Many people consider January to be a difficult and sometimes depressing month. Frigid cold temperatures and few daylight hours can make it tricky to remain optimistic. I must say that this year our warmer temperatures have been making it a little easier.
Here we are excited as we are busy with preparations for Nature Summit 2012. For those of you who are looking for some inspiration here is a list of some interesting reads and resources from across the web;
An article from Northern Ireland about their development of a website that was designed to give teachers the confidence to use the outdoors as a classroom http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-16318290
A strategic document from Education Scotland that outlines practical steps a school can take to embedding outdoor learning into its curriculum and overall approach to learning and teaching http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/building_your_curriculum_outside_in_tcm4-656470.pdf
Acceptable risk? — Concrete playstructures built in 1959 Paris – the slide is my favourite http://astudejaoublie.blogspot.com/2011/12/lhay-les-roses-sculptures-jeux-denfants.html
Here’s a fun online activity from the WWF – take the quiz and discover your inner animal https://secure.worldwildlife.org/inner-animal/inner-animal.html
This is an interesting article about the problems associated with today’s playgrounds being ‘too safe’ http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/GeneralPediatrics/30493
I just love this post about some inspiring playground designs http://thelearninglandscape.blogspot.com/2012/01/climbing-high-into-nest.html
Perfect for winter – here’s a list of 32 snow related activities http://www.handsonaswegrow.com/2012/01/32-snow-snowflakes-snowmen-its-all.html
Together in Nature is an amazing resource about family bonding http://www.childrenandnature.org/downloads/C&NN_FamilyBonding_2012.pdf
Check out this article about efforts to reconnect China’s urban children with nature http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/11/children-china-urban-jungle-nature?
Here’s a great collection of documents about various school environments http://issuu.com/schools.ads/docs
This is an inspiring story about the lifelong effect of gardening http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1LWHZ1/www.gardeninggonewild.com/
Nature Gate is a fantastic resource to help identify the plants and creatures that you discover http://www.luontoportti.com/suomi/en/
Personally I find this a little disturbing but just in case your interested here’s the page for an indoor park that boasts about the opportunity to experience nature without having to endure adverse outdoor conditions http://parkhere.info/index.html
This is a list of resources for creating natural play spaces http://www.alinasadventuresinhomemaking.com/2012/01/creating-natural-play-spaces-a-list-of-resources-and-how-tos.html
Building your curriculum part 1 http://creativestarlearning.blogspot.com/2012/01/building-your-curriculum-outside-and-in.html and part 2 http://creativestarlearning.blogspot.com/2012/01/btc-outside-and-in-whats-special-about.html
Great article about children and nature http://kelleyward.hubpages.com/hub/The-Healing-Effects-Of-Nature
Terrific resource about providing outdoor play that meets the needs of 2 year olds http://janwhitenaturalplay.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/meeting-the-needs-of-two-year-olds-in-outdoor-play-provision-early-years-educator-volume-12-issue12-april-2011/