Week 1 Highlights!
Why is it so important for children to play and learn outside?
Nature has so much to offer children AND adults. Nature can be a fun place to play, learn, grow, and explore. Nature provides so many benefits and allows children to challenge themselves, try new things, learn new things, and grow.
Sessions at HOPE Grove offer a safe space for children and adults to spend much-needed time in the great outdoors. With 3 different groups to choose from, children are able to experience a variety of fun activities that are so important for their development and overall health.
In week 1 of the six-week summer session at HOPE Grove, children had the opportunity to engage in a variety of activities that allowed them to practice communication skills while making new friends, motor skills (fine and gross), and provided multi-sensory input (vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile, visual, and auditory). The vestibular system helps us maintain our balance and allows us to move smoothly and efficiently. Vestibular input can be provided through swinging, sliding, rolling, spinning, tumbling, bending, and hanging upside down. Proprioception is the sense that tells the body where it is in space and is received through nerve input from joints, tendons, and muscles. Proprioceptive input can be found when jumping, digging, pushing, pulling, or climbing.
At the BAREFOOT Babes sessions on Tuesday, we explored the sense of sight, made connections with new friends, and engaged in nature play. Our BAREFOOT Babes friends used their sense of sight to look at the goats, look at new friends while playing or communicating with them, and their eyes helped them walk on uneven surfaces (rocks, woodchips, hills, and the bridge to the tree house). There is so much to watch and observe in nature and we encourage you to allow your child that time to explore the outdoors with their eyes and other senses as well. Activities that you can do at home with your child include nature scavenger hunts, playing games such as “I spy”, and simply watching objects in nature (birds, bugs, airplanes, etc.)
At the HOPE Creators and GROVE Friends sessions, each kid tie-dyed a HOPE Grove t-shirt, made new friends, and played in nature. Tie-dye is always a favorite activity for kids and adults. Did you know that while tie-dying, your kids were working on fine motor skills (squeezing dye bottles), received multi-sensory input (heavy work of squeezing bottles, touching the dye, touching the wet shirts, hearing the dye come out of the bottles), used visual skills to aim the dye at certain parts of the shirts, and also used cognitive skills to plan the design for their shirts and attend to and complete the task.
These kiddos challenged themselves and tested their skills while engaging in activities at HOPE Grove this week. Some kids worked on gross motor skills while climbing trees and running, some worked on fine motor skills while making bracelets and playing with chalk, and all the kids had opportunities to communicate with each other by playing or by asking questions such as “what is your favorite color” or “how old are you” or “do you need help” or “can you help me”. These kids all experienced multi-sensory input when swinging, sliding, digging in the dirt, lifting heavy rocks or big loads of dirt, climbing, touching/feeling different textures with feet and hands (grass, dirt, mud, rocks, sand, etc.), and hearing and seeing various objects in nature.
So, why is nature play and learning so important for children? Because if they were not outside playing, they would miss out on all of these amazing and fun experiences and opportunities to play, explore, learn, and grow.
We are so excited that you are spending part of your summer with us at HOPE Grove and we are looking forward to more adventures with you in the coming weeks!
~Angela & Kristin
