We invite you to play along with us in our first online ‘Fledglings at Home’ pilot session, designed for under-5s and their grown-ups. The session is 40 minutes long and led by Charlotte, a local teacher and Level 3 Forest Leader. If successful, we hope to continue weekly with changing themes. They will focus on […]

Get creative at home with half term fun inspired by The MERL and the UoR Special Collections. Cook up a storm in the kitchen with seasonal recipes and get stuck in to our craft-along videos. Craft-along activities For these activities you will need: lolly-sticks, a drinking or craft straw, a wooden skewer, scrap corrugated card, […]

Join us for a weekly Outdoor learning session for pre-schoolers in the fantastic urban garden at the MERL Discover the benefits of outdoor learning! Come and join in outdoor activities inspired by the themes and collections of the museum. Enjoy outdoor play and explore the natural environment. Each session involves story-telling, craft activities and singing. […]

Discover light and dark at The MERL this October half term Join us for ‘Object Encounters’ and activities to explore the light and dark in country living Object Encounters are twenty minute sessions, currently replacing our popular Object Handling sessions and are held on the hour between 11am – 2pm. Come on Halloween 31st October […]

Welcome! Hello Fledglings, today’s story and craft are inspired by the sense that we’ve not explored yet… do you know what it is? It’s right under your nose… it’s SMELL!!! The Fledglings team have been noticing and enjoying the scents of flowers and herbs out in nature. These lovely smells have been making us think […]

Welcome! Good morning again Fledglings, lovely to see you back here online. Today’s story and craft are inspired by the upcoming summer solstice this Saturday. The sun will reach its highest position in the sky, and it is the day with the longest period of daylight. It means that summer is here! The sense we’ll […]

Welcome! Good morning again Fledglings, we hope you’ve had a lovely week. The sense we’ll be focusing on today is touch, and today’s story and craft are inspired by International Mud Day – it’s coming up on Monday! It’s a day to celebrate all things muddy, so a perfect opportunity to use your hands to […]

Welcome Fledglings! Good morning, we hope you’ve had a lovely week! During last Friday’s session we thought about the great variety of sounds we can hear in nature. This week we’re going to focus on all the wonderful things we can see and find in nature. Have a careful look at these beautiful photos taken […]

Good morning! Welcome Fledglings to our last online session for this term. The last few weeks we’ve been using all our senses to explore nature – do you remember what they are? We’ve listened to the wind blow, noticed all the different shapes and colours in nature, and tasted the lovely fruits and vegetables that […]