take me outside day

Tomorrow is Take Me Outside Day.  Admittedly this a Canadian campaign, but it is so worthwhile I think we can embrace it where ever we may live.


According to the campaign, children in Canada are spending an average of nearly 8 hours a day indoors, in front of screens.  This isn't just happening in Canada.  A 2011 Australian study reported a similar dramatic and worrying shift in childhood activity in Australia from outdoor play to indoor activity.

It seems that in the short space of one generation we have gone from being a nation of outdoor kids to a nation of indoor kids.   

So let's commit to just 45 minutes outdoors with the kids tomorrow.

This is what we will be doing:

I'll be marching the boys out the back door and down into the bush for a walk after school.

They will probably complain so much that you would think that I was marching them through the gates of hell, but the usually stop by about the 10 minute mark!

What will you be doing with your kids outside?

new booklet on making a mud kitchen

A mud kitchen includes elements of the much-loved domestic corner and cooking from indoor play, which are then hugely enriched through the special nature of being outside.  - Jan White

Mud kitchens, mud pie kitchens, outdoor kitchens - no matter what you choose to call them - are such a valuable addition to any outdoor play space that I have blogged about them time and time again.


Jan White, author and all round outdoor play guru clearly shares my enthusiasm for all things mud pie kitchen.  So much so that she has written the book on it.  A free, easy to download booklet called "Making a Mud Kitchen."

Says Jan:

There are hundreds of wonderful, homemade mud kitchens being shared on blogs and pinterest around the world – take a nice long tour and be enthused and inspired!

If you are looking for an inexpensive and simple addition to your outdoor space that will provide hours of engagement for children of all ages, then you can't go past a mud pie kitchen, and you can't go past "Making a Mud Kitchen" for inspiration.

for the love of boxes

It's been a train, a car, a stable for horses and a robot. Now it's a communal work of art.

Boxes.  Where would we be without them?

If there were ever any doubts as to the usefulness of the humble cardboard box, this beautifully made little video clip would dispel them all:

The Adventures of a Cardboard Box

stump loving

Welcome to another week of  It's Playtime.   

Playful Picks

You all know that I'm a sucker for a natural playscape, so it will come as no surprise that I love the colourful stumps in Adventures at Home with Mum's backyard:

Meet my Partners in play:

Messy Kids,

The Imagination Tree ,

hands on: as we grow and

QuirkyMomma

What have you been playing this week?

Linking up is simple.

Extra, extra, read all about it.

Let the Children Play is now publishing a monthly newsletter.

Signing up for a free newsletter is simple.  Head on over to the sidebar on the right of the blog, and enter your email address in the space under the heading "newsletter".


Why might you want yet another email to clog up your mailbox?  I think that we are on a similar wavelength. The blogs, news, quotes and play ideas that I find useful in my life are likely to be useful in yours.

And I promise not to fill it with my own blog posts that you have (hopefully) already read!

Right now I have a total of one subscriber.  Me.  I'd love you to join me so I don't get lonely.

Do you have a newsletter on  your blog?  What do you include?

Do you read newsletters on blogs?  What do you find useful?  

mtrismegistos

mtrismegistos

There's no rush. A wander in the bush.

If you go down to the bush today you might see us...just hanging around.

No agenda.

No hurry.  No time to be back.

No boxes to be ticked.

Just plenty of time to wander through the landscape wherever curiosity leads us.  

  In today’s world of standardized testing, TV, organized sports and electronic toys, children have very little time for just being kids and engaging in real self-directed free play - especially in natural settings.

Let's take free play seriously!

preschool teacher or set designer?

I'd thrown a rug down on our wooden "stage", but it was lonely and ignored all morning until I slung up several lengths of colourful fabric behind it.  Within minutes:

the stage was full, and plans were afoot for the next sold out all dancing extravaganza.

Sometimes, being a preschool teacher is just like being a set designer.

We set the stage and then stand back and wait for amazing things to happen.  

And happen they do.  Every single day.  

Making hay while the sun shines

 What can you do with a bale of hay?  What can't you do with a bale of hay!

And when the play is over, you can redistribute the straw in  your garden beds.

Hop on over to Happy Little Messes to see their obstacle course using hay bales.  It's a beauty!

Helping Children Bloom

We are getting ready to say goodbye to our flowers for the season.  In our area, flowers disappear with the first frost.  Although a little early, we lost a few vines this past week, but we are still enjoying the flowers.  However, I understand that we must enjoy them today because they will be gone tomorrow.

I was looking at my geraniums and thinking how different each plant can be.  Not only are the colors of the flowers different, the leaves and the plant patterns vary from mound to mound.  It is like having different children in our classrooms.  If we are working with 5 year olds, they are all 5 year-olds.  Fortunately, they all have different patterns, different leaves, and variegated colors.  Like all of my geraniums, children need different things to flourish and make the most of their development and accomplishments.  I had a geranium this season that needed constant monitoring with additional plant food and water.  Because I took the time to do this, that plant did well and provided many beautiful blooms during the summer.  Other plants seemed to grow like weeds, without much additional care.  The children in our classrooms are so much like that.  Some need extra care and consideration to make the same progress other children seem to make automatically.  The key is to provide that extra nourishment.  Children who need extra care are sometimes the ones that fight it and seem to rebuff that extra attention.  That means we teachers must make it  a priority to provide the necessary care.  If the child is going to bloom, we must be willing to provide the necessary support. As early childhood community, we need to work to make sure every child blooms.