Eden Project

How to get kids outside: teacher training course on outdoor learning activities

Remember the days when children were let loose in the outdoors to just be young and carefree? Some of our fondest memories are made outside, building dens, foraging, making nature trails, and collecting grass stains.

Here at Eden, we believe that for children to be happy, healthy and fulfilled it’s essential they connect with the natural world they live in. Together with Cornwall Learning, we’re offering a one-day teacher training course on 17 November, to help Early Years staff encourage their class to play and learn outside.

The session will be led by Early Years specialist Judith Bower and the Eden Project’s Play Project Co-ordinator Phil Waters, and will help develop participants’ visions for getting students outside. Our teacher training will provide ideas for learning, playing and interacting in outdoor spaces in autumn and winter through a mixture of theory and practical hands-on workshops.

Five reasons to encourage children to learn outside

1. To keep them fit: Outdoor environments provide space for children to run around and make lots of noise. They provide freedom for discovery and discussion, whole body movement and multi-sensory immersion. Natural environments help in the development of balance, strength, spatial awareness and co-ordination.
2. To help them stay balanced: How and where children play is considered to be a very important factor in healthy brain development. Studies have shown that outdoor activities significantly help levels of concentration and attention span.
3. To encourage team work: Playing outside creates an environment for communication and teamwork. Building dens, hide and seek, climbing trees, conkers – outside, children have the opportunity to build friendships and play in community.
4. To help them get creative: The natural environment is an invitation to run, jump, climb and explore. The outdoors encourages inquisitiveness and provides a child’s imagination with the freedom it needs to develop and grow.
5. To get them thinking green: If children are shown the endless possibilities of the world around them, if they are taught to understand and value nature, they will learn how important it is to protect it now and into the future.

The course will take place on 17 November 2011 at the Eden Project, St Austell. For more information visit our website, or book online.

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Category:

• Education

Tags:

Cornwall, kids, Play