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

Janice Filer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415436524 ISBN 13: 9780415436526

Publisher: David Fulton Publishers, 2008

'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.

Product Description:

Healthy, Active and Outside! A guidebook to setting up an outdoor physical activity programme in different early years settings. It focuses on how getting outdoors and taking part in physical activities provides children with positive fun experiences to enhance their general learning and development. Full description

Review:

'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