Press Room

Opening the Door to the Outdoors
by Beverlie Dietze and Barbara Crossley

While the value of play to child development has long been recognized, the activity we call play has changed considerably over the years. You may remember saying “when I grew up” I played with . . . natural sticks, stones, mud, I climbed trees and I had forts. Unfortunately, for many children today, their outdoor play experiences are limited. For others, play experiences revolve around permanent play structures, thus reducing the imagination of the child and the experiences required to promote all aspects of their development.

Opening the door to the outdoors has never been so important to Canadian children. Research consistently expresses concern over the increasing rates of childhood obesity and inactivity of children across Canada. Since 1981, the number of obese children has almost tripled and the rate of type II diabetes, a disease that results principally from obesity and inactivity and is a leading cause of heart disease, has increased in the under 16 age groups.1

An estimated 40 per cent of Canadian children are not physically active by the age of ten. On average, children spend less than ten hours per week playing outdoors vs. 20 to 30 hours per week in sedentary activities. These trends are putting young children at risk for developing heart disease by the time they reach their thirties. Child care practitioners have a responsibility to include physically active play in their daily programming. Outdoor play should: allow for running on uneven ground; support active play; and encourage children in gaining the daily 30 minutes of physical activity recommended by health professionals.2

Effective Outdoor Programming
Child care professionals across Canada are concerned that their programming is often heavily focused on cognitive activities that are generally implemented indoors. Many child care professionals are concerned that their post secondary education programs did not provide specific concentration on outdoor play. Thus, many staff feel that they have limited programming skills for outdoor environments. Typically, outdoor play curricula have fewer resources allocated to them. This reduces opportunities for staff to offer experiences that present healthy risks, challenges and exploration to children throughout the year.3

The study of child development in recent years has identified specific links between motor activity and other domains of development. The child who moves efficiently and easily develops feelings of self-confidence and competence, thus promoting effective social interactions. Stimulation, encouragement and opportunities to move all parts of the body speed up and facilitate more accurate development. As well, exposure to natural light acquired outdoors increase children’s academic performance, social skills, and calmness. It also reduces the numbers of children who are vitamin D deficient.4 Children tend to organize their neurological systems through movement and develop intellect mainly during active outdoor play experiences. Perceptions develop into concepts as children experience their own bodies in relationship to objects, as they handle materials, and as they associate action with language.5

Outdoor play requires preparation similar to that for the indoor portion of the program. It requires planning, observation and evaluation. Children need access to a variety of materials that will stimulate play types in an environment that offers safe but challenging risks. Effective outdoor programs fully engage children in active play activities and experiences. Versatile space, coupled with equipment and materials, supports the child’s sense of curiosity and need for exploration. Props for dramatic play, the manipulation of objects, the ability to construct, the opportunity to create through art or music mediums enhance play experiences. Materials that allow children to add to permanent structures, or apparatus that encourages children to roll, run, climb and jump promote healthy lifestyles.

Developing the curriculum for outdoor play needs to be influenced by the children’s interests, followed by the values and priorities of the child care setting. The theoretical principles of child development, the learning styles of children and the health requirement for children to have physical activity become the foundation for an outdoor play curriculum. In the programming process, educators recognize that outdoor play benefits neither the educator nor the child if it is always group-based or if it is presented as a rigid play experience; rather outdoor play offers a balance of skills, concepts and games that promote active movement and the interest of the child. Ideally, children will have freedom to choose experiences and be able to move between play experiences indoors and outdoors.

Role of the Facilitator
The role of the facilitator directly relates to increased play quality and the duration of outdoor play. Outdoor play experiences need to offer a combination of the following: facilitator-supported experiences; child-initiated exploration; and facilitator-child-guided discovery opportunities.6

Facilitator-supported experiences refer to activities the children engage in with the facilitator. The emphasis is on describing, modeling, repeating or imitating actions needed to complete a task. Songs such as Head and Shoulders, Hokey Pokey or Hey Dumb Diddle Dumb are examples of educator supported experiences. Facilitator-supported experiences are often used to give children “warm up” experiences at the onset of outdoor play. This promotes muscle and motor development, and contributes to the children feeling psychologically secure.

Child-initiated exploration refers to activities led by the child, depending on what he or she is interested in. The child explores a variety of approaches through trial and error, and ultimately problem solves to master the challenge. A child who discovers how to balance on one foot may be intuitively encouraged to try other movements. Outdoor child-initiated play increases children’s powers of observation and their ability to build on their observations. Enhanced observational skills are thought to occur because of the freedom to explore, the open space in which to explore, the reduction of noise levels and the distractions caused by classroom stimuli.

Facilitator-child-guided discovery has the educator and child initiating experiences together. The facilitator offers suggestions and poses questions that lead the child to participate in discovering techniques or skills they needed to learn a new skill or new knowledge. For example, an educator might offer a sequence of suggestions to help a child learn how to do a cartwheel.

Whether the experiences are facilitator-supported, child-initiated or facilitator-child-guided, outdoor play is paramount for children in constructing knowledge. When facilitators collaborate with an individual child or group of children and offer them opportunities to explore, experiment and manipulate, children have an environment to build on what they know. Through child-to-child and adult-to-child interactions, children discover knowledge and skills through active experimentation.

A rich outdoor environment allows children to experiment with “constructive redesign”. This is essential for cognitive development and indirectly help children acquire the skills they need to be physically active. Through facilitation and guidance, children can form their own hypotheses, predict what might happen, use the information, compare their findings, discover new strategies – and ultimately alter their mental structures to bring their personal meaning to the “constructive redesign.”

Enhancing Outdoor Play
If we recognize the importance of outdoor play, we need to ensure that child care teachers have specific training in this area. We need professional development options, curriculum in training programs to support outdoor play, and dialogue among educators about outdoor play. Wade7 found that the play behaviours of nursery school children were significantly different for several of the play categories when compared with prior to and following a special teaching training program. “Significantly greater frequencies of the following types of children’s play were found: parallel, group, cooperative, dramatic, parallel-constructive, parallel-dramatic, group functional, group-constructive and group-dramatic play for the total group of children.”8

Wade’s studies also articulate changes in facilitators after training in outdoor play. She noted that facilitators pose more in-depth questions, extend opportunities for the child’s knowledge base, and provide encouragement with the total group of children. They exhibited more smiling, positive contact and positive nodding. Most significantly they increased the types of play experiences for children outdoors and the time they devoted to outdoor play.9

Collaboratively, we can expand children’s play opportunities while contributing to the power of outdoor play.

Beverlie Dietze is a professor in the Early Childhood Education program at Loyalist College. She was one of the primary researchers for a national study on outdoor play. She is an educational doctorate candidate at OISE/UT. Barbara Crossley is a guest professor in the Early Childhood Education program at Loyalist College. She was one of the primary researchers for a national study on outdoor play. She is vice-president of Portfolio 2000 Educational Consulting.

Endnotes
1. Graham, D. (2002a). Heart Disease Stalks Preteens. Globe and Mail, February 6, 2002.
2. Bell, R. (1998). Health of Canadian Children at Further Risk as Federal Funding Lapses. April 14, 1998. http://activeliving.ca/cahperd/pr140498.html
3. Dietze, B. & Crossley, B. (2000). Young Children and Outdoor Play. Loyalist College: Belleville, Ont.
4. Liberman, J. (1991). Light: Medicine of the Future. Sante Fe, NM: Bear & Company Inc.
5. Dickerson (2000) ???
6. Dietze, B., & Crossley, B. (2000b). Best Practices in Early Childhood Education. The Outdoor Play Experience. Loyalist College: Belleville, Ont
7. Wade, C. (1985). Effects of Teacher Training on Teachers and Children in Playground Settings. In J. Frost and S. Sunderlin, eds., When Children Play. Wheaton, MD. Association for Childhood Education International.
8. Ibid, p. 315
9. Ibid