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Dr Susie Nyman:
Hello and welcome to Dr Susie Nyman’s Multisensory Walks. I’m Dr Susie Nyman, your guide on this journey to explore the power of multisensory learning. In each episode, we’ll be taking a stroll through different environments, sharing practical strategies and insights to help you turn everyday outings into enriching educational experiences for children with diverse learning needs.
Whether you’re a parent or teacher, join us as we discover how to make learning engaging, inclusive, and fun. Let’s embark on this adventure together. This is Susie from The Conservation Volunteers. Susie, do you want to say hello?
Suzie (The Conservation Volunteers):
Hello, hello! I’m Suzie from The Conservation Volunteers, and this is Dr Susie Nyman from The Sixth Form College of Farnborough.
Dr Susie Nyman:
And what do you do with The Conservation Volunteers?
Suzie:
I’m the Education Officer for Wellesley Woodland at the moment, and it’s rather an interesting job.
Dr Susie Nyman:
And we’re going to walk into Wellesley Woodlands in a moment. We are indeed. Excellent—off we go.
On with the show, Suzie, on with the show. Elder tree—wow, a beautiful elder tree.
Suzie:
It is amazing. Look at these beautiful florets here at the top of the tree. It’s out in blossom now. You could collect those beautiful flowers.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Highly scented flowers. Yeah, they’re beautiful. They attract so many pollinators, Suzie.
Suzie:
Such a diverse range of pollinators. It’s quite wonderful. And then, of course, once the flowers are over, if we don’t use them to make a cordial—
Dr Susie Nyman:
Oh, the cordial is just tremendous. Or elderflower champagne.
Suzie:
Yes, why not? If we don’t use them for that, then when the berries appear, you can make an elderberry cordial which is packed full of polyphenols, which are really good for us. Antioxidants.
Dr Susie Nyman:
And then they feed the birds as well. So, win-win-win. The elder tree is a winner.
Suzie:
Brilliant. Let’s go walk in the woods then. I wanted to point out down here, Susie, there’s loads of these ferns.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Ah, they’re not ferns. They’re bracken. Bracken.
Suzie:
Over 250 million years old, aren’t they? They’re amazing pioneer plants.
Dr Susie Nyman:
They are. Beautiful. Absolutely brilliant. So, there are lots of them in here.
You can smell those deciduous trees. Take a good old sniff of the air.
Suzie:
It’s really fresh because it’s just rained.
Dr Susie Nyman:
It has indeed. It’s sent up all those lovely little particles and enzymes that we’re now breathing in and doing us the power of good.
Suzie:
Oh, and just come over here a bit, Susie, because we’ve got this amazing holly tree. And what I really like feeling are the fresh leaves. They’re quite soft.
Dr Susie Nyman:
They’re really, really soft. And if you go behind, they’re much sharper. The edges here.
Suzie:
Did you know, though, that at the very top of the tree, the leaves aren’t pointy or prickly at all?
Dr Susie Nyman:
That’s right because they use energy as they go up the tree. So, you can see they just look like normal leaves. There’s one there.
Suzie:
Yeah. And it’s also a protection thing from deer.
Dr Susie Nyman:
That’s right. It’s evolved to protect itself. So, it’s prickly down below and nice and soft on top.
Suzie:
And when we look closely, we can see that this one here has been parasitised or attacked by the holly leaf miner. There—that’s a holly leaf miner. And you can see it on one of the leaves. We saw it earlier. Or it can be predated by a bird.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Can you see one that’s been parasitised anywhere?
Suzie:
Is that one down there? That looks like there are quite a few.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They are. It’s also in flower.
Suzie:
Oh, it’s in flower too. Brilliant. Looking forward to the red berries at Christmas on the holly tree.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Absolutely. There we go. Got some nice brambles here.
Suzie:
And cleavers, or otherwise known as sticky willy.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes.
Suzie:
These are great for my children. Oh, they love them. They love them. But so do our pollinators. Those tiny little perfect white flowers. You’ll see bees and hoverflies and other insects nipping on for a little drop of nectar.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes, look at this beautiful moss growing up with silver birches. It’s really beautiful, like a carpet. If you go and feel it, it just feels like a beautiful carpet, doesn’t it?
Suzie:
Yep. And if you find a nice mossy log—
Dr Susie Nyman:
We’re just waiting for the bicycle to go past. It’s a pleasure. We go up to here. This is the tree I was talking about. This dead wood.
Suzie:
Have a feel. It’s incredible. And look, there are even holes in it, and there are people in the holes.
Dr Susie Nyman:
There’s little insects.
Suzie:
Are they solitary bees?
Dr Susie Nyman:
Oh, I can’t see.
Suzie:
So I haven’t got my glasses on.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Oh, OK.
Suzie:
There’s a little chappy in there having a little fun time. Is he a beetle, or is he a bee? There are plenty of holes up there.
Dr Susie Nyman:
There are. So even dead wood, when it’s died, is still a living organism because it’s packed full of all these wonderful insects.
Suzie:
Yes, helping to break down the dead structures in the woodland but creating such a habitat for all these other things. Mr Woodpecker is going to come along here and have an absolute feast.
Dr Susie Nyman:
That’s right. And there are woodpeckers around here.
Suzie:
Oh, there are. I hear them in the morning when I go swimming. Really lovely to hear the woodpeckers in the morning.
Dr Susie Nyman:
This is one of my favourite trees here we’re walking up to. We’re passing this conifer. Conifers don’t have seeds; they have cones. You can feel these lovely cones here. They’re about a centimetre long. Look—they’re nice and green.
Suzie:
Beautiful. Yeah. It’s a Western Hemlock.
Dr Susie Nyman:
It’s the Western Hemlock. Susie’s very good at identifying. I’m not.
Suzie:
I love them.
Dr Susie Nyman:
I love this dead one here.
Suzie:
Look at that.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Have a feel of that. The bark’s come away, and it’s like cork. It’s so spongy. There are so many holes in it. If you just look carefully, you’ll see very, very small holes. And behind the bark, you’ll find some woodlice.
Suzie:
Woodlice, spiders, millipedes—the whole bunch. Yeah. There’s a woodlouse up there. He’s having a little rest. Oh, wow. A perfect little snack for a passing bird.
Dr Susie Nyman:
And they love damp conditions, don’t they, woodlice? Damp, dark conditions.
Suzie:
And the moss—we were talking about moss just now. When the moss is a bit drier, and you’ve got a mossy log to sit on, it’s like sitting on a cushion. It’s so soft. But I wouldn’t do it right now because it’s going to be soggy, and you’ll end up with a soggy bum. We don’t want that.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yeah, it has been very wet the last couple of days, which makes everything look so much more lush, doesn’t it?
Suzie:
Lush and green, and encourages the growth. And there’s a sweet chestnut sapling. He’s three feet high. But the colour of those leaves—they’ve been nibbled here and there, but that’s a really strong plant.
Dr Susie Nyman:
And those magic numbers in science—five, three, five, five. Yep. Seeing the leaves in groups of five there.
Suzie:
Excellent. Oh, the colours, Susie—all the different greens. When we’re doing our little health walks on a Friday, we talk about this to our participants: that we don’t actually recognise the good walking in a woodland can do in a green space.
So, the subliminal subconscious action—the lights are reflected, the colours are reflecting on the back of our retinas and feeding little signals to our brains. And those little signals are feel-good factors, like little endorphins, just boosting us. Perhaps calming—that’s how I put it to our participants—calming away the stresses of every day. It just seems to take them all away, bit by bit.
Dr Susie Nyman:
And I think if you shut your eyes—I know you’ve walked through the forest with Sarah Jane. She would be able to hear those birds singing in the background. You might hear blackbirds.
Suzie:
I know that there are blackbirds here. We’ve got firecrests here. We’ve got blackcaps. We just saw a whole load of blackcaps on a site adjacent to here this morning. Really beautiful—all singing away, doing their thing, flitting around, collecting the bugs. Nom, nom, nom.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yeah, and it really helps to calm people down in this world where we’re all on a treadmill, rushing from one place to the next. To walk in the forest and do what you call forest bathing makes you calm. And there’s so much to learn.
Suzie:
It engages you back with nature. Nature is a part of all of us. We are not apart from it; we are a part of it. In modern society, especially in a built-up environment, you feel very detached, almost lost from it at times. So, to get out every day to a green space, even just for five or ten minutes, has a massively beneficial effect on yourself and on others around you as well.
If it’s a stressful office situation, get out for a quick brisk walk, but enjoy what you’re doing. So, we’ve got the alkanet out over here—the beautiful blue flowers. Another harbinger of spring and early summer. Wow. The leaves are fuzzy.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes, they’re quite furry. Yeah, they are. And you’ve got the oak tree behind us, but the acorns aren’t out yet because it’s early—it’s early summer.
Suzie:
And the wonderful ivies—look how that ivy climbs the whole way up that trunk there. But it’s a Hedera helix, I think. I think that’s the Latin name for that.
Dr Susie Nyman:
But ivy is really important forage for pollinators throughout the year. So, throughout the winter, it throws out these beautiful balls of flowers which the insects come and forage on. When there’s not a lot else around for them, there will always be that ivy for them. So, it’s important to keep a bit of ivy—maybe not let it overtake, but a bit of ivy.
Suzie:
And you spoke about the holly earlier—how the shape of the leaves is very spiky at the bottom and a different shape at the top because they use the energy as they grow upwards. It’s the same with the ivy. The ivy leaves are smaller at the top.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yeah, yeah. To conserve that energy. I’m already feeling a bit energised, you know.
Suzie:
Well, take a good old sniff in. Because that air at the moment is a deciduous forest. And we’re going to walk into the next section, which is—
Dr Susie Nyman:
Evergreen and mostly Western Hemlock in here.
Suzie:
Yes. So, this was planted years ago by the army as a plantation for a crop. And they’re coming close to the end of their cycle. So, over the next 10 years, Blackwater Valley have a felling licence to fell these, which might upset some people because they don’t understand the ecology of woodland management. But they need to come out because they’re not native.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes.
Suzie:
And what will happen is that they will be replanted with native deciduous species to complement the native side of our Wellesley Woodland—our wonderful Wellesley Woodland.
Dr Susie Nyman:
A little robin just popped into the tree over there.
Suzie:
Wow.
Dr Susie Nyman:
To have a little look at what we’re up to. Oh, we’re being watched. Did you know—I’m a birdologist—whatever they’re called—ornithologist.
Suzie:
Ornithologist.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes, that one.
Suzie:
A friend of mine, a twitcher, said that robins think that we’re just a big form of woodland pig—like a boar.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Oh, well, probably yes.
Suzie:
Because we come along, we ruffle up the soil, let them get to the insects, and then we go off again. So, they’re like, well, they’re just one of those big two-legged pig things that comes along, and I’m going to eat now. He’s watching us.
Dr Susie Nyman:
There he is, on the post.
Suzie:
Yeah. And can you see all these little camps people have made on the side? Little dens—they have den-building activities.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes. Oh, have a feel of this silver birch here. Isn’t it lovely? It’s so smooth. They’ve used a lot of silver birch in their dens. Mind the runner. A runner’s just gone past.
Suzie:
This trunk is much smoother than the silver birch you’ve just touched. And you can see orange lichen on there. Yeah. And then the next one—the oak. Deep ridges and fissures in the bark.
Dr Susie Nyman:
There are deep ridges. It’s beautiful. It’s not hard, though. It’s really nice, isn’t it?
Suzie:
And the smell is different now, as Sarah suggested when she walked through with you.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yep. The smell is more like a conifer forest, isn’t it? As we walk through. And you can notice lots of logs that have fallen down. And some of these logs are going to be inhabited by detritivores on the bottom of the forest floor.
Suzie:
Absolutely. That’s why we leave them. Sometimes, if they’ve fallen on the paths, they might be put in a log pile or a stack next to it. But it’s called a deadwood habitat. Sometimes, we’ll leave trees that have died standing as long as they’re safe because they create these wonderful environments for all those wonderful little invertebrates. And sometimes, we’ll leave them on the ground floor itself.
Dr Susie Nyman:
For example, that piece of wood over there has a blue streak in it.
Suzie:
Oh, OK. So, we talked about this on a previous walk. The blue mould that’s taken over that piece of dead trunk used to be prized by wood carvers. I didn’t know that until recently. So, this blue streak in here is actually some kind of pathogen. And that was prized by wood carvers in the past because it was a wonderful turquoisey blue, wasn’t it? It’s amazing.
Dr Susie Nyman:
There’s some orange there. Wow. I’ve never noticed that before.
Suzie:
Now you’ve seen it. And around the corner, we’ve got a very special tree. Not a lot of people know about these, but when a tree falls over in the wind, it doesn’t necessarily die because the outer layer of the tree is the cambium layer, which is the living layer.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes.
Suzie:
So, if a tree falls over and its roots are still intact in the ground, or some of them are, it can form what’s called a phoenix tree.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Oh, wow. So, this is a phoenix tree.
Suzie:
Oh, there’s a phoenix. It’s covered in moss.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes.
Suzie:
He’s fallen over years ago by the look of this.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes.
Suzie:
And then it’s growing up.
Dr Susie Nyman:
20 years maybe.
Suzie:
Yes. So, the horizontal trunk has then extended two of its branches to become two trees out of one.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Makes a very nice seat.
Suzie:
It does—when it’s not wet.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes. And as we walk through here, I’m imagining from what you said, Sarah Jane, it smells damp. It smells damp and earthy. And because there are two little mini ponds either side, aren’t there?
Suzie:
There are indeed. Question time. So, Mary has asked, she says her child struggles to retain information from traditional learning methods. How can she use multisensory techniques to help them better remember and understand historical events?
Dr Susie Nyman:
I mean, what you could do is you could get a giant piece of wallpaper and do a timeline, and then do words and pictures with a timeline. You could also use a mind map, or you could put the keywords on post-it notes and move them around so that they can work out the dates and the different sequences of what’s going on in history.
Suzie:
Yeah. What’s my other question?
Dr Susie Nyman:
Well, John has a child with dyslexia and finds spelling really, really challenging. Can you suggest three multisensory activities we could do during a walk in the park to help improve their spelling skills?
Suzie:
Well, simply here—how do you spell “tree”? T-R-E-E. Yeah. You could go into the forest, and you could write it in the soil, couldn’t you? T-R-E-E.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Or use sticks.
Suzie:
Yeah, use sticks.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Little pebbles.
Suzie:
Yes, you could make the words out of pebbles. That’d be amazing.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yeah.
Suzie:
Yeah, or leaves.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yep, leaves.
Suzie:
Yeah. There’s always something to work with in the garden.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yeah, I think so. I’ve got another question for you.
Suzie:
Yeah.
Dr Susie Nyman:
All right. Well, Marissa asked: what are some interactive multisensory storytelling techniques she can use at bedtime to help her child with language delays build their vocabulary?
Suzie:
Do you know what I used to do with my son?
Dr Susie Nyman:
What?
Suzie:
We used to—he used to go to bed, and then I’d sit there with him, and I’d say, right, let’s come up with some random words. And we used to come up with these random words, and then I’d make a story out of it, including him. He used to love that.
Dr Susie Nyman:
I’ll bet you did. And he learned well.
Suzie:
Yeah.
Dr Susie Nyman:
We also used to read books, and then I always used to get him to say certain parts—like Potten and the giraffe or something like that—that they would join in all the time. Making it fun.
Suzie:
Yeah.
Dr Susie Nyman:
I mean, I’ve used random sweets for children to make stories, but that’s not really at bedtime, is it? That would be a bit cheeky. Or if someone had some curtains with lots of interesting pictures in—I recently bought a shower curtain with a rainforest on it—you could look at that shower curtain, or you could look at those curtains, and then make a story about the animals that were in that curtain, or animals that might be on the quilt cover.
Suzie:
Perfect. Got a couple more questions. Are you up for them?
Dr Susie Nyman:
Oh, OK. Yeah.
Suzie:
Raj asked: how can he turn food shopping into a multisensory learning activity to help his child with ADHD practice maths skills like addition and subtraction?
Dr Susie Nyman:
I used to do this with my son. When I go into a new shop, I get really confused down the aisles where everything is. And I would take him to the vegetable section. I’d say, “Can you get me five bananas?” So, he would have to count out five. Then he would go to the weighing scales and weigh them out, and he would then press the button and get the ticket to pay for that.
We would go down the aisles, and he’d look at the tins because quite often I would pick up the wrong tin. So, one day, I was looking for chickpeas and ended up going home with butter beans. But even recently—literally last week—I picked up sardines in spicy tomato sauce rather than tomato sauce. So that’s not very good for the old chilli dog, is it? She rather likes the sardines in tomato sauce.
Suzie:
What else could we do?
Dr Susie Nyman:
Counting the vegetables, counting the number of tins you need, going to the trolley, go and find me the self-raising flour rather than the plain flour. And they can find that for you. They can also get an app called MyFitnessPal, and they can run around and see which sausages have the least amount of fat in them.
Suzie:
You get the normal fat sausages and then you get the less fat sausages. Yes, there’s a subtraction in that.
Dr Susie Nyman:
To work it out, I like that.
Suzie:
Nisha asked: her child with ADHD has a really hard time focusing on homework. Do you have any multisensory techniques that could make homework time more engaging and productive?
Dr Susie Nyman:
Smell it, touch it, taste it, make it. Make a cake!
Suzie:
Yep.
Dr Susie Nyman:
And assign questions to different parts of that cake. OK, we’re going to make a chocolate cake. So, it could be that the chocolate—the cocoa powder—is going to be about a project she’s doing on the discovery of chocolate. It could be that the flour—you might assign a question to carbohydrates if you wanted to, or you could assign something else. And then the fat—the butter—that child can then learn the different parts in that cake, what they all do. They can answer the questions, make the cake, but they can’t—
Suzie:
Sorry.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Another dog walker. Hello.
Suzie:
But they can’t actually eat the cake until they’ve re-answered all the questions again.
Dr Susie Nyman:
I like it.
Suzie:
So, eat their way through the homework.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Or they could make something—for example, if they’re doing a project about populations, you could use jelly babies, couldn’t you, and talk about different populations of things. If you’re plotting a graph in maths, you could plot the points with sweets and join them together with strawberry shoelaces.
Suzie:
Oh, I’m liking that.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Suzie likes the idea.
Suzie:
I do. Of eating your way through your homework.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Talking about eating your way through, we’ve come across a sweet chestnut. Isn’t she beautiful?
Suzie:
She’s beautiful.
Dr Susie Nyman:
And there are beautiful sweet chestnuts that appear towards Christmas. And then you can roast them on the fire at Christmas.
Suzie:
They are yummy. And they’re really, really good for you. Lovely soft, gentle fresh leaves.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yeah.
Suzie:
Slightly sticky with the sap.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes, they are actually. And we’re nearly back at the start, aren’t we?
Suzie:
We are very nearly back. Not too far from here now. You can see some lovely boats on the river. Some lovely narrowboats there.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes.
Suzie:
Beautiful green one. You hear the rumbling of the engine as they’re just about to take off.
Dr Susie Nyman:
They are—she’s grinding up the mooring ropes.
Suzie:
Yeah.
Dr Susie Nyman:
And the gorse of course. The flowers are over now. They do smell of coconut.
Suzie:
They do. I did have a sniff after you told me last time. Oh, there’s a dog. Hello.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Yes. And as you can hear the road now. Yes. We’re back to where we started, Susie. Go up to the sluice and hear that water pouring out after all the rainfall.
Suzie:
That walk’s been amazing.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Honestly. I love walking with you anyway.
Suzie:
It’s great.
Dr Susie Nyman:
And you can watch the canal go under the bridges as well.
Suzie:
Can you not listen? You hear the water.
Dr Susie Nyman:
The sound reminds me of the fish ladders at Pitlochry where you see the salmon jumping up.
Suzie:
Yes.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Back to reality. Well, thank you very much, Susie. I hope you enjoyed that.
Suzie:
I absolutely loved it.
Dr Susie Nyman:
I really enjoyed it. I learned so much on the way. It was just amazing. Really, thank you. Thank you for inviting me.
Suzie:
Thank you very much, Susie from The Conservation Volunteers and Wellesley Woods. This afternoon, I’ve had a wonderful walk. I’ve learned so much about Wellesley Woods, the flora, and the fauna. It’s been absolutely brilliant.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Thank you, Susie. Dr Susie Nyman from The Sixth Form College Farnborough, for joining me on this walk and inviting me along. You taught me so much about insects and biology and all the other ‘ologies. It’s been great.
Suzie:
Thank you. It’s a pleasure.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Our next multisensory walk will be through Wisley Gardens, going into the bird hide and looking at the parakeets. I can’t wait. See you there.
Suzie:
See you soon.
Dr Susie Nyman:
Bye-bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of Dr Susie Nyman’s Multisensory Walks. I hope you found today’s discussion insightful and inspiring. Remember, every walk is an opportunity to learn and grow. If you enjoyed this episode, please hit the subscribe button, share it with fellow parents and teachers, and leave us a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Reach out to us on social media or email us at [email protected]. Stay curious, stay proactive, and let’s continue to create fun multisensory learning adventures together. Until next time—happy walking!
This episode of Dr Susie’s Multisensory Walks was produced and recorded by Oaka Books. I’m your host, Dr Susie Nyman. Thank you for listening, and have a lovely day.
