Out to Play CPD Webinar for Early Years Practitioners
The Early Years CPD webinar explores Eco Drama’s award-winning Out to Play approach. Through an interactive online session, early years practitioners, nursery support staff and education facilitators gain practical ideas and creative learning techniques to embed drama, storytelling and creativity within outdoor learning and play. Participants are provided with their very own Early Years Out to Play Resource Pack.
“I watched this with one of my staff team and the next day she was already using ideas from the session and has been doing so since. The children are really loving the nature call.”
How Does It Work?
The 2 hour Early Years CPD webinar takes place on Microsoft Teams. Individuals or settings can book onto a webinar by following the booking link below.
The webinar is open to any early years practitioner in Scotland/ the UK, and is also available to non UK educators, with past participants attending from across Europe, Canada, USA and Australia.
Out to Play webinars are frequently commissioned by councils as a means to provide multiple settings across a local authority with access to quality CPD training for early years practitioners. Past collaborations include commissions from Glasgow City Council, East Dunbartonshire Council and Perth & Kinross Council.
To discuss booking a webinar, or a set number of places for the nurseries in your council, please contact Schools Project Manager Suzanne Prak-Sandilands – suzanne@ecodrama.co.uk
Creative Outdoor Learning and Play in Early Years Settings
During the session participants explore how to integrate arts-based outdoor learning and play into the early years curriculum, how to re-imagine nursery grounds into a place of adventurous learning and how to utilize creative learning methods such as drama, nature-based storytelling and imaginative play in order to engage young children with the natural world.
The webinar will be tailored to the early years practitioner with playground spaces in urban areas in mind, and will include practical and creative activities, short film clips of an early years Out to Play session in action, and interactive opportunities for online teamwork and discussion.
The Early Years Out to Play resource pack is posted out after the webinar, supporting participants to further develop their creative outdoor learning and play practice.
Watch our mini documentary which tells the story of our Early Years Out to Play resource pack, filmed by Mike Rea at Westercraigs Nursery, Glasgow.
Contact
To book a place on one of our upcoming Early Years Out to Play CPD Webinars, please fill in this form, or to discuss commissioning a webinar for your nursery or council, please contact Schools Project Manager Suzanne Prak-Sandilands –
suzanne@ecodrama.co.uk or call 0141 552 9920
Session Leader
The CPD webinar sessions are led by Eco Drama’s Creative Engagement Artist Saffron Gillies, who has been delivering the early years strand of Out to Play throughout 2022 and 2023, commissioned by Glasgow City Council.
This has included Out to Play in a Day sessions and a series of early years Mini Residencies, working in-depth with multiple nurseries across Glasgow. Saffron and the Eco Drama team have also delivered Early Years Out to Play CPD webinars for practitioners across Glasgow, Scotland and the wider world.
Saffron has also been delivering Out to Play residencies in several primary schools across Glasgow throughout 2021-2023. Read more about Saffron here
Feedback
“I thought it was the best online training I’ve ever participated in: lively, relevant, interesting, well-structured, down-to-earth, helpful,
Early Years CPD Webinar, Feb 23
considerate, inspiring! Very professional.”
“Thank you, it gave me lots of ideas and the confidence to have a go as drama is out of my comfort zone.” Early Years CPD Webinar, Mar 22
“It was very well presented with lots of inspirational ideas to provoke enquiry and imagination.”
“Thanks to everyone for today’s webinar. I found it extremely thought-provoking and it has given me more confidence to promote outdoor drama and storytelling within my setting.”
“It was worth the 4am wake up to join from Australia. Thank you.” Early Years CPD Webinar, Feb 23
“I thought this session was great, would have loved to have been there in person! The presenter was really passionate and it showed which in turn makes you want to develop your own practice and try to reach that level of enthusiasm.”
“This webinar gave me more inspiration and motivation to bring more storytelling and drama to my outdoor provocations.”
“I have taken away some fabulous advice.”
“The course helped ease some of the fears I have regarding creative and risky play and allowing the children to take full charge of their learning outside.”
“The session was so beneficial as it provided us with great ideas about using outdoor space and gave us so much information about the benefits for children of playing outdoors.”
