A lot of children are suffering from something called “nature-deficit disorder”, meaning they simply do not get enough time to be outdoors and explore the miracles of nature. In our society, there is a significant lack of outdoor activities and exploration by young children. Nature provides children with countless meaningful experiences that help them to establish ideas and inquiries regarding the world around them. Additionally, being outside gives young children a chance to develop their gross motor skills, along with different parts of their bodies that would otherwise be left stagnant. Providing children with time to play outside takes away the stressors of the classroom. There is less stress because there is less pressure to know and learn
As a child going outside was something that excited you. The freedom of running through the grass or climbing the trees was something that always excited you. As times change and technology improves going outside is not a happy thought anymore. In John Stilgoe’s Outside Lies Magic and Rachel Carson’s The Sense of Wonder, they both discuss the feelings you get while going outside and the importance why we should go outside. Though both have different reasons why we should both books are relevant to today.
Promoting fun, learning and the wonder of childhood by showcasing the natural connection of playing and learning in programs, events and environments and influencing community development, business practices and educational systems
The main point of this book it to express the importance of outdoor play and
Gopink displayed that the most effective way to foster and learn about the physical world is by playing with everyday objects. For instance, the old standbys, cardboard, sand, and mixing bowls. Whereas, dolls costumes, and toy dishes reinforce their pretend play and makes them learn about social world. According to Gopnik, the most important thing is when children were surrounded by relatives and genuine teachers who pay attention to children’s interest and help them to play. He revealed that outdoor play should not be neglected. It is not a place to practice physical exercise. He added “children need opportunities to explore places to investigate, stairs to climb and trees to hide behind,” I learned that children have constant desire to discover and explore new things that existed in nature. I learned through Gopnik’s final message for preschool teachers and as he stated “Preschool from evolutionary point of view, re extended period of immaturity in the human life span.” However, children’s exploration and play broadens their awareness and turns them into adults who are flexible and sophisticated thinkers from Gopnik’s point of
An Article by Dr. Leong and Dr. Bodrova (2016) stated that play is beneficial to children’s learning especially when it reaches a certain degree of complexity. When they engage in play activities most of their early years, they learn to delay gratification and to prioritize their goals and actions. They also learn to consider the perspectives and needs of other people and to represent things significantly to regulate their behavior and actions in a cautious, intentional way.
The Pre-K and Kindergarten class studied habitats of various animals and insects. They were given examples and tough how the animals made their homes. The students built a bird house as their project and as something to take home to remind them of what they learned. Finally they went on a field trip to Legoland where they explored and built “habitats” for their families and the Lego people. The first and second grade class learned about marine life and the ocean. They built shoe box dioramas of coral reefs and created art projects depicting sea life as well as learning new facts about the ocean. The students got to go to the Aquarium for their field trip. Finally the third and fourth graders studied the rain forests and their ecosystems. The students built rainforest models and terrariums along with small group discussions on different ideas human intervention and conservation. They finished their week at the zoo where they studied different rainforest inhabitants in
Preschoolers are energetic. When indoors they are expected to use walking feet and indoor voices. Being outdoors is for running, exerting physical exercise, experiencing with natural objects, and socializing. In the middle of the outdoor environment would be a large climbing structure with slides, tunnels, low monkey bars, rock wall with a rope, stationary cycle, boogie board for balancing. Over the climbing structure would be a roof because on hot days the play structure could become too hot and the children may not want to use the climbing structure for this reason. The purpose of the climbing structure is to learn cooperation, negotiating, hand eye coordination and large muscle movement (rock wall, ladder, monkey bars). The stationary cycle develops coordination. The boogie boards helps with balancing and if more than one child is one the boogie board they must use team work to balance on the boogie board together. The tunnel will allow children to relax feel like or feel like they can go in a tunnel when they want some privacy. In this area their stairs and a ramp with braille writing. Most important the climbing structure is just plain fun. There is so much to do on the climbing structure.
If the child goes into the garden for example they can have the freedom and choice too run around whereas inside when during quieter times they cant. So it gives them the opportunity to do things they cant do during the quiet sessions so they can begin to learn different rules for physical and quiet periods and things they can and cant do for both. Children also need to exercise their muscles and burn off calories. On the other hand, they also need quiet periods too wind down for meal times, activity times or bed times etc. Too relax and calm them down. Also so when doing activities they can concentrate on some learning time for example drawing, or writing or discussing things for example talking about shapes or numbers. So effectively they have time too play physically as they wish and also sit quietly and focus on something potentially educational for example or play on a different level to as they would outside or when doing something more
Allowing children to regularly explore and experience nature can lead to positive health benefits including lowering the risk of childhood obesity, reducing allergies, and improving mental health. Through nature children experience more physical activity than indoor entertainment which can combat childhood obesity. While in nature a child’s body can adapt to allergies and eventually become immune. Lastly nature can help to improve a child’s overall mental health. Unfortunately interactions with nature have decreased substantially for children when compared to the time their parents spent with nature during their childhood years. This decline is caused by factors such as parental anxiety, and fast paced lifestyles. Despite the factors that caused the decline in children’s experiences with nature there are ways that parents and caregivers can increase nature experience and exploration for their children, allowing them to reap all the benefits nature provides.
Spending time outside raises levels of Vitamin D, helping protect children from future bone problems, heart disease, diabetes and other health issues. Families are eating more processed, high-calorie foods due to their busy schedules which makes a family sit-down meal a rare event. These changes have led to an epidemic of childhood obesity, which presents serious health threats for children, including heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems. In the past decade, the benefits of connecting to nature have been well documented in numerous scientific research studies and publications. Collectively, this body of research shows that children’s social, psychological, academic and physical health is positively impacted when they have daily contact with nature. The more healthy you are, the less stress you'll
Thinking back on my childhood, I first remember all the times I played outside in my backyard. I would pretend to dig up dinosaur bones or create imaginary realms of ancient lands; there I would perform diplomatic services for the people in need. I was usually alone, and those are some of my fondest memories. When I first decided to become a teacher and thought about what is important to my philosophy on how children learn, I immediately knew I was a strong believer in play. Although, many decision makers such as legislators and school district leaders believe in more academic types of learning styles, my paper will discuss why play is so powerful and important to children.
The topic I am going to being doing for my project at my placement at Camperdown nursery is the benefits of outdoor play. There are seven benefits of outdoor play for children, they are learning, creativity, health, social skills, wellbeing and independence. Outdoor play encourages children to go outside and get fresh air and burn off some energy, it can improve their physical development. This relates to my placement as the children get the opportunity to go outside and run about as much as possible on a daily basis.
Today I am going to talk about the importance of play as a vehicle for young children’s learning and development in the early years of primary school.
In my opinion the outdoor area in any setting is often the childrens’ favourite place to be, as all the natural features engage children’s senses and provide opportunities for hands on learning. By letting children play with sticks, climb trees and roll around on the ground children develop physically and mentally. This is an area where there is often greater freedom and scope to investigate their surroundings and whilst there is exploration there is also very good opportunity to develop gross motor skills through physical activity. Such activities also spark their imaginations (Cooper, a
To me, outdoor places means forgetting about everything else and feeling that nothing else matters, realizing the beauty that is around us. In Grimwood’s (2016) paper, he stated that moms found that their kids started to get “physically healthier, mentally healthier, calmer, happier, grounded…and moving through challenges a little bit more,” (p.11). Even though this is moms talking about their children, I can relate, being in a certain place outside can make me happier, feel healthier after some time and forget about issues for a time being while helping me get through them. Outdoor recreation and outdoor places help shape my understanding of self and my relationships with others by calming me down and remembering there is more to life. Grimwood (2016) said that moms saw their kids being calmer, and that it changed their mental and physical state of health, knowing this just encourages me to do so too. While walking in the forest by my house, I would feel calmer and get that feeling of escaping from school. Participating in the experience simulations has helped my mental health to get that break and reconnect to