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World Environment Day 2020: a practical guide for individuals, faith groups, businesses, cities, governments, schools & universities, youth groups and civil society. This guide is a call to action to combat accelerating species loss and degradation of the natural world, listing practical measures that all levels of society can take to encourage and support biodiversity across our planet.

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Subject Area: World Environment Day

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Rich play and learning opportunities need to be influenced by considered design, planning and construction and by the pedagogy and risk/benefit philosophy of educators. This cross-sector resource provides tools and information to highlight the value of self-exploration, discovery and challenge for children’s development. Case Studies from South Australian sites offer stories of experience and conviction, helping children navigate risk and challenge and optimise learning opportunities.

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Author: Nature Play SA

Subject Area: Risk

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If you’re a parent, ask yourself – when was the last time your child climbed a tree? With increasing reliance on technology and parental safety concerns, children have never been so separated from the natural world. Catalyst investigates the science of outdoor play and shows how it can improve children’s health, academic performance, mental well-being, personal and social development, concentration levels and symptoms of ADHD.

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Length: 6m : 19s

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This excellent resource from Scotland, clearly explains the Reggio Emilia approach in early years settings and asks what the Scottish early years education system can learn from this. Whilst relevant to Scotland, the reflective content can easily be applied to our own education system. The document explains why direct replication of the Reggio Approach would be both difficult and not recommended, yet can undoubtedly serve as a stimulus for much needed change within our own system.

 

 

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Author: Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2006

Subject Area: Reggio Emilia

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This Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play was developed in Canada in conjunction with a cross-sectorial group of partners, stakeholders and researchers from around the world seeking an evidence-informed Position Statement on active outdoor play for children aged 3–12 years. The Position Statement was created in response to practitioner, academic, legal, insurance and public debate, dialogue and disagreement on the relative benefits and harms of active (including risky) outdoor play. The final Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play states: “Access to active play in nature and outdoors—with its risks— is essential for healthy child development. We recommend increasing children’s opportunities for self-directed play outdoors in all settings—at home, at school, in child care, the community and nature.” The full Position Statement provides context for the statement, evidence supporting it, and a series of recommendations to increase active outdoor play opportunities to promote healthy child development.

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Author: Tremblay, M.S.; Gray, C.; Babcock, S.; Barnes, J.; Bradstreet, C.C.; Carr, D.; Chabot, G.; Choquette, L.; Chorney, D.; Collyer, C.; Herrington, S.; Janson, K.; Janssen, I.; Larouche, R.; Pickett, W.; Power, M.; Sandseter, E.B.H.; Simon, B.; Brussoni, M. Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2015, 12, 6475-6505.

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In this in-depth interview, author and activist  Tim Gill urges parents to consider the level of freedom and types of experiences they had in childhood. He explains why allowing children to fulfill their need to test their own limits helps them assess risks, learn their capacities, gain confidence and become more resilient. Tim talks about unstructured play and what a great play space looks like; garnering peer support from other parents; and what can be done to help the growing number of children suffering from anxiety and depression. You’ll learn why it’s vital to weigh up the risks vs benefits of certain types of play and how to be a little less risk averse and a little more free range.

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Length: 1h : 06m : 00s

Subject Area: Risk, urban planning

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Tim Gill  is an independent scholar, advocate and consultant on childhood. His website and blog focuses on the changing nature of children’s play and free time, and their evolving relationships with the people and places around them. Tim argues for a balanced, thoughtful approach to risk in childhood: a position set out in his 2007 book No Fear: Growing up in a risk averse society  Tim is a longstanding advocate for child-friendly urban planning and design and supporter of the Playing Out movement.

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Author: Tim Gill

Subject Area: Risk, urban planning

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When Joseph Cornell’s first book, Sharing Nature with Children, was published in 1979, it was met with universal acclaim.  J. Baldwin, editor of Whole Earth Review, wrote, “This is absolutely the best awareness-of-nature book I’ve ever seen. Sharing Nature with Children has become justly famous because it works.” Joseph Cornell’s books sparked a world wide movement called Sharing Nature, devoted to helping children and adults deepen their relationship with the natural environment. This website contains high quality resources, exercises you can do with children to bring awareness of nature, detailed information on Flow Learning™ principles, thought provoking articles and online training. Full of inspiration for educators, the Sharing Nature movement uses the Flow Learning™ system of teaching that encourages empathy and brings ecological principles to life.

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Italian childhood advocate Professor Carla Rinaldi, president of the global Reggio Children movement, presented this report during her Adelaide Thinker in Residency. In it, she encourages educators and the wider community to rethink notions of childhood learning, recognising that children learn from birth. Professor Rinaldi urges South Australia to divide early education into two distinct learning groups, from birth to three and from age three to six, and introduce recognised degree qualifications for everyone working with children in these age brackets.

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Author: Rinaldi. C, 2013, Re-imagining childhood: The inspiration of Reggio Emilia education principles in South Australia, Government of South Australia

Nature Play SA acknowledges Traditional owners of Country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; and Elders past, present and emerging.