6 Summary of Session 2
Now that you have completed Session 2, you will have gained an overview of why babies are often missing when we consider the outdoor environment and why it may not be considered an appropriate environment for them. One of the issues you have explored is how and why the outdoors is mostly connected to ideas about physical fitness and health. Some ideas around safety and risk have also been considered and will be explored further in Session 4. You may have thought about your own practice either as a parent or carer of young children. Perhaps you wondered how to keep babies warm and dry outside. Or perhaps you notice how very young children have to be kept apart from slightly older ones for their own safety. However now you have noted how safety concerns can impact negatively on provision for very young children, you may have begun to think about how you could introduce changes into your practice.
You should now be able to:
- describe why young children (birth to two) can be missing from research and practice in this area
- outline why the outdoors is seen predominantly as a place for physical development
- identify concerns about risk for young children outdoors.
In the following session you will look more closely at the work of one of the Early Childhood pioneers mentioned in Session 1, Friedrich Froebel. As already hinted at in Session 1, Froebel had some important things to say about very young children outdoors and you will be able to find out how practitioners still draw on his work today to inform their provision.
You can now go to Session 3 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .