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This latest DVD in Siren Films’ Observing Child Development series looks at an aspect of young children’s play and learning which many practitioners may find difficult to understand and appreciate. Toddlers between the age of one and two can be a challenging, but very rewarding, age group of children to work with. Children of this age are mastering the physical skills they need to explore and make sense of the world but we as adults do not always find it easy to understand their thinking and respond appropriately to it. The outdoors is a wonderful place of adventure for toddlers, ever-changing and full of new experiences, but it is all too easy to dismiss toddlers’ outdoor play as aimless and unstructured without appreciating all the sophisticated thinking and learning that is taking place.
Toddlers Outdoors helps to address this problem in a very straightforward and engaging way. The DVD consists of six separate sequences showing toddlers of 13,15,18,20 and 22 months in a variety of outdoor environments. The commentary describes the toddlers’ play and highlights what each child is doing and is likely to be learning from the experiences. The film sequences show what the children are experiencing physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively, with the commentary creating links to child development in the second years of life. The sequences demonstrate that all the children broadly follow the same developmental pathway but that each child has his or her individual schematic themes or patterns of action. The sequences beautifully illustrate the role of the adult in providing a safe and secure emotional base from which toddlers can venture out to explore the world.
Accompanying the DVD is a set of notes by Jan White about the importance of outdoor provision for children of all ages. These look at the outdoor experiences enjoyed by each of the children in the DVD written in an authoritative but accessible style. Each is accompanied by prompts for developing practice in terms of organisation, the environment, the role of the practitioner and building parents’ understanding of how toddlers play and learn.
Although this may appear at first sight to be an expensive resource, it provides such a wealth of information that can be used in so many different ways that it constitutes real value for money. The DVD and notes can be used for personal study, as part of staff a development programme or to share with parents to build their understanding of how to convey many important messages about the sorts of experiences and adult support that young children need in order to thrive.