Outdoor Classroom
Outdoor Classroom Exploration
Explorers Room/ Spring 2016
What can children learn from outdoor exploration? How does playing in nature help with their understanding of the world around them?
The Significance of the Outdoor Classroom
Learning about the natural world
What do children observe beyond the trees?
Kitchen Play: Exploration of mud/water properties
Observing:
I noticed children transferring pebbles and rocks into the bowls found in the mud kitchen on a daily basis. The children also utilizes tools such as spoons, shovels and hands to scoop/stir/dump water and pebbles either on the ground or the other available bowl.
Thoughts:
Are they observing the properties of water? Maybe the anticipation of the motion an object makes as it comes in contact with the water or the sound of the object as it clangs against the bowl? Or perhaps they are focused on “creating” some type of concoction, based on a previous experience in the kitchen with family as the art of cooking was taking place?
Children have been observing textures with soil and sand through....Touch, sound & taste...
What do we learn from the outdoor classroom vs. the indoor classroom? What can be discovered?