A few weeks ago I enjoyed watching an interview outdoor play enthusiast and preschool teacher Kierna Corr recorded with Kathy Brodie for Early Years TV (in case you don’t already know, a new interview is free to view for a week every Friday evening). A very interesting thread in Kierna’s conversation was about changes her team in …
Early Childhood Outdoors seeks to support development, delivery and usefulness of qualifications & training in working with young children outdoors. If we are to achieve our vision of meeting every child’s right to be, play and learn outdoors in education settings, this must include initial qualifications as well as continuing professional development. So it’s good …
I’ve been inspired by Earlham Early Years Centre ever since I visited as part of a Learning through Landscapes team supporting the conference celebrating their newly completed garden in 2003. The story of how this garden came about, showing vision, courage and a commitment to carrying out what they believed in, was an inspiration in …
It is with great pleasure that I’m able to announce that our long awaited research seminar Where Are The Babies? Exploring outdoor provision for children from birth to two, organised in collaboration with The Froebel Trust, will be going ahead as a free Froebel Trust hosted webinar on Saturday 20th March 2021, from 10am to 1pm. …
Where Are The Babies? webinar registration now open! Read More »
The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch is just around the corner, taking place at any time between 29th and 31st of January, and I know that many early years settings are preparing to take part – adding to over 40 years of data gathering. Clearly, it’s a great springboard too for bringing everyone’s attention to the …
I’ve long wanted to find, support and create mechanisms for sharing the knowledge that is being generated through research at universities in a way that enables practitioners to deepen their own thinking, provision and practice outdoors. So I’m really pleased that this strand in the work of ECO is developing so well! In recent months …
Despite the limitations on in-person gatherings and face-to-face events since March last year, members of the Early Childhood Outdoors meshwork have clearly been beavering away on our individual and collective missions. Both as individuals, settings or organisations and through working collaboratively, we have stuck to our united vision of more children thriving outdoors, more often …
Celebration of the year that’s passed and optimism for the year ahead! Read More »
The winter solstice is just around the corner now (10.02 on 21st Dec) – a pivotal day that carries the promise of lengthening days and eventually, the early signs of Spring. As the official start of Winter though, it in itself provokes us to acknowledge that the winter months are here now. And before us …
When Ofsted published their report COVID-19 series: briefing on early years in October, news outlets picked up particularly on regressions in toileting and cutlery handling for some children returning after staying at home during lockdown. Reading the actual reports puts this into better perspective and it is clear that children’s experiences have been wide-ranging, with …
It’s a special occasion for Early Childhood Outdoors this week, so cause for a small celebration. We have reached the landmark of having 60 articles shared by the ECO meshwork through the ECO blog – which is quite an exciting achievement! The aim of our blog is to enable folks who are part of the …
