As part of our unit of inquiry, we have been looking at healthy lifestyles. For students, healthy lifestyles can be achieved through our outdoor adventures. Playing outside helps children to develop through play, which is a fun way of helping children to learn new information and skills. Away from the confinement of the classroom, being outside, ignites children’s imaginations by the objects around them and they quickly tap into their own creativity. From a health perspective, with more room to play in, children are often more active when outside, which helps them to build strong bones and good fitness levels.
We find outdoor exploration a positive experience for both KG3 classes to come together and share friendships. As outdoor spaces are usually less crowded than indoors, it is less intimidating and helps them to naturally come out of their shells and be more likely to talk to different children and make new friends.
In the playground they learn social skills and how to interact with other children away from adult supervision. They develop more independence when socially interacting with other children, as well as learning to play by themselves. We saw children playing what’s the time Mr Wolf and making up their own games as well. They we’re developing social skills and independence through taking turns playing their games, picking themselves up when they fell, and negotiating equipment.
