Introduction

As family life has now come to be busier, school life is becoming increasingly more important in children's lives.  Children are finding less time at home to play and with security fears growing it is easier for parents to allow their children to play on their computer in the family home, than to let them out into the woods with their friends (Anning et al. 2010).  This has a negative effect on children's growth and as children lack the chances to improve important life skills, such as social and motor skills, in their own home, schools simply have to incorporate this into everyday teaching.

It is not effective to teach all skills in the classroom environment and not all children learn in the same way.  New contexts have now been introduced into some schools to improve learning and I have described in detail the advantages and some disadvantages to teaching in these ways.  I have chosen to cover Play, Museums, Montessori settings and Forest Schools and have included pictures and inspirational videos to support why I believe these have proved to be successful and are important in building children's skills.  Although these may not seem like new ideas, they have been adapted to suit the ever changing curriculum and most importantly ensure the best is obtained from each child as they achieve the education they deserve. 

I have used several reference sources to support my findings which I have referenced throughout each context and non-electronic sources are listed at the end of each post.

Reference List

Anning, A., Cullen, J. and Fleer, M. (2010), Early Childhood Education Society and Culture. London: Sage