This day I went with half of my course to an close island where an outdoor kindergarden was spending his time. We had the task to observe the children, the pre-school teachers and the area, they used for their plays. In the three hours, we spent on the island we had a great time with the kids, which were approachable for us and I was playing with them most of the time.

Some of my observations:

– One of the children is nominated as “leader” for the day and has tasks like ringing the bell at the boat when it’s leaving or counting the rest of the kids for integrity.

– Kids are allowed to move on their own as long they can still see the tipi (big tent which functions as base) or the caretakers. Often they gather and the leader counts them.

– There were two caretakers ith them but they have mostly little influence on the play of the children. When there are safety aspects, then they will intervene. As example, one of the children was crawling under a net (see pictures) where other children where jumping around. Sometimes there are also organised games with the caretakers and the whole group, but mostly the children play on their own.