Creating an Outdoor Classroom (with linky)

Our Mud Pie Kitchen

Our outdoor play space has been undergoing some major changes in the last year. We have been trying to transition our yard into an outdoor classroom, providing more natural materials and areas to help stimulate various types of play and more child centered learning. I am, by far, not an expert in this field, but I continue to learn and be inspired on a daily basis. In a couple of weeks, I will be sharing my story, my inspiration, and continued plans at an upcoming early childhood conference.

Our outdoor music area

I have found the blogging world to be a HUGE source of inspiration, and I can't thank all of you out there enough! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I want to give a couple of shout outs to Jenny at Let the Children Play, Juliet over at I'm a Teacher Get me OUTSIDE here! , Paige over at Playscapes, and Teacher Tom for not only sharing their own ideas, but also for passing on the ideas of others that have helped us to make some changes in our play environment.

The easel on our fence.

I have been collecting all kinds of ideas on Tumblr, and we have all kinds of plans for additional elements and changes to make to our play space. I would love to gain more inspiration, so.... I am asking you all for help! If you have or know of some great outdoor classroom inspiration (especially in photographs....) please link them up below! I'm going to keep this linky open indefinitely. Feel free to come back and link up often! (I know it will take me a while to link up all of the ideas I have saved, but I think putting together this list will be a great resource for us all!)

Our "stage" curtains.

The guidelines for the linky are: 1) Must be family friendly 2) Must be activities, structures, areas, etc to promote outdoor learning/play Thanks in advance for your help! If you would like, you are more than welcome to add the linky code to your blog as well. The more the merrier!

Easter Egg Caterpillars!

OOOPS! This post has moved, please click on the photo to be redirected!

My friend died

I learned a hell of a lot from Dan Hodgins. He was mentor, a friend, and a "bone shaker" for many of us in the field of Early Childhood Education. He was and will always be a champion for children, and protector of childhood. I have so many great memories of time spent with him, it just doesn't seem like we had enough time. Dan died this past Saturday. Interestingly enough, Dan and I talked about death quite a bit. It is one of those topics that isn't talked about all that much in our field, but is super important. All living things eat, all living things poop, and all living things die. Dan and I recorded a podcast for awhile called "Shaking Bones." Dan was always shaking bones, even before I met him. To say I was honored to be asked to be his co-host would be putting it lightly. I loved recording with him. He was never afraid to touch on topics that were a bit edgy, or issues that sometimes weren't talked about much at all. We even t

A Few Ideas With Marker Caps (As Promised)

Yesterday, I hope I convinced you not to throw away your markers that "don't work." Today, I will share with you a few ideas for what to do with all of the caps. The possibilities are nearly endless, but here are a few of our recent creations: 1) A Leprechaun/Fairy Ladder/Rope Ladder: 2) #1 if not permanently secured can also double as a rope bridge: 3) #1/#2 can also be made into a train track for your homemade trains :). (No photo available) 4) You can use them as beads for a necklace: 5) You could make them into a wind chime. (No photo available). 6. You can use them as small manipulatives to count, sort, and make patterns with. (No photo available). 7) You could use them as playing pieces in your own homemade board game. (No photo available). 8) You could put them on a wire and glue them in place to make a twirling whirly-gig. 9) You could top them with a lid from a milk jug to make tiny tables or toadstools. 10) You could make them

Unknown said…

What a great idea! I love to see what others are doing! We're in the very beginning stages of making some changes to our outdoor learning area, and need all the inspiration we can get! :)

March 6, 2011 at 10:57 AM

Mullin Avenue Workshop said…

Amy,
What wonderful pictures, it's just possible to feel the pleasure of fresh air, and the warmth of the sun in these children!
What a creative happy outdoor play space, It brings to mind the play outdoors I enjoyed outside all day in the neighbourhood as a child in the 1950's. Very wonderful ideas!

March 6, 2011 at 12:44 PM

Laurie said…

I love this link up!

I am a new "follower", but I have followed your blog for a long time. Great stuff.

June 9, 2011 at 1:36 PM

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