Word Cloud Fun!

I saw this fun post over onthe blog Emmy's Mummy, how to create a word cloud is very well described in the blog post & so I decided to try it for mine. 

I love that children, outdoor, play & we are the most popular - in fact I like that it can just be read as saying "We have outdoor children, they play" - think that may be the best way to sum up our nursery!!

Little Reminder of an Absent Classmate.

These little muddy hand prints have managed to stay on the front of the slide for the past 3 weeks, left there after a particularly wet, muddy morning by a classmate & her fluffy gloves who has since emigrated to Canada. As the rain returned this afternoon, I wonder will they still be there in the morning?
 

Happy Christmas/Happy Holidays

Thanks to everyone who has followed the blog this year & those who have taken the time to add a comment or 2. Hope everyone has a lovely relaxing time over the holidays. I'll be back in 2013 with some more adventures with my nursery class.
In the meantime enjoy a lovely Wintery photo taken of the playground 2 years ago when we had the most wonderful snow fall ever!

 

Practical Tips for Making Outdoor Learning a Reality (Guest Post by Emily Plank)

Absolutely delighted to have Emily from Abundant Life Children guest posting this week, sharing her thoughts on how to create an outdoor area that allows for real quality learning.

Practical Tips for Making Outdoor Learning a Reality

I am one of those “outdoor education” types: championing the child’s right to be muddy, cheering unstructured time in nature, encouraging adventure, and supporting efforts to unplug.  Yet, despite my utopian idea of young children busily building forts or crouching to inspect the tiny wings of a moth, actually developing a style of education that works outside is an ongoing challenge! 

I grew up a city girl in Southern California.  Despite what you might assume, I spent a good deal of time outside engaged in typical childhood endeavors of tree climbing and endless swinging. Mostly, I remember playing for long stretches with my brothers or my friends, making up story lines to mimic the realities we observed around us.

My mission as an early childhood educator has been to identify the critical elements of nature play and find a way to make those elements work-able in my day-to-day experience.  I am an in-home care provider, meaning I am charged with the care and education of a small crew of seven children with a wide age range (currently, 15 months old – 4.5 years old).  They arrive at my home around 8:00 am and stay until 5:30 pm.  I am responsible for preparing meals (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack).  I clean, I assist with toileting, I encourage thoughtful interactions between children, and I structure the day. 

Through the process of developing my space, I have found several key elements and ways of implementing those elements that have been very successful in my setting. 

1.       Defined spaces.  Environment signals usage.  Cluttered spaces signify high intensity activities and chaos (think giant, unordered toy boxes).  Partitioned, disconnected spaces suggest inflexibility in material movement.  Wide-open fields offer spaces for running and kick a ball, but limit small-motor, creative play. 

Strategically designing an outdoor classroom involves balancing the many uses: areas for art, areas for small gatherings of 1-2 children, open areas for running and jumping, areas for creative expression, and areas for messy and dirty play.  One of our favorite and most frequently used areas is a large rectangular area with a mulch base.  It serves as our art and outdoor eating area, since it is a natural space for messy activities. 

2.      Independence – keeping the children in charge.  My firm belief is that one of the greatest gifts we can give to children is to foster their sense of competency.  How frustrating is it to want to do something, but lack the ability?  An outdoor classroom should provide lots of child sized items, movable step stools, and clearly defined and age-appropriate expectations. 

On nice days, we frequently take our shoes off outside (sand + shoes = bummer!).  But, keeping track of seven pairs of shoes is an impossible task for me.  Children at Abundant Life are clear about the expectation: if you take your shoes off, put them on the shoe shelf where they can be easily found later. 

3.      Water.  For play, and for washing.  Children need water to facilitate their experiences with other materials (dirt, sand, grass, etc.), to expand their basic mathematical and spatial development, and to clean up when they are ready to come inside. 

A water hose with an on-off valve that children can activate on their own, a sophisticated water pump allowing children to draw water whenever they want, or even a large group size water thermos on a low table can provide the opportunity for children to collect water for their play whenever they want. 

4.      Specific interest areas.  The following is a list of areas that I think are a “must have” in outdoor classrooms.  Some of these areas rotate in my outdoor classroom, but all are available at any moment when the need arises. 

Digging space – an unused dirt patch in the corner or a dedicated sandbox.  Children should be able to dig deep and mix with water.  Keeping kitchen materials nearby facilitates dramatic play with mud or sand. 

Levels – children want to climb in order to see the world from a different point of view.  When we finished digging for our sand pits, we used the dirt to create a grassy knoll in the middle of our yard.  Large tree stumps, moveable wooden crates, or heavy-duty wooden blocks that can be stacked accomplish the same idea.

Tinkering area – loose parts and fasteners.  Consider hammers and nails, string, tape, glue, natural materials such as pinecones and acorns, small pieces of wood, wooden wheels, and popsicle sticks.

Mixing station – an assortment of dry and liquid materials for children to combine and mix.  In the past, we’ve included oats, vinegar, oil, baking soda, lotion, syrup, liquid water color, sand, dried beans, rice, and sequins.  Some areas prohibit the use of food items for sensory play as it can send a conflicting message about the use of food, so deciding on what materials to include requires some reflection. 

What about you?  My outdoor program is always changing…do you have ideas that are on your “must-include” list when you take children outside?  Leave a note below in the comments – I’d love to hear your ideas! 

………………………………….

Emily Plank is passionately passionate about care for children in their early years.  She is a play-enthusiast, expert block-builder, and skilled storyteller, honing her skills during her days with the children at her in-home program, Abundant Life Children.  When she’s not playing, she is tirelessly spreading the message of play and respect to those who work with children (teachers, parents, and policy makers) through her blog, abundantlifechildren.com, and her in-person workshops and presentations.  She is honored to contribute to Learning for Life!

Outdoor fun in the Southern Hemisphere

Outdoor play link-up - Guest post from Australia, Niki Buchan.

I was delighted to be asked to contribute a guest blog post for Kierna who I met in person while I was Head of the Claire Warden outdoor Nature Kindergartens in Scotland. I am now based in Australia as an Educational Consultant promoting consultation with children and the concept of children also having access to wilder spaces such as bush, beach and forest. Kierna and I still share our passion for naturalistic learning through Facebook and our blogs as I am the author of the blog Precious childhood and who knows...maybe one day we can do a shared blog when we meet up again in person.

 I am delighted to have someone with such an amazing background as Niki, guest post this week whilst I still enjoy my summer break. I feel privileged to call her a friend & colleague.

Children outdoors in Australia - any different to UK & Ireland?

Are children different the world over? As the children in the northern hemisphere celebrated the summer solstice, children in the southern hemisphere celebrated the winter solstice! Children benefit from being able to revisit the same space over time where they can shape their environment, build on past experiences and really notice seasonal changes.

Last week I was a visitor in this centre in Newcastle, NSW, Australia where children from the age of 2 years have access to a range of naturalistic opportunities. They engage in a variety of self selected opportunities that offer developmentally appropriate challenge and risk. Climbing trees, caring for the chickens, digging in the sand, using the woodwork shed, having a conversation in the garden and looking for frogs in the trickle creek are all experiences within the outdoor space valued by the educators and of course the children.

Our journey into the bush offered different learning opportunities - it was the unexpected surprises wild nature offers us that most engaged them. Muddy puddles, uneven tracks, birds and bugs, seasonal changes are all opportunities that invite closer exploration and the appreciation of the wonder of being in wild nature. 

Some of the children moved through this space at a fast pace while others wanted to explore in greater depth - some children were unable to follow through on their own interests with some being held back and others being rushed to keep up. I felt that this is a disadvantage of a journey to a specific site while having a time restraint...the temptation is to rush the journey. Nature time is children’s time and as adults we need to slow down and put in place strategies to support all children.

Once the group reached their destination some children were able to continue running and scrambling around a large circular track where they were at times not visible to the adults while others started to explore the space and soon discovered a slope resulting in happy children with muddy bottoms!

To support children not really engaging in the environment, I moved to a space that interested me and started to create a small basic structure on a log. I was soon joined by a number of curious children who took over the construction of what became a fairy house complete with roof, beds, lights, flower garden and, as we were in Australia........ sunshine and pet snakes! 

After having modelled this opportunity I withdrew to observe the play and of course identify the learning that was happening - all totally unplanned but so motivating to me and the children. While searching for loose bits for their creation some children noticed interesting features on some of the trees as well as a burnt tree trunk with holes - a perfect tunnel to go through. 

It was time to leave the bush but we noticed a ‘moving’ log - perfect for a future investigation, maybe leading to a natural see-saw or a teetering bridge .....more scientific explorations for children! 

 I have come to the conclusion that children the world over are motivated by similar experiences and learn in a similar way and that it is irrelevant what curriculum the adults create ....... children choose to keep playing and learning the way children always have! Thank goodness!

PS. I hope the Educators remembered that the children were expecting a miniature thank you letter from the fairies?

My favourite post from the last link up was from Kaisa over at Living Life and Loving It

I love to see children being allowed to enjoy being outside in all weathers & her photos of her family in the rain are gorgeous. 

 

 

How did your kids play outdoors this week?

• Any kind of children's outdoor play-related posts are welcome!

We'd appreciate it if you included a link back to this post (either in your post or sidebar) to help us spread the word about the importance (and fun!) of outdoor play! In return, we'll gladly further share your post on Facebook/ Twitter/ Pinterest. Please feel free to grab the Outdoor Play Party button from the sidebar and/or include a text link back.

Please note that by contributing you are giving permission for an image and link to your post to be republished if featured. (If you have been featured, please feel free to grab the 'featured' button from the sidebar.) Share your ideas for outdoor play activities with us every other week! The linky goes live every second Friday at 12:01 GMT+1. 

Outdoor Play Link-up - developing an outdoor area - Guest Post

It is my privilege and honour to be asked to write a guest post for Kierna on her wonderful blog. For those of you who don’t know me I am Greg Harvey, an early childhood teacher from Australia and author of the blog Males in Early Childhood.

I am taking full advantage of the summer break to take a rest from the outdoor play link up & am so delighted to have so many great guest bloggers that I could call upon to help me out. Once again, I have to say that the honour is all mine, to have Greg, a great cyber friend & colleague contribute to the blog this week.

It’s not very often you have the opportunity to revitalise an entire outdoor environment, yet recently that’s exactly what occurred at my centre. What was once very sterile and artificial surroundings have been transformed into a place full of natural materials presenting challenging and interesting locales amidst a serene and welcoming atmosphere.

As the work progresses you can see how the bland, flat and unfeatured playground begins to take shape as logs, stumps, rocks, balance beams, a creek bed, bridges and a stage all slowly form in front of your eyes.

You may also notice that here are convex mirrors, a reading circle containing sandstone seats, timber benches, a digging patch and a huge, kidney-shaped sandpit 3 times as deep as our previous one and more than twice the size all being added to this environment.

And if that wasn’t enough, there are some hidden treasures such as a fairy statue and a frog statue lurking in the gardens, a lizard lounging somewhere watching the children play, and a dragonfly keeping an eye on everything from its vantage point.

You probably won’t see some of these unless you visit in person, but to know that they are there paints a picture of a place full of imagination, wonder and adventure. You also cannot see the herb and vegie gardens that have been added to the once lone garden that existed before.

Now I can’t speak on behalf of the children, although if I was to make an educated guess I would say that they love their new outdoor environment. However, for me I have to say it’s at least as good as anything I’ve encountered during my relatively brief early childhood career.

Now I realise it’s difficult to make judgements about something you haven’t seen for yourself, but I think you would agree that the new look playground beats the old one hands down in every aspect of what an outdoor environment should offer.

A huge transformation like this is beyond most services, but there are some wonderful ideas that could be introduced to any play area with a little creativity and not too much of a shock to the budget. Some mirrors strategically placed, or a few creature statues located in out-of-the-way places, or the placement of logs, cut tree trunks and large rocks, or some timber balance beams and benches, or even the creek bed.

Some of these items would undoubtedly cost more than others, but much of it could be acquired reasonably cheaply through targeted campaigning for donations, discounts and volunteers to save labour costs. Actually, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination and determination.

So let’s get to it and provide all children with the outdoor environments they, their families and you deserve.

There were many brilliant outdoor fun ideas linked up again but the one that appealed to me the most was from  Making Boys Men . I've pounded pumpkins with golf tees but hadn't thought of doing it with melons! And to then use the melon shell as a container for the vinegar & baking soda fun - genius! There were plenty of ideas of what to do in types of weather in this post.

How did your kids play outdoors this week?

• Any kind of children's outdoor play-related posts are welcome!

We'd appreciate it if you included a link back to this post (either in your post or sidebar) to help us spread the word about the importance (and fun!) of outdoor play! In return, we'll gladly further share your post on Facebook/ Twitter/ Pinterest. Please feel free to grab the Outdoor Play Party button from the sidebar and/or include a text link back.

Please note that by contributing you are giving permission for an image and link to your post to be republished if featured. (If you have been featured, please feel free to grab the 'featured' button from the sidebar.) Share your ideas for outdoor play activities with us every other week! The linky goes live every second Friday at 12:01 GMT+1. 

Happiness is.....

Lying in a soft, deep pile of leaves.

 Exploring with your friends in a river - hunting for trolls & crocodiles.

Making it safely across the river to the other side

Making it to the top

 Embracing all weathers