and shelter building. Often children won’t be aware that they are learning many of these skills but we see a real sense of active play and discovery. There is a certain amount of resilience needed when working with new people for the first time and everyone gains here. Children gain confidence, improve their physical and mental development and laugh while they are doing it. 

Unlike school pick up, when we are often met with a grunt or one word answer, parents report that their children come out of clubs talking non stop about their days with us, enthused and full of tales. This is before they head home to drop, exhausted and happy. Come and see for yourselves, we think that you will love it.

"I’m absolutely dumbfounded how you can keep all those kids properly entertained with no tech etc. Properly brilliant".

"They really enjoy being outdoors all day and the fun, energetic team who run the days with no pressure, just encouragement".

"I love that the children get to be in the fresh air, they get to be creative and adventurous".

"Our boys have loved the holiday clubs this summer. "Better than playing computer games" says my 9 year old - high praise indeed!"

"Fun and enthusiastic staff, innovative and exciting activities regardless of the great British weather".