Outdoor Play

There is significant and growing interest in how children and young people access the outdoors to play, learn, develop and have fun.

Over recent years, play has been increasingly recognised as a life-enhancing daily experience for all children and young people: in their homes; early learning and childcare settings; schools; and communities. This course will help childminders to review, develop and enhance the outdoor provision offered for the children in a childminding setting.

This course aims to give childminders the support needed to:

• Improve the quality and provision of outdoor play.
• Increase confidence in offering outdoor play in a childcare setting.
• Take a positive approach to risk in order to achieve the best outcomes for children.

Key learning during this course includes understanding and explaining:

1. The importance and benefits of outdoor play for children, families and the wider community and strategies to use to join in on play.
2. Some of the barriers to children playing outdoors and how to overcome these in a childminding practice.
3. The process for how to decide whether it is appropriate to intervene in children’s play or not.
4. Some challenging, risky or scary outdoor play opportunities to offer children and what they learn from taking part in these.
5. How to carry out risk assessments in line with policies and procedures and to promote positive risk taking with parents.
6. Explain how you promote wellbeing and safety to children in order to involve them in risk management procedures.

Course outcomes:

When you have completed this course, your core knowledge and understanding will include:

1. Strategies and guidance for practitioners in Scotland that support play.
2. How to provide an environment that is safe for the children or young people you work with and that meets their individual preferences and needs.
3. How to carry out risk assessments that balance reasonable precautions and provides opportunities for development.
4. What is meant by resilience and factors that may affect resilience in children.
5. Methods to encourage and support children to test and stretch their skills and abilities.
6. The type of indoor and outdoor activities that will encourage balance, co-ordination, gross and fine motor skills, manipulative skills and hand/eye co-ordination.
7. How to encourage children or young people to make choices, express individual preferences and be aware of how their actions affect others.