The Lead up to the Conference.
In the lead up to the “Exploring the Great Outdoors” Conference, a number of outdoor workshops were made available to all services participating in the Early Years Health Promotion Project. They included creating wormeries, planting flowers and herbs and outdoor art. The workshops were organized to encourage a variety of outdoor activities for both staff and children. It was an opportunity to explore the outdoors through art, gardening
Wormery Workshops:
Children from Tiny Toppers Manorhamilton, Dowra Childcare and Cloone Playgroup made their very own wormeries for their services. Nova Gatsby from Wrigglers Worm Farm, Dromahair showed the children how to make their wormery and how to look after it. The children got to put compost and sand into the box and got to hold the worms before putting them into their new home and feeding them. The children really enjoyed holding the worms and learning all about them. They are now looking after their wormeries in their services and waiting for the rich soil to be produced for their plants!
Planting workshops:
Aisling Blackburn from The Organic Centre, Rossinver helped children to plant a three little pigs garden in their service. Drumkeerin Playgroup, Dromahair Playgroup and Tiny Hearts Creche Manorhamilton participated in these workshops. Children planted flowers, vegetables and herbs in around their stone, straw and wooden gardens while telling the story of the three little pigs!
Childhood Days, Drumshanbo already had their own garden so with a little help from Steffi Otto from Rossinver Organic Centre and a lot of help from the children from Childhood Days they replanted a sensory garden. The children got to plant, feel and taste the different herbs that they planted and even enjoyed some herbal tea when they finished their hard days work.
Art Workshops:
Children from Breffni Childcare, Cara Iosa Childcare and Mohill Afterschool designed a decorated their own name badges. They then made and decorated greenhouses where they put three different types of seeds and will watch them germinate in the coming weeks.
“Exploring the Great Outdoors” Conference
On Saturday the 26th of September The Early Years Health Promotion Project hosted a successful one-day conference promoting outdoor play and activity at the Castle Dargan Hotel. The conference was attended by over 100 childcare workers, parents and statutory workers.
Opening the event Chairperson of SCCC, Roisin Mc Gloin highlighted the fantastic work that childcare practitioners are doing on a daily basis and that by their commitment to exploring new ideas were providing excellent opportunities for children to explore and discover. She emphasized that by allowing our children to explore the great outdoors we are providing them with the gift of this wonderful world.
Speakers at the conference included Claire Warden of Mindstrecthers, a company who provide children with real world environmental experiences and education. She marveled all with her description of Scotland’s first Nature Kindergarten where children spend up to 90% of their day outdoors. The Kindergarten is situated in woodlands and children can climb trees, make dens and explore the wonder of what the woodlands has to offer.
The second speaker was Carol Duffy, Training and Quality Specialist with the IPPA (Irish Preschool Play Association) provided advice on how to make the most of any outdoor space. She highlighted how our favourite childhood memories such as petal perfume and playing house in the bushes and shrubs remind us of the freedom we had as children, and challenged us to examine how we can provide the same natural environments for our children.
Teresa Cassidy from Dromahair Playgroup, Leitrim and Tina Butler from Lifestart, Sligo both spoke on how they developed outdoor areas in their respective services.
Teresa gave an informative account of how they started off with a patch of grass and have developed their outdoor area into a place where children can grow and learn about different plants and vegetables, play with sand pits and eat their lunch under shaded canopies.
A variety of workshops were also offered on the day which included;
• ‘Out Arting’ - A practical workshop where participants experienced different ideas for doing art with children using materials from nature was facilitated by Pia Leuck.
• ‘Sowing Seeds for Change’ - This workshop was facilitated by Ciara Barrett from Rossinver Organic Centre on planting flowers and herbs with children.
• ‘Naturalistic Outdoor Play’ - Niki Buchan from Mindstretchers looked at the role of nature in stimulating creativity and supporting children in developing life skills through play using natural elements.
• ‘Developing and Sharing Learning Stories’ - This workshop demonstrated the benefits of developing learning stories as a way of promoting outdoor play and was facilitated by Carol Duffy of the IPPA.
• ‘Games for All’ - This practical workshop was facilitated by Shane Hayes of the Sligo Sports Partnership and explored a range of outdoor and adventure activities designed to encourage young people to adopt a healthy lifestyle such as basic orienteering and team building.
Closing the event Paschal Mooney Chairperson of LCCC acknowledged and the expertise of the guest speakers and also thanked them for their informative presentations. He also expressed sincere thanks to all the participants for their commitment and continued hard work in promoting the health and well being of all our children.
The feedback from the event has been very positive and enthusiastic with one participant commenting, “Brilliant day, loads of ideas. Great talks. Cant wait to put ideas into action!” Another participant commented, “The amount of info, booklets and flyers was great, felt I learned a lot.”
Following on from the conference, The Early Years Health Promotion Project hopes to help services develop their outdoor areas so that children can learn and enjoy the benefits of the outdoor environment.
Breffni Childcare
Dromahair Playgroup
Dromahair Playgroup
Key Note Speakers & Project Workers
