B.C. school bans kindergarteners from touching each other | CTV British Columbia News

B.C. school bans kindergarteners from touching each other | CTV British Columbia News

Full article can be read from the link at the top.

What a bloody ridiculous, ill-thought, insurance driven idea. I wonder how long it will take for Australian schools to adopt it?


'A Langley elementary school has banned kindergarten students from touching each other at recess, a policy some parents think is both unnecessary and unworkable.

Mom Julie Chen said she was shocked when she received a letter sent home with Coghlan Fundamental Elementary students on Friday outlining the new hands-off rule.

“I can’t imagine little kids not being able to hug each other or help each other on the playground,” Chen told CTV News. “No tag, no hugging, no touching at all.”'

Toys 'R' Us messes with Mother Nature: trees vs. toys [+video] - CSMonitor.com

Toys 'R' Us messes with Mother Nature: trees vs. toys [+video] - CSMonitor.com

Natures' boring and toys are fun! Corporate interests must really be feeling threatened by the Nature movement to come up with this uniquely crappy advertisement.

Newly completed - Engadine Church of Christ Preschool

Engadine Church of Christ Preschool,

  Engadine, Sydney, New South Wales

Construction: J M Landscapes

I usually post before and after photos of newly completed playspaces but the staff at Engadine have done it form me. They kept an ongoing photo diary of the the build progress which can be viewed here.

Teaching The Hudson Valley

Teaching The Hudson Valley

Usually I'm not a great fan of Apps however these are free and are provided by the Wilderness Society the National Wildlife Federation.

'Every season is right for kids to play outside and explore the world around them. Here are some organizations, books, apps, and nature centers to help you get out there!

                                                                    

"When a child is out in nature, all the senses get activated. He is immersed in something bigger than himself, rather than focusing narrowly on one thing, such as a computer screen. He's seeing, hearing, touching, even tasting. Out in nature, a child's brain has the chance to rejuvenate, so the next time he has to focus and pay attention, perhaps in school, he'll do better...But even if kids don't have any of the specific problems mentioned above, kids who don't get out much lack the sense of wonder that only nature can provide." -- Richard Louv from an interview with Scholastic

More recycled timber furniture

More recycled timber furniture bound for a lucky LDC in Cronulla.

Two armchairs, essential  for kicking back in the shade and catching up on ones reading, or perhaps the perfect place for spending some quality restful time, when plays' become to hurly burly.

 Plus a table and two stools for all those collaborative play activities.

In the Digital Age, How to Get Students Excited About Going Outdoors | MindShift

In the Digital Age, How to Get Students Excited About Going Outdoors | MindShift

Love Sobel.  Full article can be read from the link above. 

A comprehensive report of outdoor activity released this year by the Outdoor Foundation says that only 38 percent of participants ages 6-12, and 26 percent of kids ages 13-17 reported doing things outside like running, hiking, and biking. “Although participation rates were stable for younger participants from 2011 to 2012,” the report states, “the rates are still significantly lower than they were in 2006.”

.....Sobel recommends in his book Beyond Ecophobia that instead of learning about the devastation happening in the rainforest, young children (under fourth grade) should first learn about “even just the meadow outside their classroom door.” ... Sobel has observed that the time to engage kids in social action begins sometime around age 12. Before that, children should be allowed to experience nature for themselves and see the beauty and possibility.

He writes, “If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it.”

Look, Ma – no laptop: kids click with nature - Environmental News | The Irish Times - Sat, Aug 10, 2013

Look, Ma – no laptop: kids click with nature - Environmental News | The Irish Times - Sat, Aug 10, 2013

A great fresh perspective on children and nature"  Full article can be read from the link above. 

"This mass culture of boredom is a recent development. For millennia, most young humans never had time to be bored. Life was a constant battle for basic survival, often involving child labour and great hardship. Even today, far too many children still inhabit that grim world.....landscapes, the cycles of seasonal vegetation and migrations – remains almost invisible to many of us."

"Put children on a football pitch and they will probably wait to play until someone explains the rules, or at least gives them a ball. But put the same children in a meadow, on a rocky shore or in a wood and they will very soon be inventing games for themselves.....The pleasures of that kind of broad interaction with nature will be more deeply anchored if children develop just a little bioliteracy through field trips with teachers or local nature groups"