Each year, once a week from April to June Curiosity Corner Preschool moves learning to the great outdoors. Typically we choose a space on the beach at either Locarno or Spanish Banks and the children experience a full 2.5 hour session outside.

Research tells us that outdoor play offers children rich learning experiences, below is a brief synopsis of the top five developmental experiences.

• Physical literacy. Swinging, jumping, climbing and moving their bodies in unique ways offers children opportunity to build strong fine and gross motor skills. Outside children intuitively learn about reflexes, movement control, balance and how to use their bodies within space.
• Emotional Development. Outdoor play allows children to engage in 'risky play' offering opportunities to build self confidence. Among many emotions they will experience joy, fear and concern, all part of developing an awareness of emotions and how to manage feelings.
• Social Development. Social development occurs more naturally in outdoor environments. Children require places where they can test strategies with peers, learn self-control and engage in negotiation skills. Children require space to move around and to use different parts of their bodies. Social development occurs while climbing, building, lifting etc. and while playing with materials that require children to work together to create, take turns, and problem solve.
• Cognitive Development. Studies have shown that outdoor play affects a child's neurological development and how the neural circuits of the brain become wired. Brain development affects all aspects of development. Children who are exposed to outdoor environments that require them to move physically, participate in exploratory experiences such as putting things together and taking them apart, figuring out how to accomplish climbing to the top of the tree, or making the sand wet enough to mold particular shapes, all contribute to the critical thinking and problem solving skills used later in academic environments. Outdoor play environments provide children with new words, which in turn increases their vocabulary, reasoning skills and thinking strategies.
• Environmental Citizenship. Outdoor play areas that provide a natural environment for activities, and exploration that supports children engaging in discoveries that move from simple to more complex, contribute to learning becoming more focused. The more play that includes space and time and exploring their environments and building an appreciation for items such as rocks, water, insects, and trees, the more children begin to develop skills and attitudes of environmental citizenship.