Shaping Our World

Many people do not realise we are a small business based in Bathgate, West Lothian. But whilst we are small, we are also mighty. Our aim is simple, to support children in their education whilst encouraging a love of being outdoors.

We help children learn outdoors, play outdoors and create outdoors. This allows them to develop a sense of place as well as supporting their development. 

But, we are aware there are other notable companies out there who actively care for our environment. We wanted to share some stories about them! For our first Shaping Our World blog, we are focusing on other West Lothian businesses.

Soul Sister Sheila
Sheila is a fantastic holistic therapist based in West Lothian. I can personally vouch for her amazing Indian Head Massage, Hopi ear candling, and even her KCR therapy. There are not many people who can work the kinks out in my body, but Sheila can.

Due to Covid, Sheila suddenly found that she was using an increasing amount of single-use products, which, as we all know, is not great for the environment.

But Sheila made the decision to spend a little money to help the environment. She started by buying a lot of kit to help with this. Reusable masks, using natural fibre towels, and even asking clientele to take their own refillable water bottles for a drink after sessions. She even purchased business cards that use recycled paper. These are all little steps that can make a big difference.

Clan Electrical
This husband and wife team are great with your electrics and now have an electric van for their business. They realised that they could be reducing their CO2 emissions from 3.67 tonnes to 1.77 tonnes per annum (based on average BEIS/defra figures for the UK) by switching to an electric van. But more than that, when they were researching this, they discovered that a whopping three-quarter of Scotland’s energy now comes from renewable sources! Which means they can further reduce their impact. Their van looks fab and is making such a big difference to the world we live in.

Of course, going green isn’t the only way to care for nature, as these other businesses are about to highlight!

Last Wolf
Last Wolf is a movement that exists to inspire people and share ideas about the outdoors. They have a fantastic blog, inspiring people to get outdoors and accept contributions of written words, photos, and artwork. Contributions are from all outdoors enthusiasts, with years of experience or none, from anywhere and everywhere. With their #inspiringoutdoors hashtag and the Live Deliberately mantra, which extends to live with purpose and drive, yet to find the beauty in all things, the every day and the extraordinary. They sum up why nature is important to us all.

Their weekly blog Word Mountain, which we have contributed to, reflects their goals. Last Wolf produces clothing and apparel for the concerning outdoors enthusiast; their products are of high quality yet are as ethically made and as sustainable as possible. They genuinely care for the environment in such a wide range of ways!

And education can play a crucial part, as we know!

Riverside Cottage Nursery
As one of the original outdoor nurseries in Scotland, award-winning Riverside Cottage Nursery sits within two acres of crofting land in Bathgate, West Lothian. The rich natural resources found within the surrounding fields, woodlands, and the River Almond are used to best effect, meaning that children enjoy a magical outdoor-focused early years education. Not only a leader in outdoor education, Riverside is a child-centred nursery that helps other establishments – locally and globally – to learn through its annual pedagogical conference.  

Teaching young children about the outdoors and fostering a sense of place helps create a generation interested in their environment and sustainability.

We love how each of these companies are making a real difference to the world around them and further afield as well. Do you have a company that is making a difference? It doesn’t matter where you are; we just need to know how and why. We will be sharing our Shaping Our World blog every month and would love to know about more businesses we can include!

Love Outdoor Learning offer a range of support for curriculum based outdoor learning within the school, both in primary and secondary.  Our membership resource offers training and lesson ideas throughout the curriculum and we regularly share blogs with new activity ideas and thoughts on outdoor learning.  We can also offer on-site training and support.  

Our aim is to help support as many educators as possible.  We offer free support calls to help schools understand how we can support them in their learning journey.  If you wish to book one just jump over to our diary.