The Importance Of The Outdoor Environment

The practitioner in an early years setting supporting children’s play learning and development is extremely important, as play helps stimulate the child’s brain, supports their needs on an educational level, as well as helping them with social difficulties such as building relationships, developing them and helping them gain confidence. Many people believe that a child learns best when they are motivated, such as Fredrich Froebel. He believed that children benefitted from all types of play. The McMillan sisters believed that outdoor play was extra important as they studied children who played and slept outside and discovered that they were the happier and healthier children in comparison to those who only played inside.

Finally, I work hard to create an indoor and outdoor environment that enriches, challenges, and encourages children to develop interests, connect with each other, have alone time, and learn through play. I accomplish this goal by continually assessing my play materials, adding new things, gauging my children’s interests and needs, and adjusting my environment accordingly.

Children need to experiment outdoors as there is so much to learn. Children can learn in each of the areas and develop their skills. During play children are learning to socialise with each other, playing in small groups and taking turns which builds there confidence up. They also develop their motor skills through playing outdoors, running, jumping, walking and crawling. Children will learn to take risks

There are many advantages to child-initiated play. Children’s emotional development is particularly supported because children are able to make their own choices. They also gain independence skills as they can help themselves to resources. This type of play helps children to be creative as they have to develop their own ideas of how to play indoors and outdoors.

Security: Any outside area used by children should be secured and boundaries regularly inspected, to ensure the safety of all pupils.

“The developed world deprives children of a basic and inalienable right: unstructured outdoor play. Children today have substantially less access to nature, less free range, and less time for independent play than previous generations had.” This quote is from the research based paper titled, “Where the Wild Things Should Be: Healing Nature Deficit Disorder through the Schoolyard." This article touches many aspects of how children now a days need more exposure to nature like it was on the older days. Currently, there are many playgrounds around the United States and even more the world. This article is trying to bring awareness to the problem of if playgrounds do not have enough nature or is too safe then it is

Preference for outdoor play. Child A plays mostly outdoors as he believes it is more fun, and loves to investigate the surroundings. The choice of indoor play is often related to the weather, child A only plays inside when its cold or raining. It is only in severe weather conditions children have to stay in doors as in our setting we believe the children can learn and develop much more outside even when the weather is poor. Play preferences are the child’s own choices & the freedom & opportunities to be able to make those choices by enabling varied resources that are

An effective planning will help children to participate in a safe and supportive environment.To provide good opportunities for children it is important to maintain a balance between

“Outdoor education is in line with current thinking, but also echo’s the philosophy of the McMillan sisters. Practitioners today should be aware of the opportunities afforded by outdoor provision, not only in terms of developing children’s learning, but also with positive benefits to their health” (Cooper 2004)

surroundings. Playing outside is a learning experience that children need to have every day. The grass

Your last outdoor environment is a great idea and every 2nd grader would love this playground. The playground has enough space for all the children to play and not run into each other. And this is a great way for them to get exercise and like you said they would be utilizing their gross motor skills. All of your environments were great by the

The article leave no child inside gives us an insight on the importance of a child interaction with nature. The advancement in today’s world with the invention of television, video games, and computers has significantly reduced the interaction of a child with nature. A child can interact with nature in various ways from playing outdoor games to watering a plant to hiking in the forest trails. Experiences gained from such interaction has proven to promote the creativity and the mental growth of a child while reducing stress and the symptoms of attention deficit disorder (Louv 2007). Other benefits of such interaction with nature includes the increase in one’s confidence, imagination, intellect, test scores, and happiness.

Outdoor play in nature offers a number of benefits, including opportunities to learn physical skills and build stamina, social skills, how to manage risks, respect for nature (NQSPLP, 2013, p. 2). Play is an activity and also a platform for mutual interaction among children and between children and adults alike (Castro, 2012; DeBord et al., n.d). It has been observed by caregivers and practitioners that children are naturally drawn to play outdoors even when the area is not well-equipped and regardless of the prevailing weather conditions (Bilton, 2010). However, a sustainable outdoor space should have sufficient shade and protection from the adverse environmental conditions in order to support healthy living for children (NLI, 2012), hence

The value of the outdoor environment was also closely tied to its allowing therapists to address skills in a realistic way. One therapist noted that these situations allowed the “patients skills to be addressed in context in a more comprehensive way, rather than as isolated components as we may be working on in the clinic.” These real life situations also allowed for unexpected situations to arise, which allowed for the assessment of skills such as safety and judgment; or to problem solve, or adapt other situations. One respondent related,” if you have had a stroke or a spinal cord injury and have to use a wheelchair…we want them to get outside of the controlled environment and practice. We might go outside after it rains, and have the patient stay on the path…which may not be wide enough….but if they go off the path, into the mud…that’s real life and they’ll have to deal with it.” Characteristics of the environment, such as wind, often added another dimension to the treatment as one noted, “the wind outside might add another element that the patient has to be able to deal with….like in putting groceries in the car….or maybe debris or items on the ground that you have to avoid….or a puddle of water….how to be safe in those situations.” Some designed identified features as helpful included stop lights, cross walks, mailboxes, and in ground planting beds

Environmental education is not always implemented within schools because classrooms are the main space in which students learn and teachers are expected to teach. However, by implementing activities that surround around current events in the environment and by connecting students to nature, this can have positive effects in which it influences the individuals sense of self and their community (Mcinerney, Smyth, & Down, 2011). Research found that children who play in a natural environment to develop better physical skills such as improved motor skills, fitness, and coordination more than other children who play in build environments. They also develop better cognitivitly in which they have increased creativity and problem solving skills