The outdoors – Our Classroom, Our Playground

We envision outdoor learning to be:

• An integral part of children’s everyday life;

• Fun and enjoyable; and

• Both a stimulus for and an extension of what children learn indoors.

What it means for the MK?

Activities should be fun and form part of children's everyday life. The MKs and families play an important role in providing daily outdoor experiences for the children.

Relook at MK total curriculum and consider

how can outdoor learning enrich children’s

learning and development.

In a largely urban society like Singapore, outdoor learning experiences for our children can be conducted in the natural environments or urban outdoor spaces.

What it means for the MK?

MK should use available spaces within and around the centre to provide outdoor learning

opportunities for the children.
To enrich the children’s learning, they should be exposed to the natural environment including the light.

Bringing children to the outdoors, using the outdoors as a physical setting to carry out the activities.

Explore and find out more about the outdoor environments (e.g., about the elements of nature and people and places in the community or neighbourhood).

Taking advantage of the unique characteristics of the outdoors to support children’s holistic development.

1. Learning IN the outdoors

2. Learning ABOUT the outdoors

3. Learning THROUGH the outdoors

Outdoor learning in the Singapore Context

Children develop knowledge, skills and dispositions as they learn through play,

exploration and discovery
in, about and through
the outdoors.

What it means for the MK?

The three aspects of learning are neither distinct nor mutually exclusive but intertwined to fulfil different purposes that are important for children’s growth and development.

Outdoor learning in the Singapore Context

The focus is to encourage early childhood

educators to utilise outdoor spaces in

their immediate surroundings as a

learning resources to complement

classroom teaching and learning.

What it means for the MK?
MKs should tap on the immediate spaces (e.g., primary school’s eco-garden) in planning outdoor activities for the children.

A Sample MK Outdoor Learning Activity

in the HI-Light Programme

The children make use of their sense of sight to look for bugs

around the school.

The teacher reads a book “Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!” and got the children to find bugs in the environment.

The outdoor setting provided a context for the

reading of the story and the nature enhanced the children’s experiences in this activity.

The children experience first-hand the bugs living in their natural habitat.