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When I became a mother, I realised that parents have many demands placed upon them. Juggling all the daily chores is hard work! Thankfully, educating your child need not be difficult. The world presents itself with many opportunities for learning, we just need to explore them. There is no better classroom than the world around us. That's why as a classroom teacher I love to throw open the classroom doors and take the children into their local environment.

Going for a walk with your child is a simple activity, yet one that is full of learning potential. The learning can begin before you even leave the house. You may look outside with your child and discuss what the weather is like, then move on to finding suitable clothing to wear. If it is cold you can talk about the need to wear hats and gloves, while if it is warm you can teach your child about safety in the sun and the importance of wearing sun protection. Did you know that you have just covered a part of the geography curriculum?

Once you are ready to leave the house you can introduce vocabulary relating to direction. Are you going to turn "left" or "right"? Will you walk "up" the hill or "down" the hill? Ask your child to decide which way to turn and allow them the opportunity to use directional vocabulary.

Signs tend to be all around us and provide us with another great learning opportunity. If your child is able to read you can discuss the street names and the purpose of each sign. If your child is at the pre-reading stage then they may recognise letters from their name or you could point these out to them on the signs as you pass. Encourage them to spot numbers while on your walk. You will be surprised at how many there are to spot! Numbers are all around us, on house doors, telephone numbers on vans and on signposts.

One of my favourite activities is going on sound hunts. You need to explain to your child that you must be very quiet and listen to all the sounds that you can hear in the environment. You can discuss each sound that you hear. It is interesting to hear children.s perceptions of different sounds and how they often differ from our own. I remember listening to a cuckoo one spring day and thinking what a wonderful sound it was, only for the child in my class to pipe up and ask if it was a ghost! This activity develops good listening skills in children.

The changing of the seasons allows children to develop a concept of time. Have a look at the trees, do they have leaves on them? Talk about the cycle of new life and how the leaves turn golden in autumn time before falling from the trees. You can look for signs of the seasons, in Spring ask children to look for signs of new life such as buds on the tree and daffodils. If you walk regularly along the same route, you can point out the changes in the trees over a period of time.

I hope that you have gained some useful tips on using the outdoors as a way of teaching your child. And wish you many hours of happy, educational walking!