Key Stage 2 Sessions - Hampstead Heath

Discover the secret life of invertebrates. Explore Hampstead Heath with a hands-on bug-hunt and pond dip to see how many creatures you can find. Test your knowledge by challenging yourself to identify your newly discovered creatures. Can you sort them into the right groups?

Activities include:

• Bug Hunting
• Pond-dipping
• Learning to use keys

Explore Hampstead Heath to meet some of our resident plants. Discover how important Seeds are to a plant’s lifecycle, and how seeds are designed to disperse and give the seed the best possible chance to thrive.

Activities include:

• Seed Scavenger Hunt
• Seed Dispersal Drama

Explore textures, patterns and colours and be inspired by natural art sculptures. Working together, create group artworks. Use clay to make your own individual piece of art. This stand-alone session is an excellent way to round off your day on the Heath.

Activities include:

• Collecting materials
• Team mural
• Individual clay art

Work as a team of scientists in our geology-based challenge. Using the real dams on Hampstead Heath ponds as inspiration, complete experiments on our 3 main types of soil. Can your team complete the experiments and choose the right soil for our final challenge?

Activities include:

• Guided Walk
• Soil experiments
• Dam-Challenge

Find yourself stranded in our beautiful teaching garden. Discover what you need to survive. Complete our hands on challenges to test yourself and your group. Build a shelter and start a fire before night falls (or it’s time to go back to school)

Activities can include:

• Shelter building
• Fire Lighting

Can you and your team survive the stone age? Can you work as a team to build a shelter and light a fire? Discuss what Stone Age people needed to survive, and what tools they would make.. If you can visit for the whole day, we recommend pairing this session with an Eco Art session.

Activities include:

• Handling Stone Age Materials
• Shelter Building
• Fire Lighting

Learn how to use landmarks to find your way, and the importance of compass directions. Compete in our challenge across Hampstead Heath- how many points can your team find? Test your team-work skills in this exciting session. If you are visiting for a whole day, we recommend pairing this session with our exciting modern survivor session.

Activities include:

• Map & Compass training session
• Orienteering Competition

Our whole day Maps session for year 5-6. Look at maps and compasses in more detail, including looking at contour lines and degrees. Create your own island and learn how to navigate between them in our fun map challenge. In the afternoon, test your map-reading and team work skills by exploring the Heath’s orienteering course. .

Activities Include:

• Map Challenge (Contours Lines, Keys, Compass Bearings)
• Map & Compass training session
• Orienteering

Explore Hampstead Heath and use your imagination to discover magical locations. Create your own character and storyboard an adventure. How does your character interact with the landscape on its journey? Use your creative vocabulary to explore your character’s world. Enjoy a winter campfire.

Activities Include:

• Character creating (craft)
• Free exploration/Role Play
• Storyboarding
• Campfire (Bring your own Marshmallows)

Improve wellbeing, connect with nature, and take part in fun, sensory activities. Scientists have shown that spending time in nature improves wellbeing, so why not join us and experience how nature can make you feel good?

Activities include:

• Meet a tree
• Eco- art
• Team challenge