Starting with the end, I was amazed at how many resources there are to support the belief that dirt is healthy from a sanitation point of view. This will give me confidence as I encourage to play in the dirt when they may still be putting things in their mouths. I will supervise and teach babies to keep the dirt in their hands, not in their mouth. Heaven forbid mommy would find dirt or worse yet, bugs in their stool. I’d be done.
I have just gone through the minimum standards and realized that although I’m very good at having kids wash hands . I hand not been having them wash their hands when they come in from outside. I did when they were dirty and muddy, but not otherwise. We did wash before meals. I’m am very aware there could be fecal matter from birds or animals and I will continue to have them wash hands and be better about washing before they come in.
Organization is always a challenge for me. Many of the examples are very attractive. For me it is a question of how should I spend money. Buy beautiful containers, or as I many times do, use a cardboard box.
I loved that this training so emphasized the outdoor experience for children. It is clearly on my website, but it gave me some ideas of how I can relay this to parents. As time goes on I will continue to add things for the children to my outdoor environment. I still think the field, woods and park of Frisco Commons are one of my greatest assets to my program.