Teachers' Resources

Simple and straightforward directions for growing your own tree from a seed!

A symposium with leading international and national experts in place-based education took place in August 2012 in Kinvara, Co. Galway. This unique event brought together thinkers and practitioners who specialise in the theme of place-based learning, which encourages the use of the local environment as a learning resource. Feedback from organisers, speakers and attendees is available to listen to on Sound Cloud.

A great genealogy website with games, ideas and resources, suitable for a range of age groups. Activities include a family history scavenger hunt and creating a time capsule.

Comedy and science collide as host, Neil Delamere puts team captains, PJ Gallagher and Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin and their teams of comedians and science personalities through their paces, in this original science-comedy quiz.

This BBC resource has lots of interesting facts and information about flowers and fun ideas for related activities, including how to dissect a flower!

A quick activity that can offer delightful characters to use in building stories, having adventures or unfolding the life of an old building. 

This is a good technique for collecting ideas and experiences gradually, perhaps over the course of a workshop or several workshops. It is ideal for collating a series of activities, each one generating a different page and it's easy to add more pages later and let books continue to grow.

Our Heritage in Schools Expert, Geoff Hunt has prepared a great worksheet on creating your own butterfly garden at your school.

Get the children to recognise what they are eating and were it comes from. Explaining the difference between root and leaf vegetables and the importance of eating their five a day.

Not just a pretty face. Flowers can change the world, learn how plants reproduce, and many insects would die without this vital source of nutrients. A flower is the part of the plant that makes the seeds. The main parts of a flower are the carpals and stamens. These parts are often found in the centre of the flower. There are egg cells in the carpel and pollen cells in the stamen. All flowers have four basic parts: sepals, petals, carpals and stamen. Different flowers have different numbers and shapes of these parts.

Explore buildings of interest and different architectural style around the local neighbourhood, town or village.

Coillte, Ireland’s leading forestry company, welcomes you to the huge range of recreation opportunities they provide at many of their sites across the country. You can access miles of walking, hiking, multi access, and long distance trails, enjoy the thrill of cycling new world class bike trails, fish, picnic, watch wildlife, launch your canoe on the rivers, visit megalithic sites or just sit and enjoy the outdoors. The choice is yours.

The Coilte website provides a full list of recreational Coilte sites that you can visit with your pupils, plus helpful tips for enjoying and respecting the natural environment.

This website has lots of interesting information on the history and heritage of Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin for older age groups.

Use this app to identify Irish Butterflies and report their sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre if you wish.

An animated parody of the Da Vinci Code (suitable for younger age groups) which links to an interactive site with lots of information on global warming issues (suitable for older ages). 

You’ll find lots of interesting information on bats for older age groups on the Bat Conservation Ireland website. Find out where bats roost, how many different species of bat live in Ireland, how echolocation works and much more.

Help your students learn all about trees through a range of hands-on and enjoyable activities, including useful notes for teachers and children’s activity sheets. 

Geoff Hunt, one of our very own Heritage Experts, has some great tips for attracting garden birds to your school grounds. This project has been very successful in other schools and encourages pupils to become familiar with a wide variety of garden birds!

Loughnaneane Park is a free amenity provided by Roscommon County Council which is available to all. This pack aims to promote Loughnaneane Park as an education resource site, to be used by primary schools for field studies relating to natural, built and cultural heritage.

A fun and interactive site which engages children in maths, science and the visual arts through the medium of architecture. 

Would you like your class to learn more about their heritage, and Kilkenny's archaeology, in a fun and education-centred way? The Heritage Office of Kilkenny County Council has developed a series of four lesson plans focused on teaching archaeology to young children! The plans are aimed at pre-school, junior and senior infant classes. They are linked to the primary school curriculum and the Aistear curriculum.