Light at the Top

Original lesson metadata

code: EMP-BHTL-L1-T1-WK5
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: 5
title: Light at the Top
blocks_this_week: 2
minutes_per_block: 25
weekly_minutes: 50
blocks: [{n: 1, title: Loose Then Firm, minutes: 25}, {n: 2, title: Tubes That Hold Each Other, minutes: 25}]
domains: [PD, M, UW, PSED]
objectives: [{domain: PD, text: Packs a handful of grass firmly enough that it stays when she takes her hand away}, {domain: M, text: Stands the tubes facing the same way with no space left behind them}, {domain: UW, text: Says which of the two layers she packed is the looser one}, {domain: PSED, text: Waits her turn at the open side of the frame without pushing in}]
materials: [the leaves pile, the grass pile, the tubes pile, corrugated card cut into strips as long as a child's arm]
space: the frame in the marked corner, with the four remaining piles set down within reach of a kneeling adult
differentiation: {younger: pushes one handful in with a flat hand while an adult holds the layer below, older: rolls a card strip tightly and pushes it into a gap she has chosen herself}
watching_for: whether a child can tell the difference between loose and firm by hand rather than by being told
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 5 · 2 × 25


DOMAINS: PD, M, UW, PSED
CODE: EMP-BHTL-L1-T1-WK5
DAY & DATE:

Objectives

PD Packs a handful of grass firmly enough that it stays when she takes her hand away.
M Stands the tubes facing the same way with no space left behind them.
UW Says which of the two layers she packed is the looser one.
PSED Waits her turn at the open side of the frame without pushing in.

Before you build

This is the last building week and by the end of block two the hotel is closed for good. Say that before you start, outside, standing at it. From next week the only thing anyone does here is look, and children who have not been warned will spend all of week 6 asking when they get to add more.

Loose and firm is the whole of block one and it is taught in the hands, not in words. Leaves go in gently and stay springy. Grass goes in hard and holds. Push a child's hand onto each one after she has packed it so she feels the difference between the two things she has just made, and do not explain what either one is for.

The tubes will fall out. Every class loses tubes on the first attempt because they have been placed rather than packed, and a tube with room behind it drops the moment the next one goes in. The fix is one more tube, not tidier tubes. Keep six back so you have them when this happens, and when it does, say what you are doing while you do it.

The child who has stood at the edge for four weeks may come in this week, because packing grass by the handful is the least exposing job in the whole curriculum. If she does, hand her a handful and turn away. Do not mark it, do not thank her for joining and do not tell anyone else. Carry on as though she has been there the whole time, which as far as she is concerned she has.

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

Loose Then Firm · 25 minutes

AIM: Pack one layer loose and the next one firm, and feel the difference between the two in your own hands.

Leaves first, above the bark. Whole leaves only, by the handful, pushed in gently enough that they stay springy. When the layer is full, lay one stick across the front of it and press the ends in at each side, which is what stops the whole layer leaving in the first strong wind.

Grass next, straight above it. Same handfuls, completely different hands: pushed in hard, then held, then let go. If it sags when the hand comes away it needs another handful, and the child who packed it is the one who fetches it.

Before you move on, take two children's hands and put one on each layer, leaves then grass, and ask nothing at all. Then ask which one is looser and let anybody answer.

SAY: "Leaves in gently. Do not squash them. Now the grass, and push that one hard."

Tubes That Hold Each Other · 25 minutes

AIM: Pack the tubes tight enough that they hold when you let go, then close the last gaps with rolled card.

Say the rule once more before the tubes go in, in whatever words you use with this group: something nobody expected means stop, back one step, hands away, and I come to it.

Tubes stand on end in the top section, all with the open round holes facing out of the front. Start at one side and work across rather than filling the middle first, and keep your own hand flat against the last tube in the row so the row cannot spread.

When a tube drops out, pick it up and put it back with one more beside it, and say out loud that the tubes hold each other up. Somebody will test this by pulling one out. Let her, then let her put it back, and let the row sag while she does.

Rolled card last. Each child rolls a strip round her own fist, holds it rolled, and pushes it into a gap she has picked herself. When the last gap is filled, stand everyone back a full step and look at the whole thing from the front without saying anything for a moment. Then say it is finished, and that from now on we only look.

SAY: "Stand them up. All the round holes facing you. Push until they stay on their own."

If you have more time

Pull one tube out on purpose, watch the row sag, and put it back with a second one, five minutes.
Walk right round the outside of the finished hotel and find the side with no gaps at all.

One thing for home

The hotel is finished. From now on we only look at it, and we never open it. Ask your child which layer she packed hardest. If you are asked why this is worth doing: building something and then leaving it completely alone for five weeks is the hard half.

How you know it is working

A child packs a second handful in without being told, because the first one sagged. Somebody says the word finished before you do.

Notes: