Supporting Constructive Play Outdoors

"I learned to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes." - Maxine Hong Kingston

Supporting Constructive Play Outdoors

In his Exchange article, "Supporting Constructive Play in the Wild," Francis Wardle argues that early childhood programs should support constructive play outdoors as much as they do indoors.  He describes these basics of constructive play outdoors:

"Constructive play involves manipulation of materials to create things: sand, art materials (paint, large chalks, clay, paper), water, woodwork activities, sticks and stones, and a variety of different sized and different type of blocks. Constructive play is the kind of play children engage in when building, creating, making - constructing. It differs from purely motor play in that children are doing something with the materials: using mud and water to create mud pies, digging in the sand to create a tunnel for little cars, siphoning water out of the water table to fill the bucket. And constructive play is the kind of play children engage in when moving dirt from one area to another, collecting rocks in the wagon, and building a fort. It includes building a city in the sandbox; painting a mural on the fence; constructing a playhouse with sticks, fabric, and leaves; and fashioning a boat on the woodwork bench.

"Constructive play is important because it develops specific skills (nailing wood, painting a picture, cutting a post, digging a garden, balancing a beam between two posts), creates a sense of control in children, and develops positive self-esteem. Children who create feel good about themselves.

"Constructive play also develops children who are flexible problem solvers: if a child can construct with concrete objects, the child will learn to construct with words and ideas (Bruner, 1972). Ideas and concepts that are developed under the creative and low-stress environment of constructive play can be transferred to high-stress problem-solving situations. Further, as children learn to plan ahead regarding their construction activities, they learn strategies needed to plan ahead regarding problem-solving situations."

This article is used as the basis of an Exchange "Out of the Box Training Kit."  This kit supplies you with the article to copy for all teachers as well as guidelines for running a staff training session on outdoor play.  To read more about and order it, go to:
http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0191

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.

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