About this curriculum
Ten weeks in which a class chooses a place, gathers materials from the ground around them, builds a layered shelter in a fixed order, and then visits it once a week without taking it apart. The building is five weeks. The checking is five weeks and is the harder half. No lesson depends on a creature arriving.
What children learn
By the end of this curriculum a child can build a bug hotel from found materials and check it every week for a term.
Ages and rhythm
around 2 to around 6. 2 sessions per week, 25 minutes per session. 10 weeks.
Scope
Does not cover minibeast hunting, bird feeders, growing. Bugs, Worms and Minibeasts covers looking for creatures under logs and stones. Birds at the Window covers feeding and watching birds. Seed to Plate covers growing.
The learning space
One open sided box, crate or stack of bricks set flat on the ground against a wall, out of full sun, in a corner nobody walks through. A school with only a concrete yard puts a crate in the shadiest corner with a sheet of card under it, and that is the whole site.
Materials
One box or crate and whatever the ground gives you. Nothing is bought. If a crate cannot be found, four bricks and a plank make the frame, and if there are no bricks, the layers are stacked in a corner against a wall with no frame at all.
How we work at the hotel
- One adult stays with the group for the whole session. Sticks, bark and stones are carried with two hands, held low, one piece at a time, walking.
- Hands are washed with soap after every session at the hotel, every time, whether a child handled materials or only watched.
- Nothing living is ever touched, moved, picked up or poked, with a finger or with a stick. We look, and we leave it exactly where it is.
- If anything appears that is not on a layer card, everyone stops, moves back one full step and touches nothing. The adult deals with it alone and the group carries on somewhere else.
- The hotel is never taken apart to see inside. We look into the gaps that are already there.
- Every piece used is bigger than a child's fist or longer than a child's hand. Anything smaller goes back on the ground.
- Sticks with a broken point and bark with a split edge go back on the ground. We use the blunt pieces.
- A child who does not want to touch anything stands with the group and looks. She is not asked a second time and she is not moved to the edge.
Complete original curriculum source
---
curriculum_id: a_bug_hotel
name: A Bug Hotel
slug: a-bug-hotel
strand_line: OUTDOOR LEARNING
code_prefix: BHTL
family: Outdoor and Nature
outcome_sentence: >
By the end of this curriculum a child can build a bug hotel from found materials
and check it every week for a term.
scope_boundary: >
Does not cover minibeast hunting, bird feeders, growing. Bugs, Worms and
Minibeasts covers looking for creatures under logs and stones. Birds at the
Window covers feeding and watching birds. Seed to Plate covers growing.
description: >
Ten weeks in which a class chooses a place, gathers materials from the ground
around them, builds a layered shelter in a fixed order, and then visits it once
a week without taking it apart. The building is five weeks. The checking is
five weeks and is the harder half. No lesson depends on a creature arriving.
tradition: none
non_affiliation: >
Empathy Global is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to any external
organisation, programme or awarding body.
shape: MINI
age_band: around 2 to around 6
levels:
- {level_id: L1, level_name: All Ages, age_line: around 2 to around 6}
terms: 1
weeks_per_term: 10
blocks_per_week: 2
minutes_per_block: 25
weekly_minutes: 50
weekly_minutes_min: 50
weekly_minutes_max: 50
space: >
One open sided box, crate or stack of bricks set flat on the ground against a
wall, out of full sun, in a corner nobody walks through. A school with only a
concrete yard puts a crate in the shadiest corner with a sheet of card under it,
and that is the whole site.
season_dependent: false
weeks_reorderable: false
materials_philosophy: >
One box or crate and whatever the ground gives you. Nothing is bought. If a crate
cannot be found, four bricks and a plank make the frame, and if there are no
bricks, the layers are stacked in a corner against a wall with no frame at all.
domain_tags:
- {tag: UW, meaning: Understanding the World}
- {tag: PD, meaning: Physical Development}
- {tag: M, meaning: Mathematics}
- {tag: PSED, meaning: Personal Social and Emotional Development}
headings:
teacher_note: Before you build
standing_rules: How we work at the hotel
session_word: At the hotel
take_home: One thing for home
signs: How you know it is working
asset_title: The Layer Cards
asset_file: a_bug_hotel_layer_cards.md
standing_rules_block: |
1. One adult stays with the group for the whole session. Sticks, bark and stones
are carried with two hands, held low, one piece at a time, walking.
2. Hands are washed with soap after every session at the hotel, every time,
whether a child handled materials or only watched.
3. Nothing living is ever touched, moved, picked up or poked, with a finger or
with a stick. We look, and we leave it exactly where it is.
4. If anything appears that is not on a layer card, everyone stops, moves back
one full step and touches nothing. The adult deals with it alone and the
group carries on somewhere else.
5. The hotel is never taken apart to see inside. We look into the gaps that are
already there.
6. Every piece used is bigger than a child's fist or longer than a child's hand.
Anything smaller goes back on the ground.
7. Sticks with a broken point and bark with a split edge go back on the ground.
We use the blunt pieces.
8. A child who does not want to touch anything stands with the group and looks.
She is not asked a second time and she is not moved to the edge.
build_order_fixed: true
version: 1.0
date: 2026-09-04
access: free
---