Children Thrive Outside: A New Day for Outdoor Play in Child Care
Channel: New America
Date: 12/05/2021

Daily access to high-quality outdoor spaces is a human right that has compounding benefits. The long-term physical, social-emotional, and cognitive benefits of daily interactions with nature are clear, especially for young children. Outdoor play is linked to more physical activity, cooperation, and a lifelong connection to nature. As health officials recommend more time outdoors to slow the spread of COVID-19, outdoor learning strategies are needed more urgently than ever. As states decide how to spend new federal funding, now is the time to invest in high-quality outdoor learning environments across early learning settings to ensure that all children have the opportunity to thrive outside.

Join New America’s Early & Elementary Education Policy program and the National Wildlife Federation’s Early Childhood Health Outdoors (ECHO) program for a webinar highlighting opportunities to build outdoor learning opportunities that help young children thrive, especially children who may lack access to safe parks, nearby nature, or free time with family. This webinar builds on New America’s earlier event, Reimagining Early Care and Education: A New American Vision, by presenting high-quality outdoor play and learning as a critical part of a bold, post-pandemic agenda for a strong early care and education system that prioritizes equity and embraces whole-child approaches.

We will examine why investing in and supporting quality outdoor learning in early care and education should be a priority and explore how to make it a reality for all young children. This webinar will feature research supporting outdoor learning as a health equity strategy, success stories from practitioners in urban and rural settings, and policy levers at the federal and state levels for improving the quality of outdoor learning across early learning settings.

Follow the conversation online using #ThriveOutside and following @NewAmericaEd and @NWF.

https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/events/children-thrive-outside/

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