Outdoor Play

The perfect companion book to Play the Forest School Way, this activity and learning guide offers more seasonal games, crafts, and skills to encourage kids to get outdoors come rain, shine, or snow The Forest School ethos of nature-based play and learning encourages children to develop confidence, self-esteem, and emotional intelligence—and it’s exactly what’s needed in an era when childhood problems such as obesity and anxiety are on the rise. Building on the success of the bestselling Play the Forest School Way, here is a brilliant selection of brand-new games, crafts, and activities to get kids developing new skills and exploring the natural world all year round. Structured around the four seasons of the year, each chapter is full of step-by-step games and activities that harmonize with the weather and seasonal nature patterns, including nods to seasonal festivals such as Easter and Christmas. At Forest School, children return to the same location again and again, building a lasting connection with a specific part of the natural world. Each of the four seasonal chapters in A Year of Forest School includes a description of an extended session (combining active and quieter activities, plus an idea for foraging/cooking), capturing this key part of Forest School play and providing iinspiration for parties, themed learning days, and outdoor adventures. Woven throughout are stories from the authors’ own Forest School classes, as they make a passionate case for the importance of ensuring children’s access to nature and the incredible benefits they will gain from being outside, even in the heart of a city.

Take Your Toddler's Education Outside There's almost nothing better for toddlers than outdoor play. It promotes creativity, strengthens muscles, enhances social and emotional development, and most importantly, it makes learning fun. So grab The Outdoor Toddler Activity Book, take your toddler outside, and watch the joy of learning in the fresh air. Spring or winter, rain or shine--these simple-to-setup toddler activities are designed to make the most of being outdoors no matter what the season or weather. And with chapters devoted to the type of outdoor activity, you can let your toddler be as messy, loud, or active as they want. Best of all, skill-building icons show what each activity teaches your little one so you can help guide their growth. The Outdoor Toddler Activity Book includes: TONS OF WAYS TO PLAY--From "Make it Messy!" to "Embrace Nature," discover 5 categories of outdoor fun featuring more than 100 educational toddler activities. ACTIVITIES FOR EVERY SEASON, ANY WEATHER--Keep going year-round with toddler activities designed for more than just sunny spring days. A GUIDE TO TODDLER DEVELOPMENT--Developmental milestones help you determine your toddler's level of readiness for each activity. Skill-building icons tell you what your toddler is learning. Get your toddler ready for preschool and beyond with these fun and educational outdoor toddler activities.

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).

"Angela Hanscom is a powerful voice for balance." —Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods In this important book, a pediatric occupational therapist and founder of TimberNook shows how outdoor play and unstructured freedom of movement are vital for children’s cognitive development and growth, and offers tons of fun, engaging ways to help ensure that kids grow into healthy, balanced, and resilient adults. Today’s kids have adopted sedentary lifestyles filled with television, video games, and computer screens. But more and more, studies show that children need “rough and tumble” outdoor play in order to develop their sensory, motor, and executive functions. Disturbingly, a lack of movement has been shown to lead to a number of health and cognitive difficulties, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), emotion regulation and sensory processing issues, and aggressiveness at school recess break. So, how can you ensure your child is fully engaging their body, mind, and all of their senses? Using the same philosophy that lies at the heart of her popular TimberNook program—that nature is the ultimate sensory experience, and that psychological and physical health improves for children when they spend time outside on a regular basis—author Angela Hanscom offers several strategies to help your child thrive, even if you live in an urban environment. Today it is rare to find children rolling down hills, climbing trees, or spinning in circles just for fun. We’ve taken away merry-go-rounds, shortened the length of swings, and done away with teeter-totters to keep children safe. Children have fewer opportunities for unstructured outdoor play than ever before, and recess times at school are shrinking due to demanding educational environments. With this book, you’ll discover little things you can do anytime, anywhere to help your kids achieve the movement they need to be happy and healthy in mind, body, and spirit.

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.

This book offers a description of the rich and complex world of pretend play in one play yard.

Ideal reference book of activities for anyone wanting to develop children's learning outdoors. "Play underpins all development and learning in young children" Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2008, page 7). Learning through play is at the heart of the EYFS, and this series aims to give the practitioner as many play ideas as possible to support children's learning.

Children benefit hugely from regular, frequent and progressive outdoor play, and it should therefore be an integral part of their early education. This brand new addition to the 100 ideas series offers early years practitioners easy-to-implement outdoor play activities and practical advice on managing and evaluating your provision. Dip in and out of the ideas which range in complexity, from 'getting started' activities for practitioners who are inexperienced or less confident about outdoor play, to more challenging strategies for those who have used Forest School ideas. Julie Mountain's wealth of knowledge and abundance of creativity and enthusiasm shines through with activities involving mark making, storytelling, communicating, exploration, maths and mud! In addition, there are guest ideas from outdoor play experts Kierna Corr, Felicity Robinson, Lesley Romanoff, Juliet Robertson, Lily Horseman and Mary Jackson and an extensive further reading section. The ideas in this book will inspire you to get outside and make the most of your outdoor space however big or small it is and whatever the weather decides to throw at you! INCLUDES Teaching tips - Taking it further ideas - Ideas for involving parents - Bonus ideas