Outdoor and Nature Play and Physical Development

Despite the known benefits of outdoor and nature play for young children, early childhood educators and administrators may worry about issues of safety and liability.

The purpose of this 2-hour course is to equip early childhood professionals to view risk in outdoor and nature play as a process of balancing risks and benefits, rather than a barrier to including outdoor and nature play in your program.

Early childhood educators can make the most of planned outdoor and nature play experiences in terms of children’s learning through the interactions they have with children as they play.

The purpose of this 2-hour course is to offer early childhood professionals actionable strategies for facilitating learning through outdoor and nature play.

In early childhood, a child’s social emotional development and mental health are one and the same. That means the strategies early childhood educators use to cultivate positive social emotional development are, by definition, supportive of positive mental health outcomes.

The purpose of this 2-hour course is to give early childhood professionals a review of key milestones and learning goals in the social emotional domain of development and a selection of practical strategies to help children achieve them.

In order to facilitate healthy social emotional development among young children, early childhood professionals first need to have the tools to regulate their own emotions and manage their own stress.

The purpose of this 2-hour course is to provide early childhood educators with information and resources to recognize stressors and signs of stress and empower them to adopt healthy approaches to stress management.

Increased engagement in outdoor and nature play can benefit young children’s learning across all developmental domains.

The purpose of this 2-hour course is to offer early childhood professionals strategies for supporting children’s social emotional development through outdoor play and learning activities.