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In their Exchange article (July 2005), "Play and the Outdoors:  What's New Under the Sun," Susan Oliver and Edgar Klugman make a strong case for the importance of getting children outdoors more.  Their article offers a long list of suggestions for making the most of outdoor play at your center and includes this plea...

"As an early childhood educator, you are in a powerful and unique position to make sure that children’s exposure to the outdoors and its ever-changing wonders is woven into the core of your curriculum �" and the fabric of their day.  The many sights, sounds, smells, and textures of the outdoors make it a natural classroom, and one that fits the exuberant gross motor, construction play, and symbolic play instincts of preschoolers.  In fact, research indicates that preschoolers engage in richer symbolic play outdoors than indoors thanks to the relatively greater availability of low-realistic, low-structured, natural materials, spaciousness, and teacher involvement found outdoors as compared to indoors.

"Other advantages you’ll find when you step outside with your class include greater opportunities for children to engage in: 

1. free play, because adults tend to control indoor play more closely than outdoor play;
2. different types of social arrangements, because the nature of outdoor games and exploration offer children chances to break away from their regular alliances;
3. play that contributes to their movement skills and physical fitness."

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