Learning for Little Ones: Outside Play!

I think many of us (ok... pretend so I don't feel alone) forget how important it is for our little ones to have time outside. It was easy to get into an *inside* rut during the winter... even more so since Tornado learned to walk just as winter began. Add to that the fact that I'm just pleased as punch (what does that mean anyway?) to stay inside myself... away from the bugs, away from the heat, away from the evil sun and all its skin cancer scares... and you've got one penned up little boy! And for a little boy "named" Tornado, you can do the math!

Yesterday we (Tornado, Sweet Pea (in the sling), myself, and our high school intern) went outside for a walk. When we got back to the house I let Tornado run around in the yard for a while. It's only a front yard right at the street, so we don't spend much time there, but it was so fun. The following pictures (note that there are no identifying parts pictured... sorry, it's an internet security thing) were taken by our intern as she was learning some about taking pictures of a moving target! :)

Tornado loves to run! And let me tell you, he was everywhere. What does this have to do with learning??? Let's just say it's the Phys. Ed. part of homeschooling and our toddlers need it as much as any child. They have so much energy to burn!

He crawled through the grass... great for tactile learning. Grass has a texture hard to duplicate inside the house!

Let's just call these push-ups... though I have no idea what happened here. :) It almost looks like he's starting a race, but there was no one else around.

He loves to run round looking for leaves and branches and sticks and such...

When he finds them he sticks them through the grate of the drain in our front yard (his daddy taught him that!)

He's never done this before, but for some reason he just had to sit on it! :) I think it took lots of thought to decide to sit right in the middle. Who knows... maybe there is some imaginative play happening here. He doesn't talk enough for me to know.

Oooh, more things for the drain! This is practically in tact still. I don't think he pulled it off the tree. Nope, I'm almost sure he found this on the ground already! :)

I love this picture because it pretty much sums up the story of who Tornado is... always on the move. The drain is in perfect focus because that is where those little feet were a second ago... but she just didn't get the shutter pressed in time. He was off!

What a great hour (ok, half hour is more like it) of learning outside... now that's child led learning if I've ever seen it!


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Labels: As it happens..., Learning for Little Ones

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 4:26 PM