The Floor and the Frame

Original lesson metadata

code: EMP-BHTL-L1-T1-WK3
curriculum_id: a_bug_hotel
curriculum_name: A Bug Hotel
level_id: L1
level_name: All Ages
age_line: around 2 to around 6
term: 1
week: 3
title: The Floor and the Frame
blocks_this_week: 2
minutes_per_block: 25
weekly_minutes: 50
blocks: [{n: 1, title: Making the Ground Flat, minutes: 25}, {n: 2, title: The Frame That Does Not Rock, minutes: 25}]
domains: [PD, UW]
objectives: [{domain: PD, text: Lays the floor sheet flat with two hands so that no corner is folded under}, {domain: UW, text: Pushes the top of the frame with one flat hand and says whether it rocks}]
materials: [one crate or open sided box or four bricks and a plank, one flat sheet of card or one folded piece of old cloth]
space: the marked corner, cleared of anything loose across the whole footprint
differentiation: {younger: presses the ground flat with both hands open and flat, older: tests all four corners of the frame in turn and says which one sits high}
watching_for: whether a child pushes the frame to test it rather than to knock it over
resources: []
version: 1.0
date: 2026-09-04
access: free

A BUG HOTEL · OUTDOOR LEARNING

ALL AGES · around 2 to around 6 · TERM 1, WEEK 3 · 2 × 25


DOMAINS: PD, UW
CODE: EMP-BHTL-L1-T1-WK3
DAY & DATE:

Objectives

PD Lays the floor sheet flat with two hands so that no corner is folded under.
UW Pushes the top of the frame with one flat hand and says whether it rocks.

Before you build

Everybody thinks the frame is the hotel. It is not. The frame is a box that holds eight layers still, and the children will care about it far more than it deserves this week and forget it entirely by week 6. Let them care about it now. The thing that actually matters today is the ground underneath, which is dull, and which decides whether anything works.

Ground that looks flat is not flat. Put the floor sheet down on ground you have not cleared and one corner will ride up on a lump you cannot see, and by week 8 that corner is dry and the whole point of card 1 has gone. Kneel on it yourself before you let anyone lay the sheet. If your site is concrete there is nothing to clear and you sweep instead, which takes four minutes and is the entire first half of block one.

The frame will rock. Almost every frame rocks on almost every ground and the fix is soil pressed under one corner, not a stone wedged under it, because a stone moves. Expect to do this twice. Three children will want to sit on the frame the moment it is down, and one of them will, so put your own hand flat on top of it as soon as it is placed and keep it there while you talk.

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.

At the hotel

Making the Ground Flat · 25 minutes

AIM: Clear and press the footprint so that a flat sheet touches it everywhere.

Clearing ground is where things get uncovered, so say the rule again in your own words before a single hand goes down: anything you were not expecting means stop, hands away, one step back, call me, and I sort it out by myself.

Mark out the footprint with the sheet, then lift the sheet away and put it behind you. Everything inside that square comes off the ground: loose stones, wrappers, twigs, anything. Children work on their knees facing inwards, which keeps eight of them out of each other's way in a space the size of a doormat.

Then flatten it. Open hands, flat, pressing rather than patting. On soil this is satisfying and they will do it for ten minutes. On concrete you sweep the square instead, and one child sweeps while the rest hold the sheet ready, swapping so everyone has the brush once.

Lay the sheet down as the last thing in the block, with two children holding two corners each and lowering it together. Walk round it once and look at every edge for a corner riding up.

SAY: "Flat hands. Press it down like this. We want it flat as a table."

The Frame That Does Not Rock · 25 minutes

AIM: Set the frame on the floor so that it sits still when it is pushed.

Bring the frame out yourself and set it down on the sheet with the open side facing outwards, where the children will stand every week. Say which way it faces and why: this is the side we look into, and it never turns round.

Now let them test it. One at a time, one flat hand on the top, a push straight down, not a shove. The rest count out loud to three while it is being pushed. When it rocks, the child who found the rock is the one who tells you which corner is loose, and you press soil under that corner while she watches.

Test again, all the way round, until three children in a row say no. End by walking the group back to the door and looking at it from there, the same view as last week.

SAY: "One hand on top. Push down, not sideways. Does it move? Yes or no?"

If you have more time

Lift the frame off, look at the sheet underneath together for anything that has crept under it, and set it back, eight minutes.
Stand at the door and count how many steps it takes to reach the hotel, then walk it and count again.

One thing for home

The frame is up and it does not wobble. Ask your child which side we look into. If you are asked why this is worth doing: a thing that rocks gets knocked over, and the children found that out by pushing it rather than being told.

How you know it is working

Somebody tests the frame with a flat hand without being asked. A child stops another child from turning it round.

Notes: