About the Author Claire Warden. B.ED (Hons), Dip Drama CEO Mindstretchers Ltd Claire Warden is an educational consultant who has developed her approach to experiential learning through a variety of experiences. Her experiences have taken her on a pathway that includes working in a variety of types of centre, advisory work, lecturing in further education and now around the world to speak to universities, governments and educators. Skills developed as a lecturer in Primary Education at Strathclyde University, have been applied to the dynamic and creative work currently undertaken by her company called Mindstretchers. Mindstretchers was set up as a training consultancy in 1996 and has won awards for its levels of excellence and methodology of training that supports improvement. Claire Warden is an author of many books and materials relating to early years methodology. These include 'The Potential of a Puddle' that details National vision and values for outdoor play; 'Talking and Thinking Floorbooks' which presents the planning methodology that supports consultation and democracy in early education; 'The Right to be Me' which explores the rights of young children to high quality provision and 'Nurture through Nature' which explores working with children under three outside; "Nature Kindergartens and Forest Schools' which explores children's connection to nature and naturalistic spaces such as Forest Schools, Forest Kindergartens and Nature Kindergartens and 'Journeys into Nature' creating a foundation of knowledge and skills to enable people to work in a naturalistic way with young people. Her newest addition is a series of four books: Fascinations of Fire; Earth; Water and Air, designed to offer support to staff in raising their knowledge and skills to deliver a broad curriculum through authentic outdoor experiences with children. The pathway has taken her to set up Whistlebrae Nature Kindergarten and Auchlone Nature Kindergarten in Perth and Kinross, Scotland . These outdoor nurseries, work with children from 2-6 yrs old as well as offering afterschool care and holiday care for children up to 12 years. Children spend up to 90% time outside. The three spaces of inside, garden and the wild wood are designed to develop skills and confidence in the natural world. The whole environment is eco-friendly, down to fair trade resources, organic food and alternative energy sources. Claire is one of a leadership group of consultants who make up the World Nature Collaborative. The purpose of the group is to develop a cohesive network and approach to experiential learning in outdoor spaces in a variety of climates. The nature collaborative brings together educators, landscape architects, environmentalists and health workers to support a multidisciplinary approach to outdoor educational provision. Claire is the European education co-ordinator and as such would invite you to join the collaborative and take forward children's right to outdoor play around the world. The company continues to work closely with Local Authorities to support all child care provision. Claire has written courses to meet the needs in home based environments such as childminders and shared day care spaces such as play groups. Mindstretchers is also on the consultative committee on the place of Risk in Learning to the Scottish Government. Follow Claire on facebook, twitter and through reading articles on www.claire-warden.com or www.mindstretchers.co.uk
M**H
Decent
Decent
J**J
Amazing
I love Claire Wardens books! Truly amazing ideas that I have now been implementing in nurseries for a couple of years now, would highly recommend!
A**R
Five Stars
Smashing book for Early Years
J**E
I will be trying a lot of ideas from this ...
I will be trying a lot of ideas from this book in my classroom when we start the new term.
S**T
Five Stars
Good read
H**N
Consulting children
This book really helped me to understand the theory behind what talking and thinking floorbooks are and how best to utilise them in the classroom. I have used this methodology with children from 2-14 now in all different settings. I found that I gained confidence with each new Floorbook that has been undertaken with the different groups and now know that the consultation process is really working to its full effect. This is in terms of the children's engagement in the learning process and the attainment achieved at the end of the process. Planning, assessment and its recording are also covered - this can be adapted to which one you use- I put a copy of the outcomes in the back of the book and link as I go.I always thought I consulted well before I used this methodology... I also have a much better understanding of children's learning styles and how to really captivate all the children from both genders. The book is written with early years in mind and the images and case studies used show young children but there is no problems adapting to any age group you work with. The process worked for me in all settings including children with additional support needs and English as additional language and forest schools as it is such an inclusive methodology. Peripatetic teachers would also benefit greatly from using this as it allows consistency in work and a real picture of work undertaken in your absence. I would recommend this book to all who work with children! There is a day course you can attend to help you with the methodology which is well worthwhile.
W**S
Inspirational!!
This book was so inspiring it motivated me to use the ideas in my nursery and go on a Mindstretchers Course,( which was just the best experience I've had in 20 years)It motivated me to really think about what education is all about, what children really need to learn and the environment and ethos necessary to facilitate real learning for life.A must read for all teachers/parents who love teaching, children and the outdoors.
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