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Using discovery bags to engage the senses at Pine Lodge gardens

As part of the ongoing development and testing of our new engagement techniques we arranged a visit by disabled students from Doubletrees special school to the beautiful Pine Lodge Gardens near St Austell last month.

The students were piloting our Discovery Bag, a collection of activities designed to encourage people with learning disabilities to explore and engage with outdoor spaces. While the activities draw on techniques used in mainstream environmental education, we have found that young people with learning disabilities benefit from having some materials that are more targeted to their needs. The techniques are designed to develop basic numeracy and cognitive skills as well as wider awareness of the natural world.

Bag containing things such as leaves, buds and moss that a student collected on their visit.

Pine Lodge is divided into many “gardens within a garden”, each with a different focus and interest. Unusually for us, and for Cornwall, we picked a day when it wasn’t raining which gave us the chance to put the materials through some pretty extensive testing using different areas of the gardens.

Students were free to choose what they used where and for how long, or if they wished, they were free to enjoy the garden without using anything from the bag. We allowed this in order to test whether the activities in the bag were compelling and fun, or if self-guided activity would be preferable.

The bag contents proved to be very popular and the students quickly became absorbed in the activities. They took rubbings of interesting textures, collected objects of interest to put in their memory boxes, looked up close at plants and flowers through a range of lenses and took impressions of shapes and textures with play dough. The range of techniques kept the momentum going and allowed the students to work at a pace that suited them. They could complete activities by themselves or in small groups and pairs.

Nature Palettes

The most popular activity was the Nature Palette. We designed and made artists’ palettes out of card. One side had double-sided tape and the other had instructions written in text and pictorial symbols. Students could collect leaves, flowers, moss and so on to create a “palette” of different colours and textures. The technique worked well. Students got the idea quickly and gave a lot of attention to collecting items for their palettes. The palettes also created a lovely object to take home to share with their families to show what they had seen and done on their day out.

It was useful to get feedback on the potential value of the techniques and, along with other sessions, it will guide further development. We are grateful to the staff and students of Doubletrees who so generously shared their time and enthusiasm with us and to Pine Lodge Garden for providing such a perfect testing ground.