Supervision of Outdoor Environments
One
thing that we do not understand in early childhood is why a teacher is both
allowed and encouraged to sit inside the classroom, yet when you take the
same children outside, somehow they no longer afforded the opportunity to
sit with a child or snuggle up with a toddler in a comfortable space. While
we do not advocate large benches or picnic tables where teachers can congregate
and possibly overlook their supervision duties, we feel that you can provide
the right type of seating outdoors that will both provide comfort for the
teacher and allow the right type of supervision. If we can figure it out indoors,
we can also figure it out outdoors.
One suggestion is to place small benches with backs or individual seats in
areas where large groups of children will be playing, such as near the sand
box area, block play area or near the climbing structure. Logs that are cut
in chunks about 20" high are comfortable for teachers, yet not dangerous
for children to climb upon. Small rockers and wooden gliders available from
garden supply places are perfect for infant yards.
As in the classroom, supervision outdoors is important since many accidents
can happen in the outdoor space. Most childcare regulations are vague was
to what is required outdoors, so here are a few ways to improve your outdoor
supervision.
- Maintain the proper adult to child ratios. Whether your licensing regulations
require it or not, keep the same adult to child ratio outdoors that you
follow indoors. Depending on the outdoor activity, you might in fact need
additional supervision.
- Have a supervision plan. Teachers need to know where they should be watching
and what types of problems they might encounter outdoors. Map out your play
yard and decide who will supervise what activities. Make staff aware of
what area they will be responsible for.
- Use the buddy system. It is best for a teacher and the children if groups
with one teacher not go out alone, but rather combine with other groups
to provide additional supervision. The outdoor area is usually too large
for one teacher to supervise alone. One teacher at least on the yard should
have training in pediatric first-aid/CPR.
- Have an emergency plan. You will need a plan of action for both accidents
and more serious emergencies. Who will be contacting 911? Who will administer
first aid? Who will call the parents? These are just a few of the items
that need to be outlined.
- Rehearse the plan. Most state licensing regulations require that you
practice indoor safety procedures such as fire drills and tornado drills
but state nothing about practicing outdoor safety drills. Children panic
in an emergency situation; therefore practice will enable both staff and
children to be better prepared to address the situation at hand. Set up
a regular time when you will practice your outdoor emergency plan and record
your times of practice for your insurance company.
- Communication issues. How will the outdoor staff be able to communicate
with the indoor staff, not only in an emergency, but also in the daily operations
of the program such as during pick-up time? If possible, staff should have
access to mobile phones or walkie-talkies.
- On-going outdoor play yard inspections. Just as you inspect the classroom
for hazards on a daily basis, a checklist for daily and weekly inspections
will help to keep your outdoor area maintained well and help cut down the
incidents of injury.
- On-going training. At least one person on your staff will need to be
a certified playground safety inspector. This training is provided by both
the National Program for Playground Safety and the National Park and Recreation
Association. The person who is certified can be the person responsible for
developing on-going training for staff in safety and supervision issues,
as well as the person who completes regular inspections. This requirement
was added to the proposed NAEYC Accreditation Standards for a child care
program being accredited after 2005.
Outdoor supervision requires the same planning, forethought and follow-up
that are needed to supervise the indoor classroom. A safer outdoor environment
can help give your children the freedom they need to explore the outdoor world
and all its wonders.