The impact of outdoor activities on early years’ children

Abstract

Out-of-class education is perceived as a teaching methodology which can improve and amalgamate a variety of vital experiences across the whole curriculum – an extensive selection of activities would connect learners with their surroundings; their environment, their community, their society and themselves. Environmental education connects and stimulates the children through hands-on experiences which determine the importance of how new learning is build; understand new concepts while acquiring new skills. Additionally this can help children to strengthen their achievement across the curriculum. This study, through observations and class discussions analysed through Concept maps, describes the positive effects that outdoor activities have on children and that these benefits help children succeed academically, socially, physically and emotionally. Through various studies, it was observed that lack of outdoor activities will lead to various problems such as obesity, ADHD, stress and other health issues. Therefore it is essential for teachers to adopt an inter-disciplinary approach as this would facilitate the emergence of activities from the outdoor environment.