Book Recommendations

A complete guide to forest school provision and nature pedagogy

I’m delighted that this post brings you three things in one: news of the publication of a masterpiece of a book; a lively, live on-line book launch in which we can hear from the two authors; and some reflections from the deep and prolonged experience of writing such a joint Magnus Opus! As described on …

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Mud and good companionship

We all know that feeling and showing gratitude is both good for you and motivates positive action, and that regularly noticing and being thankful for small things is just as good – quite likely better – than less frequent larger scale events.  Daily experience of gratefulness for what you have can generate wonderful feelings of …

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Animal Engagement – the magical Guinea pig!

Not long ago, I was contacted by Mary Bermingham, of the Burren Nature Sanctuary in County Galway, Ireland, inviting me to talk about how I became a ‘nature educator’ for the podcast she set up in response to the first lockdown in Ireland.  Mary is clearly a very energetic and driven person, and apparently cannot …

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Learning from the wisdom of a life spent working with the outdoors

ECO champion Kathryn Solly has previously contributed posts for the Early Childhood Outdoors blog: What a wonderful world outside! and Pandemic possibilities outdoors.  With the approach of a new Early Years Summit from Kathy Brodie (running free from 31st May to 6th June with no less than 30 interviews on speech, language and communication), it is …

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Architecture and Learning in the 1930’s 

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 …

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Woodwork: Exercising the imagination

One of the silver linings emerging as we have been adjusting to many months of pandemic restrictions is that so much training has been made available digitally, becoming more accessible and cheaper than ever before.  But as Kathy Brodie counsels in this month’s Nursery World, “The online marketplace [for training] has exploded.. which is fantastic …

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Outdoor play books now all available in one place!

A marvellous collaborationA bespoke online bookstore for almost all of the books for adults on Outdoor Play published in the UK (and some from beyond) is now available, thanks to a great collaboration between Early Childhood Outdoors and Richard Myers at Books Education. Richard has been providing a fantastic range of books on all aspects of …

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Making a Mud Kitchen grows ever more international for Mud Day 2020!

Liz Edwards, founder of Muddy Faces, and I met way back at the beginning of this century (2001 I think it was) and we’ve been working in an increasingly collaborative way ever since – the core of this began 10 years later with our shared love of and belief in MUD.  This year, International Mud …

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Dandelion Virtues: the merits of the undervalued ‘weed’

Dandelion Virtues: the merits of the undervalued ‘weed’ – and some more books about dandelions! Ralph Waldo Emerson apparently said that a weed is ‘a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered’, and my reply in the previous Dandelion Appreciation post was that the dandelion is a plant whose virtues we had already long …

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Playing and Learning Outdoors

The monthly ECO reading recommendation This monthly post aims to let you know about specialist books that support thinking and action towards our mission of ‘more children thriving outdoors, more often and for longer, benefiting from richer and more meaningful environments offering authentic, rewarding and satisfying experiences’. Let’s kick off with the new edition of …

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