Emergency Sub Plan: One Hour Outdoors

Written for the person who was handed a class this morning and knows nothing about them. No preparation, no printing, no equipment, and it works from five to twelve years old.

What you need

**Minutes 0 to 5.** Walk the boundary with the whole group and name it out loud. Do this even if they know it. Then everyone sits down in one place.

**Minutes 5 to 10.** Two minutes of silence, listening. Then go round: one sound each, one word each. Nobody may repeat a sound already said.

**Minutes 10 to 30.** Find one of each: something rough, something smooth, something that was alive, something that was never alive, something smaller than a fingernail, something that surprised you. Containers are useful but hands work. Set a return time and stick to it.

**Minutes 30 to 45.** In pairs. Each child shows their partner one find and says one thing about it that is not its name. The partner asks one question. Then swap.

**Minutes 45 to 55.** Everything goes back where it came from. This is not tidying, it is the rule, and saying so matters.

**Minutes 55 to 60.** Gather at the same spot you started. One sentence each: the best thing you found. Then in.

The session

Nothing. Paper and pencils if you have them, which is optional.

If it rains

Move to a covered area and run the observation parts only. Nothing here requires dry ground except the drawing, and a clipboard solves that.

For the person leaving the plan

Print this, put it in the folder, and write the class name and the boundary at the top. That is all the preparation this needs, and it stays useful for years.

More no prep sessions

See the teacher starting point for the routines that make any outdoor session work.