Modern Parent: Bring learning outdoors

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) -- When it comes to your child's education, not everything can be learned from a teacher in a classroom. Some of the best lessons can be learned right outside.

Tracy Martin Turgeon from The Children's Workshop spoke to The Rhode Show about the natural environments and importance of outdoor learning. 

Take Learning Outside!

Over the past 15-20 years, the focus of outdoor play has been largely sliding, swinging, climbing and running. More recently, however, many schools and early learning facilities are expanding upon this and moving toward teaching outdoors instead of in the traditional indoor classroom setting. 

Teachers are not only using playgrounds for recreational use, but also for instructional learning tools.

Outside, you can create a learning space that tickles the imagination and surprises the senses. You don’t have to be a teacher to explore the outdoors and learn new things with your children - you can be a parent, a grandparent, an uncle, or an aunt to create extraordinary outdoor places and natural areas for children to discover and learn more about the world around them. 

Just think outside the box and remember when how much fun it was to be outside when you were a child - let your imagination run wild!

How Children Experience the World Around Them

Children learn through the many experiences we share with them. What you did outdoors as a child can be passed down to your children too.

Think about how your child sees the world around him or her. Do you remember going to a park as a child and it looked so big, but when you returned as an adult it seems so small? That is because children see the world in a totally different way than you do.

Get down on the ground and look at the things around you from a child’s point of view - how do they look to you now? Next, stand on something tall like a hill and look around. The world looks entirely different from that point of view. This is how your child sees the things around them too. 

Think also about how versatile elements of nature can be.

When you plant a tree and it grows, this tree is going to provide shade in the summer, a burst of color in the fall, and give plenty of leaves to play with. Just from one tree there is so much learning and play for a young child.

Take a blanket outside on a cloudy day, and look at the clouds. Why are some of the clouds big and fluffy? Why are some light and thin? Look the answers to these questions up and see what makes them move and so on.

The learning experiences just with clouds alone are endless. Remember that children love to touch, see, and smell things. Plant a sensory garden - add mint, basil, lemon grass, chamomile, and lavender. These plants can be touched, smelled, and even tasted (some of them). What a great way to spark the curiosity and senses!

Discover the Wonder of Sights and Sounds Outdoors

There are many different ways to discover the outdoors and make learning fun.

You can do a scavenger hunt; the only materials needed are outdoor space, a notepad, a pencil, and some plastic bags. Make a list of seasonal things such as acorns, twigs, rocks and so on. Make a list for children to look for things that they cannot collect too such as birds, squirrels, a bird’s nest and different barks on trees. 

Another great idea is to connect the dots and discover the stars; you can copy constellations in a book, get a blanket and try to find them in the sky. Certain constellations are brighter during different seasons. In the winter you can see Orion the Hunter (he stands right out) and in spring Leo the Lion stands proud in the sky.

In the summer there are three bright stars, Altair, Deneb, and Vega.  Lastly, in the autumn there is the Queen with a large W shape that you can see but sometimes looks like an M. Did you know that the Big Dipper, when looked at closely, has a star with a little star connected to it right in the middle? These are called Mizar and Alcor and they are visible with the naked eye.

For more information about The Children's Workshop, just visit their website.

There are also so many different sounds outside, for instance frogs make unusual sounds throughout the spring and summer. See if you can identify different frogs’ sounds while sipping some lemonade. The learning experiences are endless. Shut off the computer, TV and other media and experience nature! You might be surprised what you learn. Best of all, these learning opportunities are easy and free.