Learning to Look After the World with Eco Play

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Orison Swett Marden said, ‘We make the world we live in and shape our own environment’, meaning that the way we approach life and how we live directly affects the world around us. As populations increase and the amount of green space is taken up by development, it is even more important that establishments such as; nurseries, schools and children’s centres provide activities that actively encourage children to learn how to care for the world around them. By participating in Eco Play children not only learn about environmental issues at an early age but are also more likely to be happy and have the ability to promote a positive change in the future.

Eco Play and environmental activities tend to be associated with Forest School days and science but can easily be incorporated into maths and English lessons. By participating in Eco Play children learn how plants grow, birds live, the lifestyle of worms and how leaves decompose by planting seeds, feeding birds, observing worms and making compost. As you can see, the principal behind Eco Play is extremely simple and children not only learn important lessons about wildlife and how plants grow, they also learn to respect their environment.

Children’s language skills develop much better when they are able to talk about what they have been doing. When children can explain how they grew the strawberries they are enjoying eating, then they can automatically explain what they did chronologically and accurately. Older children can extend this into their writing and produce a set of well-structured instructions. Imaginations can be provoked by growing your own beanstalk or wondering what the worms are talking about as they wiggle around the soil. Children will learn things that you didn’t even include in the learning objectives or success criteria and that is the subtle magic of Eco Play; it is a win win situation in all areas of learning.

By making Eco Play a feature in the school playground, children will always be able to look at the progress of the plants they are growing and observe the birds and other animals that have been invited into the area. Playdale Playgrounds have devised a beautiful selection of Eco Play playground equipment which includes; Eco Inspection Table, Modular Planter, Vertical Planter, Growth Measure, Planter with Coloured Seat, Worm Villa, Composter, Freestanding Bird Table, Small Hanging Bird Table, Bird Box and Large Hanging Bird Table.

If you would like to see our full range of Eco Play items click here or if you would like to discuss how you could incorporate Eco Play into your playground please contact us.

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