The next two posts of this series will look at those children that prefer either indoor or outdoor settings for learning. With the big push to get children outside more, I hate to bring up that some children prefer indoor settings for learning. However, in order to be true to these children, I will tackle indoor learning preferences in this post.
Children with Respiratory Issues and the Great Outdoors
Lately, all I have seen on early childhood websites, conferences, and blogs has been the great push to get children out into the great outdoors. This has been accompanied with a host of research suggesting that children that spend time outdoors do better in everything. However, as with all things in this world, this does not hold true for every single child. Some poor children actually struggle when they have to spend too much time outdoors. I have severe allergies that force me to limit my time outside. Therefore, I can empathize with these children. I love the outdoors and spent a great deal of my childhood outside, but now, if I go outside, I pay for it dearly. I do agree that all children need some fresh air and sunshine during the day if at all possible. However, during high pollen times or bad air quality days, children with asthma and respiratory allergies just cannot stand to be outside for extended periods of time.
The Shy Introvert
Beyond the physical reasons some children simply cannot spend a great deal of time outdoors, some children actually prefer indoor settings for learning. These children tend to be the shy introverts that become overwhelmed by an outdoor setting for learning. They prefer quiet cozy settings for study and would rather be curled up in a chair with a book than nearly anything on the planet. I have to admit that I have this tendency. I learn better in quiet calm settings. Outdoors has way too many distractions and I hate bugs. I remember a few times when my teachers took us outdoors for our lessons during elementary school. All I did the entire time was fight off and avoid all the creepy crawly creatures. I did not learn much of anything. When I played outside as a child, I learned how to avoid places that had too many bugs or did activities that kept me active to where I did not think about all the bugs in the area. However, even then, there was many a time a bumblebee or wasp has chased me into the house, and that is where I stayed.
How to Tell Indoor Learners
How can you tell if a child will blossom or wilt when taken outdoors? The answer to this may lie in how the child responds to the indoors. A loud rambunctious child indoors will most likely take to the outdoors even if the child is not used to the outdoors. Many children these days simply do not play outside much at all. Many times when you take the children outside all they do is complain. However, some children simply do not know how to play outside and would take to it if they learned. Other children prefer quiet play indoors. These are usually the children that learn better indoors. Let these children have free play outdoors and do not try to cram a bunch of instruction into outdoor time. Many children use outdoor time for stress release rather than learning. In fact, much of the research about outdoor play actually suggests that outdoor play is most beneficial when used in this way. Even outdoor learners need free play time outdoors for stress release. For the indoor learners they may not need as much outdoor time as the outdoor learners. This is the point where you must balance the needs of the individuals with the needs of the group.
What to Do with an Even Split
What do you do if you have half indoor learners and half outdoor learners? Sometimes we get lucky and our groups will be mostly one or the other. However, many times we get groups that are split down the middle. We have children that flourish outside along with children that suffer outside. This is a very tricky situation. For smaller facilities that can be a very big problem. Bigger facilities have the staff to offer various choices for the children. On bad air quality days, the children with respiratory issues can be left indoors while the rest of the children go outdoors. However, when a facility has only one caregiver, everybody has to do the same thing. Many times in this situation the health issues will dictate what is to be done unless the regulations force the poor children with respiratory issues to just suffer. My best suggestion to deal with your indoor learners outside is to have a shady spot and quiet activities for those children. They may still run and play, but they may also require more downtime if you have an extended outdoor session. For the children with respiratory issues, it may be necessary to use face masks for those children if regulations force you to be outside a set amount of time.
The Needs of the Introvert
Before I leave this subject, I want to speak to the needs of the introvert. Many times in our society being an introvert is seen as a problem to be solved. We push all our children to be assertive and to strive for leadership when some people simply do not have the biological wiring for these behaviors. It takes all kinds of people to make a functioning society. The quiet little introverts have their place. Let them be who they are as people. Do not try to change them. They tend to be the ones to discover the next big thing that changes the world.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
Check out Natalie's children's books at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457
No comments:
Post a Comment