No matter whether you are at school or at home, you can go ahead and look out of your window. You might be seeing a well groomed and manicured grassy backyard with a shade tree and also a state of the art commercial climber which probably has shredded rubber mulch. Most of you have a cracked concrete play surface by the side of a busy street which is guarded with the fences. These can be playgrounds for the kids but obviously, we can improve the outdoor experiences for our little kids.
The natural play spaces in childcare certainly have several priorities. Now you can easily design a natural playground for your children at your backyard and you do not need to invest more amounts on it. You can use natural grass carpets or install some artificial grasses on your natural playground, and you can easily maintain the same at no extra cost.
Starting with the senses
You have to ensure that your existing outdoor space has both the permanent as well as seasonal elements which are completely delightful for the purpose of smell, touch, see, hear and taste. The kids while playing in the space should be able to discover the senses like big and small, sweet and bitter, rough or smooth, slimy or crunchy, cold or warm, dry or cold, light or heavy, calming or earthy etc. All these mentioned sensory experiences and also help in developing the intellect of the child.
The children can instinctively sort, grade, match and organize the leaves, sticks, stones or any of the available natural things which they can find in nature. This would fruitfully ignite their abilities of problem solving and reasoning. There is also a rich variety of several spontaneous as well as ordered sensory experiences which have the ability to pave the path for learning.
You can also preferably add mystery bags, binoculars, blindfolds and magnifiers which would, in turn, extend the experiences of the kids in a major way. But this is to be kept in mind that you should be present nearby in order to support the kids. Apart from that, you must include proper safety measurements in your natural playground for your children and you should protect your ground with metal fences or mashes.
How would you design your natural playground?
Several motor challenges: The kids should breathe deeply and able to climb and jump at your outdoor place. The experts say that you must let the children to freely fall and shake it all, enjoy the experience of getting wet and muddy and also let their confidence begin to soar tremendously. You can also include the shovels, wheelbarrows as well as a scooter which can certainly help but in case you are not able to afford them, then you can decorate your outdoor playground with natural grasses. The kids are intelligent and can very well figure out how to have a lot of fun even without these pieces of stuff.
Solitude spaces: You can create a couple of spots in your outdoor space which are very beautiful and very comfortable to sit, lie down and facilitates your thinking while you are sitting alone. The kids should be able to watch the clouds, smell the breeze and fee the sun. The experiences of being in the lap of Mother Nature would develop the kids in a great way.Availing natural play spaces in childcare can be of major help in the development of the kids like it would boost their emotional wellbeing & confidence, concentration & attention skills, curiosity, communication skills, coordination and balance, problem-solving skills, physical health as well as physical well-being, impulse control, resilience etc.