This project aims to promote equal opportunities in terms of learning through free play and in nature and/or outdoors with natural elements for all children, especially those with fewer opportunities. The Inclusion and Diversity in education are the focus of this project as we aim to reach education professionals of social institutions that educate and care for children from families with fewer opportunities.

The Centro Comunitário de Estoi (CCE – Community Center), where this pilot initiative is proposed, will enjoy an excellent opportunity to innovate your teaching approach and increase the expertise of your educators and others in renowned methodologies used for decades with success in Nordic and European countries. This partnership will be crucial as it involves partners experienced in outdoor teaching and free play, which will be the golden key for transmission knowledge to the target group, contributing to the Development of a High Quality Education in Early Childhood.

We will co-create an approach to apply during a curricular year at CCE, based on Teaching approaches Outdoor, who see the child as a being with their own learning capabilities, and the contact with nature, essential for the involvement of all the senses of children, to unveil creativity abilities, self-knowledge, cognitive, overcoming, self-confidence, emotional intelligence, self-esteem, concentration, communication, social, sensory, aesthetic domain, adaptive and resilience, fundamental for the development of healthy children physically, mentally and emotionally.

An explanatory guide will be developed on how to move towards the innovative but realistic and appropriate approach, developed in this project, complemented by video developed throughout the project, for dissemination and support to other institutions.

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Main Topics in the Project

*The forest as an outdoor learning environment: exploring the richness it offers.
*Examples from different countries around the world
*Take risks and challenges outdoors
*The role of the adult
*Documentation
*Practical activities
*The importance of children’s interests and needs for different age groups.