National Pyjama Day 2023

Outdoor Odyssey

Outdoor Odyssey

Early Childhood Ireland would like to thank Jan White, Menna Godfrey, all our guest speakers and ECI members that so generously gave of their time and expertise to make our Conference and events such a fantastic success. The conferences in Dublin and Galway created a wonderful energy and enthusiasm for more showcases and further continuous professional development programmes. We will shortly be conducting a survey to gather information on the type of outdoor event that would best meet your needs and that you would like to attend. So keep an eye to our website and Early Times weekly for upcoming events.

The Landscapes for Early Childhood Network UK participated in our outdoor conferences and visited five settings over the course of the week. Carraig Briste, Wigwams, Cuan na hOiche, Natural Start, and Bizzy B’s. Our visits incorporated a range of sites from lush green fields to concrete yards. We were able to demonstrate how our members were meeting the challenges of differing landscapes in their commitment to providing outdoor play and experiences. They were all working with varying size plots and differing resources yet still ensured that outdoor play was an engaging, enriching experience for their children. There may have been differing types of service provision experienced, but they all had one thing in common; committed providers passionate about outdoor play.  As Janet one of the UK delegates commented

“I was very much inspired by the passion and commitment of the practitioners and by the way the outdoor environments were created around the needs and interests and with the involvement of the children. I gained a real sense of care well- being and community over, education, next steps, and meeting targets – so refreshing.”

So to one and all involved in this past week, attendees, exhibitors, presenters, keynote speakers, hosting services and all who worked tirelessly to organise each event THANK YOU one and all. The children within our settings are reaping the rewards of all our work.

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