Learning Together Joyfully: Early Years Outdoor Play
If you are a parent, grandparent or educator, busy balancing work commitments, family life, and maintaining your sanity during Spring Break – read on! Here you will find suggestions for outdoor play activities, appropriate for family members or for educators when school resumes. All are designed to encourage you to engage and interact with your children. If you have time you can even reflect on the “why’s” behind these ideas. This one stop newsletter shares up-to-the-minute tips for you and your family to explore together (virtual or real) around B.C.’s lower mainland. All this and more in this bi-weekly post for you to consider as you play, learn and grow together!
1. Read together 📚
No doubt you have heard this before but here goes again: One of the most important activities you can do with your children is to read and enjoy books together daily. The following titles, including links of where to access them, encourage exploration of the outdoors and all it has to offer.
- Read the online National Geographic Explorer Magazine about Dragonflies, Water and Snails.
o https://explorer-mag.nationalgeographic.org/scout_march_2021/voyager
- Here are titles of good outdoor activity books to consider:
o Mud Kitchen Crafts by Sophie Pickles
o Adventure Handbook by Gav Graystone and Shell Graystone
o Flashlight by Lizi Boydo
- And another title which you might consider:
o Watch it Grow by Barbara Reid http://www.scholastic.ca/books/view/watch-it-grow-backyard-life-cycles
- Of course, rather than purchasing, you can always locate these books at your local public or school library.
2. Create together: Puzzles, Crafts, Singing, Drawing and Constructing 🧩
Young children love to build, draw, sing, construct and create – especially when they can share their enjoyment of these activities with others.
- Enjoy a walk and collect different sizes and shapes of rocks. Click the link and find a follow-up game your child may enjoy.
o https://littlepinelearners.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Rock-Matching-Game-11.png
- Draw or construct a map of the local park. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/maps/maps-and-models/.
- Sing about what to observe on a Nature Walk.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suQ69K5CdFo
- After watching the link of a monarch butterfly hatch from a cocoon, encourage your child to draw the life cycle.
- Have you ever heard of “Scrapstore PlayPods” that focus on loose parts? Have a look at a very successful approach to encourage cooperative outdoor play.
o https://youtu.be/nqi1KyJJeKg
3. Explore together – 🗺
If you are looking for activities to manage your children’s stress, and honestly who isn’t these days, consider engaging in some of the following outdoor physical activities such as bicycling, skiing, hiking, walking or running in the park.
- Go on a hike and Spy on the Squirrels. https://rangerrick.org/crafts_activities/spy-on-squirrels/
- Enjoy suspended walkways and tree platforms high above the forest floor at the UBC Canopy walk. Greenheart TreeWalk – UBC Botanical Garden
- Arrange for your child to explore museums, parks, farms, or even our local aquatic animals or farm animals https://maplewoodfarm.bc.ca/
- Here are some great hikes around Vancouver for young children.
o https://www.insidevancouver.ca/2019/07/25/best-vancouver-area-hikes-for-kids/
o https://www.vancouvermom.ca/kid-friendly-vancouver-2/ten-free-super-cheap-outdoor-activities-kids/
o Geocaching can be a fun family activity as you follow directions and look for a treasure hidden in the outdoors near you. Here is a guide to start you on your
Geocaching adventure.• https://www.insidevancouver.ca/2020/11/09/how-to-try-geocaching-in-vancouver/
4. Engage and Interact: 👭
Hear what the experts have to say about outdoor play. What are the benefits? What does it look like? Local UBC researcher, Dr. Mariana Brisonni shares with parents, care-givers and daycare early childhood educators great information about joyful outdoor play.
- https://outsideplay.ca/.
- Wondering about risky play and your role? Click here: https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/risky-play-for-children-why-we-should-let-kids-go-outside-and-then-get-out
5. Reflect: Thoughts of the Day about Outdoor Play and Learning 💭
Children more than ever, need opportunities to be in their bodies in the world – jumping rope, bicycling, stream hopping, and fort building. It’s this engagement between limbs of the body and bones of the earth where true balance and centeredness emerge. David Sobel
- Keep in mind to dress children appropriately – playing outdoors could and should be messy. Having opportunities to freely play outside in the rain or the dirt or splash in mud puddles or brandish sticks as imaginary swords or observe tadpoles in the ditches are all joyful ways for children to learn.
- Don’t forget – when children play outside, they have opportunities to problem-solve, self-explore, make decisions, understand number relationships, observe and create structures, develop complex vocabulary, engage in healthy living, understand cause and effect, create, and think imaginatively. Don’t wait – get started with some of the ideas you just read about!
Lastly, to all Moms doing the best they can: if out of frustration you banished one of your children to the front yard and one to the back yard! Just remember – it was outdoors, there was lots to do and good for everyone’s health – especially yours!