17 Educator/Parents
Suggested Reading
Coe, H. (2016). From excuses to encouragements: confronting and overcoming the barriers to early childhood outdoor learning in Canadian schools. Canadian Children, 41(1), 5-15. Retrieved from dx.doi.org/10.18357/jcs.v41i1.15461
This paper addresses the issues related to the outdoor learning environment and the barriers that educators face. This article encourages educators to view outdoor learning as a pedagogical and problem-solving learning experience.
Creative STAR Learning Ltd. (2017–2018). Creative Star website: I’m a teacher, get me outside here! Retrieved on November 9, 2018 from https://creativestarlearning.co.uk/
This website is curated by Juliet Robertson, an advocate of the power of outdoor play in education. Teacher resources include a blog, resources, links to training courses, and support, with a focus on literacy and math. This is a Scotland/UK resource; the author speaks regularly in Canada.
Davis, J. M. (2015). Young children and the environment: Early education for sustainability. (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
This edited text includes 15 chapters that discuss a broad range of topics from the importance of sustainability in early learning and care settings to reconciliation in the early years. Human interactions with the natural world, community leadership in sustainability, pedagogical approaches, and the role of the ECE in supporting sustainability education of young children are included. Many contributors discuss their lived experiences and reflections on program transformation to include more nature-based play within their workplaces.
eMentalHealth.ca. (2018). Nature and why it’s essential for kids’ brains: Information for parents and caregivers. Retrieved from http://www.ementalhealth.ca/index.php?m=article&ID=52861
Many of today’s children and youth seem to struggle with physical and mental health problems. This article advocates for unstructured outdoor play as a single intervention to help children’s physical, mental and spiritual health. Options to help get kids outside are listed to encourage unstructured outdoor play.
go2play. (March 2017). Scotland’s play ranger toolkit: A guide to setting up and running an effective play ranger service in Scotland. Retrieved from https://www.inspiringscotland.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Play-Ranger-Toolkit-March-15.pdf
A play ranger is a qualified play-worker who facilitates children’s play in open access spaces such as outdoor community settings and parks (like Hamilton’s “Supie” program). This resource includes details about training needed to support outdoor play environments that might inform curriculum development of the ECE program, including risk assessments, tools, and equipment.
Gull Laird, S. McFarland-Piazza, L. & Allen, S. (2014). Young children’s opportunities for unstructured environmental exploration of nature: Links to adults’ experiences in childhood. International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education, 2(1). Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1108063.pdf
This study investigated the impact of adult’s early experiences in nature impact their attitudes and practices in providing unstructured outdoor play opportunities for children. While many adults reported engaging in unstructured nature play as children, this does not lead most to provide the same experiences for young children, despite the benefits on child development, particularly in the area of risk-assessment.
Herrington, et al. (2015). Position statement on active outdoor play. Retrieved from http://childnature.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/B.-EN-Active-Outdoor-Play-Position-Statement-FINAL-DESIGN.pdf
A two-page evidence-informed position statement with recommendations for active outdoor play in a Canadian context.
Hewitt Taylor, J., & Heaslip, V. (2012). Protecting children or creating vulnerability? Community Practitioner, 85(12), 31-3. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.mohawkcollege.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.mohawkcollege.ca/docview/1269463990?accountid=39951
This Journal article discuses challenges that may be presented while working with parents when children are engaging in risky play. The article suggests key discussion and perspectives to help engage with children and families about risk play.
Inspiring Scotland. (2018). Knowledge hub: It’s safer outdoors than in indoors. Retrieved from https://www.inspiringscotland.org.uk/hub/safer-outdoors-indoors/
A web embedded video. Dr. Mark Tremblay of Canada’s HALO Research talks to Prof. John Reilly of the University of Strathclyde and Rachel Cowper of Inspiring Scotland about how, counter to popular belief, it is safer for children to be outdoors than indoors.
Lawson Foundation. (n.d.). Outdoor play strategy: An exploration of children’s unstructured outdoor play in Canada. Retrieved from https://lawson.ca/wp-content/uploads/OutdoorPlayInfoGraphic.pdf
An infographic resource which highlights several Lawson Foundation funded research projects currently being conducted across Canada.
Leggett, N., & Newman, L. (2017). Play: Challenging educators’ beliefs about play in the indoor and outdoor environment. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 42(1), 24-32. doi:10.23965/ajec.42.1.03
Authors identify play as a “contested concept” and explore the range of educators’ understandings from allowing freedom for children to play without interference, through to a range of adult engagement levels. Findings highlight differences between role and responsibility perceptions whereby educators shifted roles from teacher to supervisor between contexts. The authors advocate for the re-examination of the role of the educator in children’s play. This paper suggests that by acknowledging the role of the educator as an intentional teacher both indoors and outdoors, and emphasising the complexity of the educator role, a more robust definition of play that is reflective of contemporary early childhood contexts and curricula can evolve to strengthen educator understanding and practice.
OutsidePlay.ca. (2017). Take a risk, go play outside! Retrieved from https://outsideplay.ca
A British Columbia based website that aims to change parental perceptions and risk aversion behaviour. The site provides information about ways to engage in risk and why risky play is important. A template is provided to develop an Outside Play Action Plan.
Scottish Government. (2013, June 21). Play strategy for Scotland: Our vision. Retrieved from https://www.gov.scot/publications/play-strategy-scotland-vision/
An evidence informed government position on the importance of play as a child’s right and its connection to community development.
Spencer, G., Bundy, A., Wyver, S., Villeneuve, M., Tranter, P., Beetham, K., … Naughton, G. (2016). Uncertainty in the school playground: Shifting rationalities and teachers’ sense making in the management of risks for children with disabilities. Health, Risk & Society, 18(5-6), 301-317. doi:10.1080/13698575.2016.1238447
Protectionist concerns of educators and parents are pronounced for children with disabilities, as assumptions about limited capabilities complicate and structure the everyday play experiences for children. Drawing on findings from the Sydney Playground Project, this article discusses discomfort experienced by school staff in their responses to uncertain moments in children’s play. The report includes qualitative data collected from two schools between October 2014 and September 2015 using video observations of children’s play and teachers’ responses to an online Tolerance of Risk in Play Scale. The findings point out the competing logics and forms of sense making used by teachers to manage the unknown. The analysis explored the ways in which risk strategies were (re)framed by school staff and how ‘letting-go’ or embracing uncertainty offers children opportunities to engage in risk-taking.
Tremblay, M. S., Gray, C., Babcock, S. Barnes, J., Bradstreet, C. C., Carr, D. et al. (2015, June 8). Position statement on active outdoor play. International journal of environmental research and public health. 12(6) doi: 10.3390/jerph120606475
A diverse, cross-sectoral group of partners, stakeholders and researchers, collaborated to develop an evidence-informed Position Statement on active outdoor play for children aged 3–12 years. The Position Statement was created in response to practitioner, academic, legal, insurance and public debate, dialogue and disagreement on the relative benefits and harms of active (including risky) outdoor play.
Wyver, S., Tranter, P., Naughton, G., Little, H., Hansen Sandseter, E. B., & Bundy, A. (2010). Ten ways to restrict children’s freedom to play: The problem of surplus safety. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. 11(3). 263 – 277. https://doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2010.11.3.263
In Ten ways to restrict children’s freedom to play: The problem of surplus safety, the authors examine the pervasiveness of surplus safety in the lives of young children. They argue that restrictions now imposed on children’s play to promote safety may, paradoxically, expose children to more serious short and longer term threats of illness and limit children’s life opportunities. By comparing experiences from Australia and Norway, the authors demonstrate that surplus safety is not a necessary outcome of living in a modern Western society.