Course | Teach Nature Play

Price

The price listed is for the Monthly Cool+ subscription. An additional pricing option is available for an Annual Cool+ subscription at AUD 11.99 per month.

For further information, please visit Cool.org website.

Facilitators

1. Krista Nisi is the Head Writer at Cool Australia and brings over 15 years of experiencing working in education, tertiary and local government. She holds a Masters in Environment (Environmental Education) from the University of Melbourne. Krista looks for innovative ways to involve young people in early learning and school education by helping them explore, think about and engage with the world around them.

2. Dr Dimity Williams is a family physician with an interest in children’s medicine. She is also the Biodiversity Convener for Doctors for the Environment Australia, which seeks to protect health through care of the environment.

Description

Teach Nature Play is a practical course designed for educators who want to bring the outdoors into their everyday teaching. You’ll explore how child-led, play-based learning in natural settings can support healthy development and deep engagement. Through this course, you’ll gain a clear understanding of what nature play is, why it matters, and how to weave it into your early learning programs.

You Will Learn:

Get your children outside and enjoying the many benefits of nature play. In this course, you will learn:

- What nature play is and why it’s important
- How to use a nature play teaching approach
- How nature play supports the EYLF and NQS
- How to include nature play in your learning programs
- How to manage risk and talk to families

Course Content

• Getting Started
01. Introduction
02. Ten minutes in nature

• The Benefits
03. Meet Dr Dimity Williams
04. Children's health is changing
05. Health benefits of nature play

• Types of Nature Play
06. Nature play and outdoor play
07. Two types of nature play
08. Nature playspaces
09. Australia's best playground
10. Wildscapes
11. Making it work for you

• EYLF and NQS
12. Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF)
13. National Quality Standard

• Overcoming Challenges
14. Risks vs benefits
15. Risk assessment
16. Talking to families
17. Nature play associations

• Reflection
18. Reflection
19. Taxonomy of learning
20. Suggestions for collaboration
21. Congratulations

Course Time

This course will take you 2 hours to complete. Enjoy it in one session or spread it out over a few weeks. You will have ongoing access via your personal dashboard.

Accreditation

This course is mapped to the Professional Standards for Teachers. It is accredited for teacher professional development hours:

Proficient Teacher – all states and territories:

2.1.2 Apply knowledge of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area to develop engaging teaching activities.
3.3.2 Plan and implement well-structured learning and teaching programs or lesson sequences that engage students and promote learning
3.4.2 Select and/or create and use a range of resources, including ICT, to engage students in their learning.

This course is accredited by TQI for 2 hours of professional development for teachers in the ACT for 2025.