Website Archive - August, 2006

Spotlight on Outdoor Activities

This month’s websites offer activities geared for the great outdoors.

Children

At Mister Roger's Neighborhood you can discover how things are made by “visiting” different factories; by visiting the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, a fantasy area of puppets and humans that demonstrates how they help each other; and by checking out the online activities, the show and tell activities, the water play activities, and also the recipes. This site is a great tool for developing interactions between a child and parent, a child and caregiver, and even child to child interactions.

Parents

It’s summertime and school is out.  How can I fill my child’s free time? Check out Summer Days: Time for Fun and Learning on PBS Parents. This website has lots of fun things to do to keep your child busy during summer vacation. Try the game with the Berenstain Bears, make recipes from ZOOM, such as Strawberry Surprise Popsicles or Grapecicles, find books that you and your child can read together to enhance reading and language skills, or check out the activities to do while traveling.

Teachers

The Healthy Child Care website has a great article Teaching Health and Safety Through Outdoor Activities by Connie Jo Smith, EdD, Training and Technology Assistance Services from Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY. This article explains the benefits of outdoor play and learning health and safety concepts while outside. She describes the importance of signs, safe outdoor spaces, weather safety, and outdoor exercises and also explains some activities for each of the areas.

everything preschool has several articles and activities for the outdoors ranging from safety and field trips to wet and wild summer fun to building a bird feeder. Check it out!

 

[Posted on July 27, 2006]