20 A note about outdoor play-based learning
Research has shown school playgrounds are effective but often under-utilised, places for learning (Chancellor, 2008). Another common misconception is that school playgrounds are only a space for students to ‘get rid of excess energy’. However, there is compelling evidence that students use the spaces in their school playgrounds in multiple ways. For example, students may be engaged in socio-dramatic play. They may seek out places for solitude. Students may also purposefully create places for their self-directed play. School playgrounds are a significant site for social play as well as physical activity.
‘Where there is wholehearted support for learning outside the classroom, where it is embedded in planning and integrated into practice – then children are learning outdoors regularly and they thrive… There is convincing evidence that the quality and use of school grounds has a significant impact on children’s learning and well-being…’ Robinson (2018), p. 117 The importance of school grounds
Read, look, or listen
The outdoors is full of potential for learning, and play creates avenues for children to make connections, build skills, and encounter concepts in curriculum. The interactive poster below provides some important points, practical tips and examples of environments for you to consider when planning and organising play-based learning outdoors.
As you click on the different hotspots (+) in this interactive poster, you’re encouraged to think about these links. In some cases, it might be a site to visit, in other cases, it could be a resource inspiration, or planning tip.
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Opportunities of play-based learning experiences – interactive image hotspots.
This interactive explains the different ways in which play-based environments create opportunities to support children in their understanding and consolidation of important learning. As you click on the hotspots, reflect on the environmental, teaching interactions, and learning areas all strengthened by play-based learning.
The interactivity
- STEM links
- Sites to visit
- Learning in the outdoors
- Props & open-ended materials
- Teaching outdoors
- Resources
- Benefits of the outdoors
Hotspot one: STEM links
Hotspot two: Sites to visit
Hotspot three: Learning in the outdoors
1. Teachers’ planning and implementation of play-based and inquiry learning experiences outdoors can provide time, space, and opportunities to move beyond a curriculum that is restricted by classroom walls, desks and limited space.
2. Teachers can provide multiple play-based and inquiry learning experiences through the planning, collection and use of affordances from the outdoor space.
For example, collections of loose natural materials, such as gumnuts, pebbles, leaves, twigs, and bark can be used for counting, one-to-one correspondence, scientific experiments, comparing and contrasting the attributes of natural and man-made objects.
3. Teachers can purposefully use available features and spaces outdoors to extend students’ mathematical and scientific conceptual understanding.
For example, measuring tree heights; exploring water flow and gravity through PVC pipes; exploring and identifying natural ecology and biodiversity; investigating change of state of natural materials, sand, mud, and water; measurement of different spaces and lengths using natural materials as measuring tools.
Hotspot four: Props & open-ended materials
As with the classroom indoors, a mix of open-ended and selected realistic props and resources can support play outdoors.
For example, an outdoor (mud) kitchen can consist of a box as a pretend stove, a couple of old pots and pans, plates and access to natural loose parts, such as dirt, sand, pebbles will be sufficient to support sociodramatic play.
Lengths of materials, clothes and hats supply costumes are a useful inclusion for socio-dramatic play.
Timber off-cuts, boxes, branches, logs, and fabric can also provide resources for constructive play.
Hotspot five: Teaching outdoors
1. Begin by discussing with the students the parameters of the space, similar to Forest schools and Bush Kinders where the teachers and students establish the rules together on being in the outside classroom.
2. Consider the use of props to mark the space, using singing and/or musical instruments as a strategy to regroup students in the outdoor space.
3. Ask the students for specific outdoor topics for the basis of inquiry questions and investigations.
4. Look for learning opportunities in natural play spaces onsite at school or close by, such as a park or local reserve.
Hotspot six: Resources
1. Students’ autonomous investigations of living things in the outdoor spaces can be encouraged by organising sets of ‘Discovery backpacks’ with binoculars, magnifying glasses, insect and bird identification books or posters, clipboards with paper/textas for data collection (STEMM, biodiversity).
2. Consider providing baskets of picture story books for reading under/amongst trees on mats or rugs in small groups or individually (literacy).
3. Consider providing collections of open-ended ‘cubby’ construction materials, such as bamboo garden stakes, fabric/material, string, tree branches, logs (technology, logico-mathematical thinking, collaborative play).
4. The provision of clipboards for writing, drawing, recording thinking and representing discoveries for outside investigations can enable new writing and drawing opportunities for students (literacy, art).
5. Physical play is important for the overall development of students. The purposeful provision of balancing on logs and stumps and uneven surfaces as well as man-made equipment encourages upper arm strength and core muscle development.
Hotspot seven: Benefits of outdoors
1. Research evidence has found that multiple opportunities for students to experience play-based and inquiry learning outdoors fosters a sense of positive wellbeing in students (Elliott, 2008).
2. Research has shown some students are better able to focus in outdoor, natural environments.
For example, Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms have been found to diminish significantly in ‘green leafy places’ where a restorative effect is evident (Kuo, 2004).
3. There is compelling evidence that shows that students’ concentration improves on return to the classroom after spending time in green leafy places (Bogat, 2005).
Engage and extend
Having engaged with the interactive, think about some services, parks, and outdoor environments in your area that you could access to support your play-based practice. Consider how you could collaborate with other educators to create a resource list for your context.
