*This is a collaborative post
There is a particular day from my childhood that always sticks in my mind. It was a warm sunny morning and we were in the middle of a science lesson in year 5 when our teacher (Mr Tulip) announced that today, we were all going to take our lesson outside. We were all very excited as we packed up our things and moved into our playground. That morning, I remember learning about the differences between deciduous and non-deciduous trees whilst sitting on the grass with my friends. I can really picture the image in my head of the sun streaming through the leaves from the tree above us. That was 22 years ago now (yikes) and it's crazy that I can still remember that experience like it was yesterday. This is why I want to get behind Outdoor Classroom Day this month. I truly believe that learning outdoors has significant benefits and beats sitting in a traditional classroom and I am certain that learning outside really engaged me as a child and imprinted this memory on my brain forever.
My own children are super lucky and they have 3 outdoor classroom spaces in their school. They have a wooden gazebo type structure on their school field where they can share learning experiences, they have a story telling chair in their courtyard where they can listen to stories and they have their own school vegetable patch where children in year 2 learn how to grow and tend to vegetables. My children are always excited to tell me about their day if they have spent any of it learning outdoors and learning in an outside space obviously has a strong impact on them.
My own children are super lucky and they have 3 outdoor classroom spaces in their school. They have a wooden gazebo type structure on their school field where they can share learning experiences, they have a story telling chair in their courtyard where they can listen to stories and they have their own school vegetable patch where children in year 2 learn how to grow and tend to vegetables. My children are always excited to tell me about their day if they have spent any of it learning outdoors and learning in an outside space obviously has a strong impact on them.
Outdoor Classroom Day takes place on Thursday 18th May this year and parents and teachers are encouraged to sign up here (it's free). You'll gain access to resources, materials, print-outs and lesson ideas plus there's the opportunity to share your experiences and read about others.
Did you know that 1 in 10 children never play outside and 90% of a child's life is now spent indoors? I am shocked by this and think that Outdoor Classroom Day is a fantastic way for us all to start improving this statistic.
8 Ideas for Outdoor Classroom Day 2017
You'll find a fantastic range of resources over on the Outdoor Classroom Day website and I am sharing a few of our favourite outdoor learning experiences that we've enjoyed at home recently:
1 - Create or visit a sensory garden
2 - Take part in a scavenger hunt or treasure trail
3 - Visit and sketch an outdoor art sculpture
4 - Make music outside
5 - Make and fly a kite
6 - Follow an insect and describe it's movement
7 - Use all of your senses and write a poem about what you can see, hear, touch and smell
8 - Plant a seed, care for it and watch it grow
Outdoor learning is engaging, gives children a chance to connect with nature and teaches critical life skills and it's also lots of fun. What are you waiting for? Sign up to Outdoor Classroom Day here.
I really feel that these are the kind of days we remember from our school years, and I totally support the idea of Outdoor Classroom Days! Get them outside and stimulated!
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree x
DeleteThose statistics really shocked me. I think outdoor play is so valuable for children and I feel that a lot of my learning about the world happened outside of an indoor classroom environment. Rosie x
ReplyDeleteThey shocked me too! Let's hope Outdoor Classroom Day helps in the fight to reverse those stats x
DeleteLove this post! We try to encourage the kids to go out as much as possible and even with the Brownies if the weather is nice we will take our activities or change it to be a sports day night! The girls' school is having their nature pond revamped as the gardens have been put through a lot with a recent extension! Looking forward to seeing that and hearing about what they have learnt in the garden.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds great - I'll have to tell our new school! It is a 'Forest School' so they do spend lots of time outdoors, but why not join in and share experiences with others?
ReplyDelete