For all our Futures
At Spaeda we recognise the health benefits of getting outside and engaging with nature and we are exploring ways of using art to connect with the natural world.
Playing, making and exploring beyond the classroom is vital for children’s healthy development and helps them understand and make sense of the world around them.
A growing area of our work promotes recovery, resilience and a sense of belonging in children and young people through their engagement with nature and landscape and access to make, play and explore the outdoors.
‘Research shows that people who are more connected with nature are usually happier in life and more likely to report feeling their lives are worthwhile.
Nature can generate a multitude of positive emotions, such as calmness, joy, creativity and can facilitate concentration.
Nature connectedness is also associated with lower levels of poor mental health; in particular lower depression and anxiety levels’.
‘Nature: How connecting with nature benefits our mental health’ Report commissioned by Mental Health Foundation 2021
Outdoor Learning Resources
For our charity, home has been at Hestercombe since 2017, a beautiful base we enjoy sharing with Hestercombe’s visitors and their team of staff and volunteers. With 50 acres of gardens steeped in history and a contemporary art gallery with a changing programme of exciting exhibitions, Hestercombe, near Taunton, Somerset, offers lots of opportunities for learning outside of the classroom.
Exploring Land Art with Key Stages 1-4:
In 2020, with emergency funding from Arts Council England, we began exploring Hestercombe’s value for teaching art and design with a view to creating adaptable teaching resources with artist teachers that could be used in school and for home learning.
These resources are now freely available here. Each resource includes creative ideas and techniques to engage learners, with links and ideas to enrich the curriculum; a short training film; resource sheets, with instructions, a kit list and ideas for further artists to research.
