Outdoor Play Advocacy

Playing outdoors is more than just fun. Playing awakens creativity in a significant and constant way and stimulates different types of learning. Even if it looks like a simple game, there are skills developed with each stimulus. Playing outdoors is more than connecting with nature, it's experiencing everything the world has to offer, including the risks it can bring. According to Dietze and Kashin (2019), “the outdoor environment offers children real-life experiences that include different sounds, smells, ideas, thoughts and ways of knowing that cannot be replicated indoors and especially not through their children's screen experiences” (p. 6).

Nowadays, children and adolescents are recognized as holders of fundamental rights and guarantees that must be ensured and exercised. However, this was not always the case, due to a long historical journey driven by movements and national and international legal frameworks, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child officially approved by the United Nations in 1989. Two years later, in 1991, Canada ratified it. Convention that commits to protect and strengthen the rights of children.

Non-discrimination, the best interest of the child, the right to life, survival and development and the right to be heard and taken seriously are the general principles that govern it. The Convention establishes these rights in 54 articles form which I highlight three articles that I consider important:

1.     Article 12: You have the right to express your opinion and adults to listen and take it seriously.

Paying attention to the child, listening to them, and respecting them is part of the educator's routine each child is unique, and their individuality must be respected. Respecting individuality consists of recognizing its originality, particularity, and peculiarity. Valuing children's preferences, believing in their potential and trusting their abilities help to improve skills that will make them competent in society. According to Makovichuk et al. (2014), “Alberta’s Early Learning and Care Framework views the child as a mighty learner and citizen—strong, resourceful, and capable. This image affirms each child’s right to be listened to, to be treated with respect, and to participate in daily decisions that affect him or her” (p. 39).

We can consider outdoor play as any ludic activity where the child is the protagonist, creating their own games and deciding how, where and with whom to play. In addition to exploring, challenging your limits, promoting social skills, motor development and physical activity in general. By allowing children to play outside, we are giving them the opportunity to make their own decisions and express themselves in different ways. It is up to adults (parents, caregivers, or educators) to observe, listen, understand, and respect what each child has to say.

 

2.     Article 29: Your education should help you to use and develop your talents and abilities. It should also help you learn to live in peace, protect the environment and respect other people.

Playing outdoors puts us in direct contact with nature, walking through the streets of the neighbourhood where we live, observing nature or the lack of it, cultivating a vegetable garden inside the day care center, and learning to respect and care for the environment where we live. The living environment is directly linked to playing outdoors. According to Pelo (2016), “Our job as teachers is to help children to intertwine their identities with the place where they live, drawing their attention to the air, the sky, the cracks in the sidewalk where the earth erupts from its cement cage”.

The use of natural materials such as stones, leaves, twigs, sand, or bark as loose parts connects children even more with the environment, in addition to helping in child development. According to Dietze and Kashin (2019), “Loose parts provide children with many opportunities to play, learn and develop skills and competencies” (p. 86). Working cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal skills. The plays allow children to manipulate and use the material in different ways, giving the child the power of choice, in addition to providing freedom in the use of the pieces, stimulating creativity, imagination, communication, critical thinking, collaboration, mathematics, science, language and physical development. According to Dinkel et al. (2019), “Unstructured outdoor play provides children opportunities to create their own sensory experiences in various play environments, such as playing in a sandbox or running in the grass” (p. 258).

Daily contact with nature makes the child recognize himself as an integral part of the environment, thus learning to respect and care for the environment in which he lives.

3.     Article 31: You have the right to play and rest.

Playing is serious business. It is so important that it should have priority in children's lives. Playing is fundamental in childhood because it is one of the expressive languages of human beings. Provides communication, discovery of the world, socialization, and integral development. Having the opportunity to experience outdoor games further enriches the child's growth and development, learning becomes more pleasurable and, therefore, more effective. According to Parsons and Traunter (2020), “Research indicates that learning outdoors enables children to experience complex and unique experiences that provide a range of opportunities, including physical challenges, opportunities for exploration, constructive play and social and dramatic play” (p. 700).

Just as rest is important, after a day of play children need rest, and sleep. Sleeping it is one of the vital functions of the human body. It is at these times that the brain performs important functions for its development and repair, brain cell residues are eliminated, everything that happened to the child during the day is reviewed, what was learned during the day, memories are strengthened and consolidated. Playing outside is no longer just the time children go outdoors to release pent-up energy after spending hours in a classroom. But these are moments where children could develop, create, explore, and learn. It is up to the educator, caregivers, and family members to provide moments and materials so that the child can have fun and learn. After all, learning while playing will always be easier and more pleasurable.

 

References

Dietze, B., & Kashin, D. (2019). Outdoor and nature play in early childhoodeducation. Pearson Canada Inc. p. 6 & 86

 

Dinkel, D., Snyder, K., Patterson, T., Warehime, S., Kuhn, M., & Wisneski, D. (2019). An exploration of infant and toddler unstructured outdoor play. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 27(2), 257–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2019.1579550

 

Makovichuk, L., Hewes, J., Lirette, P., & Thomas, N. (2014). Flight: Alberta’s Early Learning and Care Framework. Retrieved from https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/6238b139a5a3027d035ca6a3/6243589f979c467c82a2f63d_Flight%20Framework%20Document%20English.pdf p. 39

 

Parsons, K. J., & Traunter, J. (2020). Muddy knees and muddy needs: parents perceptions of outdoor learning. Children's Geographies, 18(6), 699–711. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2019.1694637

 

Pelo, A. (2016, December 19). Clearing - A Pedagogy for Ecology. Retrieved from Journal or Environmental Education in the Cascadian Bioregion : http://clearingmagazine.org/archives/13167