Learning Outdoors

One of the keys to a happy and creative classroom is getting out of it and this book will give you the confidence to do just that. Drawing on academic research, Juliet explains why learning outdoors is so beneficial and provides plenty of tips and activities to help you to integrate outdoor learning into your teaching practice, providing a broad range of engaging outdoor experiences for your students. There is no need for expensive tools or complicated technologies: all you need is your coat and a passion for learning - oh, and you'd better bring the kids too! Topics covered include: forest schools, learning outside the classroom, outdoor education, nature activities, caring for the environment, play in schools, investigative play, urban outdoor activities, problem solving, creative thinking and strategies for supporting curriculum objectives. For all primary practitioners who want to shake up their usual classroom routine and discover the benefits of teaching outdoors. Dirty Teaching was a finalist in the Non-Fiction People's Book Prize Winter 2014 collection.

One educator's story detailing a cross-Canada run to inspire students and teachers to get outside and experience the benefits and beauty of nature. You'd think starting a non-profit organization aimed at getting young people to spend less time in front of screens and more time outside would be difficult enough. But with a decrepit support vehicle housing two dogs that despised each other, a good friend who left after five months, a lot of peanut butter, and a hope to inspire thousands of students, Colin Harris decided to start this journey by running 7600 kilometres, the equivalent of 181 marathons, across Canada. And to ensure this was a truly Canadian venture, he started in the bleak and snowy month of January. Take Me Outside is Colin's story of spending nine months running from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Victoria, British Columbia, visiting over 80 schools along the way to engage with 20,000 students about the importance of spending time outside learning, playing, and exploring in the Canadian landscape. With one of the biggest and best backyards in the world, people across Canada are spending the vast majority of their time inside. Yet, our identity as Canadians has always been rooted in our relationship with the outdoors. This wildly entertaining book not only recounts what it's like to run across the world's second-largest country but also implores readers of all ages to reignite their connection with the natural world.

Playing and Learning Outdoors shows early years practitioners how to get the very best from outdoor playing and learning for the enjoyment, health and education of all children from ages three to five years. Fully updated to reflect the current status and understandings regarding outdoor provision within early childhood education frameworks, this new edition will allow practitioners to develop rich and stimulating outdoor play provision in Early Years settings and enable them to feel confident to offer wonderful play experiences outdoors. Playing and Learning Outdoors offers practitioners achievable advice and support, based on approaches which are appropriate and effective for young children’s all-round well-being and development. This invaluable resource also includes practical advice on: movement and physical play playing with sand, natural materials and water plants, living things and growing construction, creative and imaginative play. This second edition also includes a brand new chapter on ‘Providing experiences beyond the garden walls’ which will urge practitioners to harness the huge potential contained in the locality (physical world) and local community (human world) around the early years setting’s own boundaries. Filled with advice and support, this lively, inspiring and accessible book will help practitioners to develop a truly practical and enjoyable approach to learning through play outdoors for all children aged from 3 to 7.

This Open Access book examines children’s participation in dialectical reciprocity with place-based institutional practices by presenting empirical research from Australia, Brazil, China, Poland, Norway and Wales. Underpinned by cultural-historical theory, the analysis reveals how outdoors and nature form unique conditions for children's play, formal and informal learning and cultural formation. The analysis also surfaces how inequalities exist in societies and communities, which often limit and constrain families' and children's access to and participation in outdoor spaces and nature. The findings highlight how institutional practices are shaped by pedagogical content, teachers' training, institutional regulations and societal perceptions of nature, children and suitable, sustainable education for young children. Due to crises, such as climate change and the recent pandemic, specific focus on the outdoors and nature in cultural formation is timely for the cultural-historical theoretical tradition. In doing so, the book provides empirical and theoretical support for policy makers, researchers, educators and families to enhance, increase and sustain outdoor and nature education.

It is now officially acknowledged that outdoor play is extremely important for young children's development and that a few old bikes and a climbing frame just will not do. This book shows how to develop an outdoor learning environment properly for young children and how adult supporters should behave in this space. This book offers examples of good outdoor practice in a range of early years settings. Both practical and theoretical aspects of learning outdoors are covered, tracking a shared enthusiasm for outdoor play amongst practitioners, children and parents. The book shows how the authors set about solving common problems encountered in the outdoor area, and, using photographs, plans and written observations, the book shows how stimulating outdoor learning environments can be created.

In this book we take the reader on a journey through the various curriculum reforms that have emerged in the USA around the idea of conducting education outdoors – through initiatives such as nature-study, camping education, adventure education, environmental education, experiential education and place based education. This is a historical journey with an underlying message for educators, one we are able to illuminate through the educational theories of John Dewey. Central to this message is a deeper understanding of human experience as both aesthetic and reflective, leading to a more coherent comprehension of not just outdoor education, but of education itself. Whether we knew it or not, all of us interested in the field of education have been waiting for this book. John Dewey and Education Outdoors is the tool we need to help understand and explain experiential education in general and outdoor education in particular. This is an expertly researched and written account of how and why outdoor education has developed, and been such a vital feature in exemplary educational practices. Because of this work I will no longer have to stumble through some inadequate explanation of the history and philosophy of outdoor education, I can now simply point to this book and suggest that everyone read it. —Dr. Dan Garvey, President Emeritus, Prescott College, Former President and Executive Director, Association for Experiential Education. John Dewey and Education Outdoors is a well-researched book that explores the tenets of Dewey within the contexts of progressive reforms in education. The authors provide detailed explanations of Dewey’s thoughts on education while exploring the historical intersections with outdoor education, camping, and environmental education. While situated within a historical perspective, this book provides insights relevant for today’s discussions on new educational reform possibilities, learning focused on the whole child that includes out-of-school time experiences such as camp, and the development of 21st century skills needed to navigate our global society. —Dr. Deb Bialeschki, Director of Research, American Camp Association.

Fully updated to reflect the current status and understandings regarding outdoor provision within early childhood education frameworks across the UK, this new edition shows early years practitioners how to get the very best from outdoor play and learning for the enjoyment, health and education of young children up to age seven. This invaluable resource gives sound practical guidance for providing: play with water, sand and other natural materials; experiences with plants, growing and living things; movement and physical play; construction, imaginative and creative play; and explorations into the locality and community just beyond your garden. This full-colour third edition has been further developed to act as a comprehensive source book of relevant materials, books and resources supporting the core ingredients of high-quality outdoor provision, while each chapter also includes extensive collections of children’s picture books relating to the themes within each chapter. Playing and Learning Outdoors has become the essential practical guide to excellence in outdoor provision and pedagogy for all early years services. This lively, inspiring and accessible book will help every educator to develop truly successful and satisfying approach to learning through play outdoors for every child.

A coordinated and comprehensive volume of international research on this subject edited by members of the well-established European Early Childhood Education Research Association Outdoor Play and Learning SIG (OPAL).