Supporting Children's Agency in Outdoor Play

Supporting Children's Agency in Outdoor Play

• Fosters independence, creativity, and empowerment in children
• Teachers can support children's agency by:
  • Pursuing interests: aligning activities with children's natural interests and passions
  • Influencing learning: adopting approaches that empower children to take an active role in their learning process

Pursuing Interests

• Creating interest-based centers: designing learning centers around children's interests
• Offering choices in activities: providing children with a menu of outdoor activities or challenges from which to choose

Influencing Learning

• Creating environments for exploration and decision-making: designing outdoor play spaces and activities that encourage children to explore, make decisions, and solve problems
• Encouraging child-led games: inviting children to create their own rules or variations for games played outdoors

Meaningful Engagement

• Characterized by interactions and experiences that are purposeful, relevant, and significant for both students and educators
• Examples of fostering meaningful engagement include:
  • Supporting interest-driven learning: encouraging children to pursue their interests within the curriculum

Importance of Outdoor Play

• Fosters physical development, emotional, social, and cognitive growth
• Provides opportunities for children to:
  • Set their own goals and figure out how to obtain those goals (cognitive development)
  • Negotiate with their friends (social and emotional development)
  • Figure out how to solve problems, keep themselves safe (self-confidence, resilience, and risk management skills)

Key Ingredients for Supporting Children's Outdoor Play

• Time: scheduling time for outdoor play
• Space: providing spaces for play that are interesting and allow for imagination
• Freedom: giving children the freedom to play the way they want to play, including taking risks

Supporting Children's Outdoor Play

• Parents and caregivers can support play by:
  • Allowing time for play
  • Providing spaces for play
  • Giving children the freedom to play and take risks

This quiz explores the role of teachers in fostering independence, creativity, and empowerment in children through outdoor play.