Healthy, Active and Outside!: Running an Outdoors Programme in the Early Years

Healthy, Active and Outside!

Running an Outdoors Programme in the Early Years

By Janice Filer

Price: $33.95

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ISBN: 978-0-415-43652-6
Binding: Paperback
Published by: David Fulton Publis
Publication Date: 17th January 2008
Pages: 192

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About the Book

'There’s a growing awareness that for the good of their health, children need to be out and about more, with their friends, exploring the outdoor world in their own way.' - Nicola Butler, Director of the Free Play Network

It is widely acknowledged that children today do not get outdoors often enough and there are serious concerns about children's activity levels and rising associated behavioural, mental and health problems. With such structured and technology-driven lives, it is easy for young children to stay indoors, play on computers and not socialise with other children in a healthy and active way.

This book not only supports 'playing out' as an integral part of children’s natural growth and development, but also provides early years workers with a full programme of outdoor physical activities to promote physical, social and behavioural skills.

This book is a guidebook to setting up an outdoor physical activity programme in any early years setting. The book focuses on how getting outdoors and taking part in physical activities will provide children with positive fun experiences to enhance their general learning and development. The programme can be adapted to suit any timescale - from a whole term to one or two days.

Key features include showing practitioners:

how to make the most of their outdoor area for all children

step by step explanations to the outdoor activities

how to engage participants (including parents)

how to set up and plan activities

ideas for group and individual assessment

how to carry out risk assessments

how an outdoors programme can change children's lives for the better.

Reviews

Outdoor physical activity intervention is an important area. Many early years settings are becoming aware of the value of outdoor learning and are seeking to increase their outdoors provision. They are always eager to hear new ideas and ways of working outside. Early years practitioners are beginning to use outdoor activity programmes but many settings would welcome further ideas and information on how to extend their outdoors provision. Using the outdoor environment will be of particular interest to those adults who work in school holiday clubs and after school clubs and the book will provide a valuable reference for those who work in extended schools. This book appears to be a very practical resource which links theory clearly with practice. The "step-by-step" structure, coupled with the practical resources in chapter 10 will prove to be a useful, motivating and easy to use format for all early years practitioners. All the chapters sound interesting and necessary, and the material is adaptable and flexible.

Nicky Hutchinson, David Fulton author

All children should be able to benefit from this type of programme, and it would enrich children’s experiences. The book is based in experience and practice and therefore is likely to ‘speak’ to the reader.

Gail Ryder Richardson, Learning through Landscapes

The week by week programme is a strength of the book and many practitioners want to be told what to do in this format. This sort of thing sells.

Helen Bilton, David Fulton author

'The author has presented a thorough background to the benefits of learning outdoors, along with practical advice on how to establish an effective outdoor space... The amount of information presented, in the forms of theory, guidance and practical resources, make it an excellent resource for any practitioner wishing to develop their outdoor provision' - Early Years Update

1. Introduction 2. What the Research Tells Us 3. Creating the Outdoor Environment 4. Safety for Healthy Outdoor Learning 5. Moving Outdoors 6. Theory into Practice 7. Assessing Children Outdoors 8. Final Goodbyes 9. Conclusion

About the Author(s)

Dr Janice Filer currently works as both an LEA officer for a crèche unit for vulnerable families (funded by the Children's Fund) and as a Behaviour Support Teacher. She is qualified as a secondary PE teacher, a nursery teacher, a SENCO, and has a PhD in Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences. She has written three books for teachers working with young children on the themes of Outdoor Play, Dance and Movement and a book about Autumn activities, published by Scholastic.