Why learning in the outdoors should be a key experience in all schools « Outdoor Nation. Andy Robinson CEO of the Institute for Outdoor Learning writes about the importance of outdoor learning.
The Department for Education is currently reviewing the National Curriculum seeking to improve the core skills and knowledge amongst school age children. Given the innovative approach to incorporating learning for sustainability and the use of the outdoors that is being developed by the Scottish Government the limited reference to these issues in the current DfE proposal is disappointing. If you’re interested in how the Scottish Government is integrating the outdoors into teaching see their helpful guidance to teachers. Essentially this guidance points to outdoor learning as a vehicle for many subject areas, rather than a discipline within the PE or Geography curriculum. ‘All aspects of the curriculum can be explored outside. Children walking on the Hidden Bridge at Stackpole, Pembrokeshire.
Child taking a close look at wildlife in the garden at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, Cheshire. Kids. In 2011, we wrote about the newly opened Shanghai Museum of Glass (SHMOG) designed by Coordination Asia’s founder and CEO, Tilman Thürmer.
More recently, Thürmer’s team completed the Kids’ Museum of Glass located in the same Shanghai-based complex and opened a few days ago. Cool and edgy, quite literally, the Kids’ Museum has none of the typical cute and cuddly kiddie features found in spaces dedicated to children. Instead, the target audience, kids aged 4-10, enter an environment of glass, particle board and metal realized in a color scheme of black and white sparsely livened up with lemon yellow, saturated pink and cool blue.
The museum is designed to teach kids the basics of glass in a playful and fun way. The museum mascots, Bobo and Lili, guide children in their glassy hometown through various features, including The Beach, The Circus and The Factory. Everything is designed to be touched and interacted with. Learning Landscapes Initiative Denver, CO - Denver Public Schools. DPS Learning Landscapes. UPS_Learning_Landscape_portfolio.
Green Schoolyard Network. Urban Play Studio. Stream Design, LLC- Landscape Architecture. Natural Playscapes: Rusty Keeler: 9780942702477: Amazon.com. Natural Learning: The Life History of an Environmental Schoolyard: Robin C. Moore,Herbert H. Wong: 9780944661246: Amazon.com.
Learning Landscape Network. Imagination Playground - Homepage. Nature Explore - Connecting Children With Nature. Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms: Designing and Implementing Child-Centered Learning Environments : Redleaf Press. Review: The July 2012 issue of "California Bookwatch" - July 1, 2012 Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms provides early childhood education collections with a fine guide loaded with creative ideas and inspirations for involving children in outdoor classrooms.
It shows how to collaborate with other teachers and families to make the outdoor classroom a reality, and is packed with guidance to help plan and create an outdoor learning program that offers an extension of indoor classroom objectives, and comes loaded with color photos, summaries, keys to setting priorities and defining the outdoor classroom, and much more. A 'must' for any early childhood education collection! Review: Book News Inc. - June 1, 2012 For early childhood educators, Nelson, who has developed a course on outdoor classrooms, describes how to plan, design, and create an outdoor learning program that is a key element in supporting early childhood development.
Forest kindergarten. A forest kindergarten is a type of preschool education for children between the ages of three and six that is held almost exclusively outdoors.
Whatever the weather, children are encouraged to play, explore and learn in a forest or natural environment. The adult supervision is meant to assist rather than lead. It is also known as Waldkindergarten (in German), outdoor nursery, nature kindergarten, or nature preschool. Activities[edit] A forest kindergarten can be described as a kindergarten "without a ceiling or walls". Each forest kindergarten is different, partly because the organisations are independently minded. Location and organisation[edit] Forest kindergartens operate mainly in woodland, although some other sites can be equally inspiring, for example beaches and meadows.
Children are encouraged to dress for the weather, with waterproof clothes and warm layers, according to the climate. History[edit] In rural areas, and historical times, access to nature has not been a problem.