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Outdoor Preschools

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21–30 of 56 posts

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#21
post #16

This is such a completely fantastic idea. It would expose kids to exercise, sunlight, allergens, and germs. All things scientific theories like the hygiene hypothesis and vitamin d as a marker of outside exposure are telling us are vital to making a healthy child.

> sunlight Skin cancer, much? Maybe in Norway this makes sense. For fair skinned people in lower latitudes, maybe not.

You are aware that you can easily access shade in the great outdoors? Literally, the pictures in the linked article show adults and kids seated in the shade in a wooded area.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#22

cool idea. I think we have one here in San Francisco. I just wonder about rain/snow (for some areas) and then naps..where do they take them? But in general I think the kids (and adults) need more outdoor time

I remember when I was a kid we were spending 6-7 hours playing in the snow. In the evening we'd come home and there was ice on our clothes, shoes and socks. Wasn't a problem. We'd jump off the clothes and take a hot shower or drink some hot tea. Good times. Kids are very resilient. While it was really cold outside the energy generated from our play would warm us up all-right.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#23

My son goes to one of these. We moved him out of another (indoor) preschool. He loves it - the kids seem to get along better, he's been more well behaved, and it seems to foster his creativity. That said, he's also older now! But we've had a great experience.

Your experiment has #samples = 1 and no external variables control, yet I absolutely believe the reported outcome.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#24
I'm old enough to remember a time when both parents didn't work full time and the other parents in the neighborhood helped watch each others children from time to time.

It didn't cost much money, and the part time wages were plenty to cover a lot of expenses. Unfortunately, the value of our money was destroyed by politicians, and wages have been depressed for several decades due to economic policies in place.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#25
Hi everyone.

This is a very concise (11:32) video that goes over some of the culture and thinking around outdoor kindergartens.

I believe that it is quite informative:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkiij9dJfcw&feature=youtu.be

I believe that the best part about these schools is that early on they explicitly teach teamwork and understanding limits. It's quite shocking culturally seeing kids whittling with sharp knives and climbing rather precarious trees but it seems to work well.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#27

Related, Governors Island in NYC has a huge area called 'The Yard' [0] that's full of.. random hunks of wood and metal, pallets, rope, random tires and broken appliances. All for kids to play around in. It's just stuff a normal kid in a big city wouldn't get exposed to. [0] https://govisland.com/things-to-do/programs/playgroundnycs-t...

Maybe you live in more upscale cities than me but that all looks like commonly discarded stuff that some kids walking home from school would play with if they came across it.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#30

My oldest kid was at a Danish outdoor pre-school. They wouldn't be in execpt for taking nap. Other than that they were outside come rain or shine.

I thought nordic kids especially napped outdoors: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21537988

When they are babies yes not later.
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