Teach your pupils how to build a giant nest, create a butterfly garden or make their own family tree!
The resources provided here have been submitted by Heritage Experts, teachers or prepared by other educational organisations. The resources are both fun and educational and are designed to inspire and develop an appreciation and curiosity about Ireland’s wonderful natural and cultural heritage.
Resources can be searched for under the following categories:
This information pack and associated video and presentation is intended for
delivery to the senior end of primary schools as part of the community outreach
in the LIFE IP Wild Atlantic Nature project.
Read moreRead lessIn the LIFE IP Wild Atlantic Nature target area, schools are invited to take
part in an educational programme delivered through the Heritage Council’s
Heritage in Schools Scheme.
The Heritage Council is one of several partners in the project and was tasked with the action to develop, and pilot test a schools’ programme in 2022. The aim would be to promote local awareness of the LIFE IP Wild Atlantic Nature project amongst schools and involve children in assessing a local blanket bog habitat using a scorecard.
Read moreRead lessLIFE IP Wild Atlantic Nature works with landowners and local communities to conserve and improve the quality of blanket bogs and associated habitats in the northwest of Ireland (https://www.wildatlanticnature...). The Heritage Council is one of several partners in the project and was tasked with the action to develop, and pilot test a schools’ programme in 2022. The aim would be to promote local awareness of the LIFE IP Wild Atlantic Nature project amongst schools and involve children in assessing a local blanket bog habitat using a scorecard. The hands-on, practical involvement would introduce children to the project and their local blanket bogs and build enthusiasm for blanket bogs generally - an enthusiasm which, it was hoped, they would share with their families, friends, and neighbours. The suite of resources were developed by the Irish Peatland Conservation Council and Aengus Kennedy (NatureNorthWest) with input from the project partners.
An initiative Kildare County Council, ‘Brigid 1500’ festival will engage communities with the story and heritage of St. Brigid, providing a connection with the past through events and programmes.
Read moreRead lessThe ‘Brigid 1500’ school programme includes videos on making crosses; Bridóg dolls; harvesting rushes/reeds; pollinators and legends of St. Brigid. There's also lots of pdf resources with tales, colouring sheets and more.
An introduction to Irish hedgerows and their benefits with lesson plans and resources for primary schools developed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.
Irish hedgerows stretch for an incredible 689,000km up and down the roads and fields of Ireland. This is the equivalent of wrapping around the earth 17 times!
The hedgerow toolkit includes lesson plans with information on curriculum links and integration, learning activities, objectives and outcomes along with resources such as a classroom wall poster and hedgerow plants identification sheet.
A new free resource developed with support from Creative Ireland and Westmeath County Council called Seed Journeys. It includes illustrated stories and activity ideas for primary school children for connecting with nature through the lens of seeds, in English and Irish.
Gairdín Mháire na mBláth is the latest offering from leading author-illustrator Tatyana Feeney. Beautifully illustrated, this book tells the heartwarming story of Máire na mBláth who, on noticing one day that there are no flowers planted in her local school, decides to share her gardening skills with the pupils. Between them, they plant a beautiful garden at the school.
Read moreRead lessIn this short video Éanna Ní Lamhna talks about bees, flowers, pollination and this book from the beautiful Vandeleur Walled Gardens in Kilrush.
A practical guide for teachers and other education practitioners who wish to bring nature, native habitats and biodiversity into the school grounds. The book aims to help with the planning, design, creation and use of an organic school garden with and for students.
Read moreRead lessIt demonstrates the huge possibilities of designing and developing the school grounds into a highly stimulating and interactive educational resource, with organic food production and biodiversity as its central themes.
The book has unlimited cross-curricular potential. It particularly ties in with Social, Environmental and Scientific Education (SESE), Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE), Wellbeing, Art, Languages, History and Maths.
It sets out practical projects on growing local food, creating biodiversity and native habitats in the school grounds, and encourages healthy eating, nature-based activities and getting students active.
Available to order from the following sites:
An introduction to the ancient world of weaving and basket making including step-by-step instruction from Beth on how to weave a fish from willow or materials you might have at home.
A step by step tutorial showing you how to draw a biodiversity/habitat map of your garden so that you can record where different garden species are located.
Suited to children from 3rd to 6th classes.
An introduction to wild garlic as a native Irish herb that has been eaten in Ireland for thousands of year with a recipe for a delicious pesto.
Suited to children from 3rd to 6th class
This tutorial links a common wild plant, Charlock or Praiseach Bhuí to the Great Famine.
Suited to children from 4th to 6th class.
This tutorial will help students to discover and understand the hidden world of moths and their importance in maintaining a healthy environment.
Suited to children of all ages.
Listen to Ruth’s Riddle poem about a heritage site in Co. Clare. Ruth will guide you to explore a place in your own area and write your own riddle.
Suited to children from 3rd to 6th classes.
Children are encouraged to examine the heritage significance of their immediate environment through familiar local landscape features.
Suited to children from 2nd to 4th class.
The example of an old tree is used in this tutorial. The activity encourages children to consider questions about past, present and future through personification and the creation of an unusual pictorial poem at the same time. The activity can be applied to other local features, a road, an old building etc.
Kay's tutorial, filmed in a woodland, demonstrates how to build an insect hotel with materials found at home and in a garden or woodland.
Suited to children from 2nd to 6th class
Learn how to create a pitfall trap in your garden to catch live ground beetles and other invertebrates for a closer look.
Suited to children from 2nd to 6th class.
This tutorial shows children how to find nature (Woodlice) in their own back yard. Woodlice can be found in most outdoor locations.
Suited to children of all ages.
This tutorial encourages children to explore and record their local heritage by taking a walk locally and making a 3D map of what they have seen.
Suited to children of all ages.
Dale and Nathan show us how to construct a solitary bee hotel from materials you'll find at home.
Suited to children of all ages.
Niamh illustrates some plants from hedgerows: foxglove, herb robert, vetch, honeysuckle, nettles, gorse/ furze, hawthorn at stages of develeopment, decay and reseeding.
Suitable for children from 2nd to 6th class
Discover the natural resources growing near your own doorstep! Learn about sustainable plant fibres as we learn how to process nettles to make cordage.
Susanna demonstrates the story of wool from carding to spinning to dyeing and weaving.
Suitable for children from 1st to 6th class
Learning how to grow potatoes is a skill for life and a small step in increasing the sustainability of our everyday lives.
Suited to children from 3rd to 6th class.
Kay's tutorial, filmed in a garden, shows where to find different invertebrates, how to safely trap and identify them using a pitfall trap.
Suited to children of all ages.
