The renowned outdoor play expert kicked off the two-day event by speaking about the true nature of outdoor play and the key principles underpinning it, and why it is so important to children’s learning and development.
Professor White said, ‘The outdoors is the child’s domain more than the indoors is…The natural world, being outdoors in sunlight and big sky… that world looks after children.’
She added, ‘We must have the attitude that being outdoors is a right for young children.’
She also stressed that there was a difference between indoor and outdoor play and practitioners should look at ‘what it is that the indoors cannot offer children.’
Twenty years ago, she said the outdoors was seen as a place for children ‘to run off steam’. It was also often the case that indoor resources such as ‘table, papers and pens’ were taken outside, but it was now recognised that there are many different ways of mark-making in the outdoors. ‘[Outdoors is] a totally different environment and that’s why it matters so much,’ she said.
Children have ‘a biological drive [to want] to know about the outdoors’ and a desire to learn about everyday nature, she said, setting out her natural play principles and values.
They need access to 'everyday nature', such as sticks and puddles.
Children also need 'authentic experiences' and 'must have direct hands-on experiential learning', for example digging and playing with water outdoors, because they 'learn from causing things to happen'.
Professor White also urged practitioners to ‘slow right down’, which she said being outdoors helps to do, engage in ‘child-paced learning’ and encourage parents to join in with ‘daily on-site play’.
Children no longer have the freedom to play outdoors, which is impacting their physical and emotional development as well as their health and wellbeing, according to Niki Buchan, international consultant and author.
In her session at the conference on Wednesday, Buchan warned that parental concerns were preventing children from playing outside and experiencing nature.
She compared today’s children to those of the 1970s when she said children had the freedom to play with little or no restrictions placed upon them.
Buchan told delegates that as children no longer get the opportunity to play outside while at home, it now falls upon practitioners to ensure children are getting ‘nature experiences’.
She said, ‘We now have to intentionally plan for outdoor play in settings as children are no longer getting it at home in the afternoons.
‘People my age, or slightly younger, have memories of being outside and getting up to things parents wouldn’t approve of. We weren’t constantly monitored and checked.’
The international consultant, who grew up in South Africa, added, ‘I have a vivid memory of using a cap gun and the smell it would omit.
‘Even playing with water has become extremely risky.’
Buchan went on to refer to mounting evidence that demonstrate the benefits to children of being in nature, including the impact on their mental health, the life lessons it teaches, such as overcoming fears and decision making, and how it makes children appreciate the natural world and want to be responsible for it.
She warned that the biggest barrier to children’s outdoor play is parental concerns, such as the idea that children have to be indoors when it is raining.
- The two-day online conference, Outdoor play: priorities, provision and practice, took place on 23 and 24 November. Delegates receive a CPD certificate validating their participation.
- Missed the event? On-demand access to all sessions is available for up to three months after the live conference date.
- For more information on how to register visit: http://www.outdoorplayconference.com/home
