About

Pete an early years creative consultant and artist educator, having over 25 years’ experience working within education. He is currently Artist Educator at St Werburgh’s Park Nursery School in Bristol. Pete works with children and staff to enrich the programs and encourage creative thinking through various provocations and longer term projects. Pete has worked as artist-in-residence and delivered a variety of creative workshops in a great number schools throughout the UK and abroad. His work is inspired by his visits and in depth study of the Reggio Emilia approach, Froebelian principles and his research in Japan, New Zealand and USA.

He is the author of several books including his latest book published by Routledge “Learning through Woodwork: Introducing Creative Woodwork in the Early Years” and has had several journal articles published in the educational press. He is currently working on Creativity in Practice: Nurturing Creative and Critical Thinking in Early Childhood Education (Routledge) due 2021. See a list of all Pete’s publications below.

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Pete is the leading authority on Woodwork in Early Years education and is the Chair of the Early Childhood Woodwork Association, and founder of the Big Bang Project which aims to advocate for woodwork provision within education.

Research is central to Pete’s practice. He was awarded an Honorary Research Fellowship at the University of Bristol and has undertaken research as a Churchill Fellow. He is currently researching creativity, developing observation methods for monitoring creative progression. He  also coordinates the Big Bang Research project, researching the value and impact of woodwork on children’s learning and development in ECE. He has presented research papers at BECERA, OMEP and IAEC.  Pete is a member of ICEnet International Creative Education Network,  the International Art in Early Childhood Education Association (IAEC) and OMEP – the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education.

In 2019 Pete was awarded a Churchill Fellowship and undertook international research into international perspectives on ‘making’ and woodwork in early education. Pete is also a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts through which he is campaigning to get hands on experiential learning back into education.

Pete is passionate about the principles of Froebelian pedagogy and is currently training to become a Froebel Travelling Tutor. He has recently written a new pamphlet fro the Froebel Trust, The Wonder of Woodwork.

He delivers CPD training, workshops and conference presentations throughout the UK and overseas. The focus of his work is on encouraging creative and critical thinking in young children. Pete is an associate trainer for Early Education and delivers training for many organisations such as National Teaching Schools and Early Excellence. All CPD courses are designed and delivered by Pete Moorhouse. CPD Training sessions are available as half day/ full day/ twilight as part of INSET and are also available on Saturdays for PVI settings.

Pete bring much experience of work and research overseas into his practice. He has worked in Nepal, Bhutan, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Germany, UAE, Bahrain, USA and undertaken research in NZ, Finland, and the USA.

Pete also works as a sculptor and public artist with a wide portfolio of prestigious commissions, but increasingly early years is Pete’s focus and priority. His work is in many international collections. He sculptures can be see here: www.petemoorhouse.co.uk

 


 

Irresistible Learning  follows a social enterprise model (trading as Pete Moorhouse Ltd) . The social mission is core to Pete’s work. Core to the business is the desire to improve creative provision within early childhood education and  outcomes for young children. Much of Pete’s work is non-profit and unpaid – such as academic research, writing, campaigning and contributing journal and magazine articles to promote the importance of creativity in education and to highlight the importance of ‘making’ and especially woodwork. Irresistible Learning has also donated much free equipment such as workbenches and tools, both in the UK and overseas, including supporting early education in Bhutan and Nepal. Pete is campaigning to get woodwork re-introduced to early childhood education as well as into Primary KS1/2. There is no trademarked practice/approaches  and many of Pete’s resources are made freely available and are intended to be shared but please acknowledge the author (Creative commons 4.0). It’s all about making an impact and trying to work towards creating better outcomes for young children.

 


Publications

Books:

The Wonder of Woodwork – A Froebelian Approach  –  Pete Moorhouse   The Froebel Trust Pamphlet 2021

Learning Outdoors, Building a foundation through nature Pete Moorhouse Community Playthings 2019

Gwaith coed mewn addysg plentyndod cynnar 2019 Pete Moorhouse Mudiad Meithrin, Wales

Pete Moorhouse Woodwork in the early years – Pete Moorhouse – Community Playthings 2019 – Second Edition

Learning through woodwork: Introducing creative woodwork in the early years  Pete Moorhouse Routledge 2018

Holzarbeiten im Vorschulalter 2017 Pete Moorhouse Community Playthings Deutschland GmbH

Pete Moorhouse Woodwork in the early years Pete Moorhouse Community Playthings 2015

Woodwork in Early Years Education  Pete Moorhouse Independent Publishers Unavailable/ out of print 2012

Journals:

The wonder of woodwork Pete Moorhouse NSEAD National Society for Education in Art and Design 2018 Issue 23

Woodwork – The Space Childspace  Early Childhood Institute, New Zealand 2019

Creativity in Practice Pete Moorhouse Early Days The magazine of Christian Initiatives in Early Years Education 2019

Woodwork in Early Childhood Education Pete Moorhouse Tomorrow’s Child Montessori Foundation USA 2018 Vol 26 No1

All about photography Pete Moorhouse Nursery World July 2018

Tooled up! Pete Moorhouse Nursery World April 2018

The art of woodwork in early years education 2018 Early Childhood ecArtnz Aotearoa New Zealand

Mathematical development: Woodwork providing skills for life Pete Moorhouse Small talk Wales Issue 129 2018

The wonderful rise of woodwork in Early Years Parenta Magazine 2017 Issues 38 and 39

Woodwork in the Early Years Pete Moorhouse Small talk- Wales PPA 2015

Wonderful Woodwork Pete Moorhouse Early Years Educator Volume – Vol 13 No. 11 March 2012

Introducing young children to working with wood Pete Moorhouse Early Years Update – Issue 97 April 2012

All about woodwork Nursery World Pete Moorhouse– 14-27 May 2012

Woodworking wonders Pete Moorhouse Early Years Educator Volume 13 No11 March 2012

 

Digital content:

The Importance of Woodwork In Early Childhood Education HundrED, Finland

Big bang! Small hands… Big ideas! Creative woodwork in early childhood PACEY 2019

Irresistible Learning: Woodwork in Early Childhood Education 2018 Pete Moorhouse Community Playthings New York USA

The Big Bang! Small hands with big ideas. Community Playthings 2018

Interviews and Podcasts:

Early Years Summit 2019 – Woodwork – Risk and challenge in Early Years

The value of woodwork – Pete Moorhouse Early Education

Woodwork in The Curriculum of Excellence, Scotland – University of Strathclyde


Sketch of Pete delivering CPD training in Nepal by his son, Samir Moorhouse!