Outdoor Play

being outdoors=happy baby!

Lately I have been working on creating an outdoor playland that encourages exploration and mess-making, allows the children to be as expressive (loud) as they want, and incorporates many sensorial activities. Oh, and a safe place to be. I have drawn inspiration from Let the Children Play, and most importantly from the little ones in my life. Observing the littles just gets my head churning- what can I do to enhance their play.

I also want to share this article that sums up why outdoor play is important. This article is one of many published by Community Playthings (a company I have put a link to in my side bar under Toys and the like). I adore Community Playthings, and I look forward to incorporating more of their furniture into our program. Well, to not stray from my topic too much, I want to outline some of the topics covered in this article.

Physical Exercise- "Children need to develop large motor and small motor skills and cardiovascular endurance."
Enjoyment- "Children need opportunities to explore, experiment, manipulate, reconfigure, expand, influence, change, marvel, discover, practice, dam up, push their limits, yell, sing, and create. Some of our favorite childhood memories are outdoor activities. This is no accident."
Learning about the world- "In the outside playground children can learn math, science, ecology, gardening, ornithology, construction, farming, vocabulary, the seasons, the various times of the day, and all about the local weather. Not only do children learn lots of basic and fundamental information about how the world works in a very effective manner, they are more likely to remember what they learned because it was concrete and personally meaningful."
Learning about Self and the Environment- "To learn about the physical world, the child must experiment with the physical world. Can I slide on the sand? Can I roll on grass? What happens when I throw a piece of wood into the pond? Is cement hard or soft to fall on? An essential task of development is appreciating how we fit into the natural order of things—animals, plants, the weather, and so on. To what extent does nature care for us by providing water, shade, soft surfaces, and sweet-smelling flowers? And to what extent does it present problems, such as hard surfaces, the hot sun, and thorns on bushes? We can discover this relationship with the natural world only by experiencing it as we grow up, develop, and interact with the natural environment."
Health-"One way to reduce the spread of infection is through lots and lots of fresh air. Outdoor play enables the infectious agents to spread out and be dissipated; it also enables children to get fresh air and exercise and be less constrained than they are in the classroom. Outdoor play also enables children to enjoy the natural environment and learn to seek out exercise, fresh air, and activity. There is something fundamentally healthy about using the outdoors. Thus outdoor play develops disposition for the outdoors, for physical activity, and for care of the environment. Children who engage in lots of physical activities at school tend to engage in more energetic activities at home, while children who have childcare and school experiences that lack active physical activity, engage in more sedentary behaviors at home, such as watching TV and computer use (Dale, Corbin, & Dale, 2000). Children who learn to enjoy the outdoors have a much higher likelihood of becoming adults who enjoy hiking, gardening, jogging, bicycling, mountain climbing, or other outdoor endeavors. This is critical as obesity becomes an ever-greater national concern and as we must all learn to care for and protect the environment."
Encouraging Physical Play- "Although it is important to encourage specific motor skills such as fine and gross motor development, it is more important to support the development of the brain and nerve functions and growth. Thus rolling, crawling, running and climbing, and swinging on swings are all absolutely critical activities for young children."
Sociodramatic Play- "A good playground must have playhouses, forts, and other structures that children can change, adapt, reconfigure, impose their own meaning on, and use to expand their imagination. These structures encourage rich sociodramatic play; further, they are an ideal place for the playground to reflect the cultures of the children who use it."


All in all, outdoor play is a huge part of what we do here. We have gardens for vegetable growing- there is just something so special about watching a little water the plants or pluck off a vegetable and bite into it! We have a sensory garden (a gutter garden!) with lavender and mint to touch and smell the plants. We have sand play, a playhouse, a climber, and a music board made from repurposed kitchen ware! The kids can picnic outdoors, kick balls, collect treasures, roll around… they simply can be kids :) Plus, being outdoors gives me the fresh air that I NEED!

grass soup coming right up

grass collection coalition

yum!

flower child

master gardener

music board fun!

fill 'er up

teamwork!