04.21.08
Outdoor Preschool
Outdoor Preschools/Wood Kindergartens Have you heard of this concept? The idea is that the children have school in an outdoor space suitable for braving all types of weather. I love the general idea, although I’m not sure I would take a fancy to it here year round, with the tornadic rainstorms, hail, sweltering heat and freezing snow that the different seasons bring to our area. I would have assumed that this concept is for moderate climates and that ample shelter is available, but one information site states that children head for shelter when the temperature is below -10!
Today, in our 76 degree, sunny backyard, we enjoyed free play, (a shortened) Morning Meeting and a picnic lunch within the freedom of the outdoors. From a maid’s point of view I loved it since there was nothing to vacuum and no table crumbs to worry about at our usual clean up time before nap. Since the children use so many natural treasures for their exploration, there is virtually no clean up for them as well. As a teacher, I reveled in watching them explore their surroundings with all of their senses. They felt the cool grass with their bare feet, smelled the fruity scent of the blooming flowers, watched the butterflies dance in the garden, and could hear the geese honking as they traveled above. After releasing their initial energy on the swings and playset, the children settled into searching for flowers to pick, digging in the dirt, watering the garden, building castles in the sand, ”saving” caterpillars, butterflies, ladybugs and beetles, and playing catch and chase. The creativity comes alive outside since the toys are basic and change from situation to situation and child to child. A pile of pine needles is straw for the horse (a.k.a. the dog) to one child and a bed for a baby for another child. A stick is an instrument to tap on different surfaces listening to subtle differences for one and a mast for a boat another is building.
Our Morning Meeting consisted of a rhyming book on flowers and bugs, read while the children drank juice to cool off and chose the sandbox as their seating area. Then we enjoyed singing Oh, Mr. Sun and Baby Bumblebee before playing ‘Round and ‘Round the Oak Tree for at least 15 minutes! The weather was easily discussed, as was a sorting activity where we put the natural things we’d seen into the categories of plants or animals/bugs. We skipped the calendar today since it was inside on the board, but I easily could have strung it to the fence for calendar time. Maybe tomorrow…
Tomorrow we’ll bring along the Explorer’s Kit (magnifying glasses, tweezers, a compass, a timer, gloves, a hat, a notebook, a pencil, etc.) to expand our search of nature. I also plan to set up the easel so the children can splash the paint around without worrying about making a mess.
I’d love to hear more ideas on what others are doing to create a classroom out of a natural environment!
for my 
and record stories to put on their mp3 player (a 
They have come to request stories be played more than bedtime music!
