Tag Archive for: outdoor canopies

How To Choose Which Outdoor Shelter You Need For Your School

shelter 4m square

shelter 4m square

The first question to ask your self is what do you actually need this outdoor shelter to do? i.e. is it just for protecting the children against the elements of the British climate or do you want to be able to use it for outdoor learning and to double up as an outdoor classroom too?

If it is the former, then you simply need to provide for a shade canopy that is going to give you maximum coverage (never quite sure whether the sail shades actually do in this instance because of their triangular shape). The size of your outdoor shelter of course will be determined by the area you are wanting to cover and the amount of children out in the playground at any one given time. And your budget of course. The outdoor shelter at this option stage can literally be four posts and a roof made out of canvas or other materials such as cedar shingle tiles, close board timber and even living sedum if you really want to get down dirty and eco! You can even print your logo or the name of a sponsor onto canvas material.

Or if you wanted to extend its application further out to creating an outdoor learning environment, then you can start to add in all sort of extras and options – namely timber decking floors, roll-down side panels, trellis panels, opening and closing louvre panels, benching, planters, guttering and water butt systems, renewable energy systems etc

And at this stage, outdoor shelters can come in all different shapes and sizes including octagonal, square and rectangular.

And of course, we at the Hideout House Company have an extensive range of all of the above…and we might be able to help you access funding too.

Please visit Outdoor Shelters

For further information, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01865 858982 or email: info@hideouthouse.com

outdoor classroom with seating area

outdoor classroom with seating area

 

 

 

 

Forest School Outdoor Classroom

Fire pit building

Fire pit building

We have had many enquiries from schools this past year for outdoor classroom buildings for their forest school settings – be it on their own grounds or as part of a shared facility with a local established forest school set up.

You could argue that the forest or woodland itself is the outdoor classroom – which of course it is – but our buildings are principally used as an outdoor classroom facility where a class can easily sit down, undertake their learning-outside-of-the-classroom studies or simply take shelter! But like always, we have adapted our buildings to enhance this environment – for example we have supplied a  fire pit shelter and outdoor classroom building with a cooking area fire pit in the middle and a hole in the roof so that the smoke can easily exhaust out and upwards; another one had built-in bug hotel wall panels so that the children could get up close and personal with those mini beasts; we have supplied observation tables with magnifying glasses and you can even have one with living wall panels where growing plants (or creepers) gradually grow up the side of the building to give that ultimate hideaway courtesy of Mother Nature!

We can also put outdoor toilets in them too. And if they are fully enclosed, you can heat them via a wood burning stove from wood and logs the children have collected from the wood or forest.

Forest schools provide a great opportunity for children to learn to play outdoors all year round and to learn about their natural environment. We just help that process with the products we supply

For more information, please visit Forest Schools or contact the Hideout House Company on 01865 858982, email info@hideouthouse.com or visit www.hideouthouse.com

Outdoor classroom in forest school

Outdoor classroom in forest school

firepit_03