Positive learning outcomes are essential for the individual growth of the children at your Centre.
They help to create a comprehensive approach to education that sparks all the important areas of learning.
So, finding ways to encourage positive learning outcomes is always a top priority.
It might surprise you to learn that a multi seat stroller can be a valuable resource when it comes to learning outcomes.
Keep reading to find out more about this concept.
How Multi Seat Strollers Positively Impact Learning Outcomes
Children Of The 2020s
The Ministry of Education’s strategic plan for early learning, He taonga te tamaiti - Every child a taonga, paints a picture of what ECE learning is like in the 2020s and what the projected goals for this decade are. Obviously, it has some interesting insights!
Nationwide, attendance levels are up in ECE Centres, meaning that a large number of NZ children are spending a lot of their time in early childhood group settings. “This highlights the critical role early learning services have in raising healthy citizens and setting the trajectory of learning for a lifetime.”
The report also shines a light on the spaces that the children frequent while in ECE care. Unfortunately, it states that NZ’s minimum standards for ‘activity space’ compare poorly internationally. So, this demonstrates a need for ECE Centres to be able to offer a diverse range of educational environments.
As one of the success measures for the strategy is that children have access to “natural, spacious outdoor areas,” regular excursions are the perfect solution.
The Power Of Excursions
“We have children here 50 hours a week… if we do not take them out to see the world who will?”
This is a direct quote from an ECE educator. It was obtained as part of a doctoral study conducted by Debbie Ryder, an ECE specialist PhD student. The study focused on the importance of excursions in the early learning space, and allowing children to see the ‘people, places and things that may not otherwise experience.’ Parents were also invested in the idea of excursions, with one individual stating that they are valuable for children because ‘on the outings they see real life happening.’
While large scale centre-wide excursions may be obstructive to organise, several small-group excursions are much more manageable and may even ‘offer learning opportunities of a higher quality for individual children.’
A multi seat stroller is the ultimate accessory for those smaller scale excursions, as it allows educators to safely transport up to 4 children in the stroller. Knowing the younger Centre members are safely harnessed in the stroller reduces safety concerns and allows for other walking children to participate too.
It also removes the obstructions of having to worry about car restraint requirements and the carbon footprint element! For Centres appropriately located in the community, the children can simply be strapped into the stroller with the correct amount of adult supervisors present and a whole new world is opened up.
Positive Learning Outcomes
How exactly can a multi seat stroller contribute to good learning outcomes for the children? Well, a multi-seat stroller is a safe and effective way to take the children on excursions away from the Centre where a lot of learning can take place.
Here’s how it can help:
Enabling Inclusion
For many Centres, children have to be of an age where they can confidently walk before they are able to attend excursions. However, armed with a stroller that comfortably seats up to 4 non-walking children, educators can immerse many of the youngest Centre members in the benefits of nature and the local community. This provides immense learning opportunities as babies and toddlers learn something different from every environment they encounter.
Road Safety
Road safety education does factor into early learning, but it is something that is covered as a special topic, potentially for a week in the year. Regular excursions in a stroller can help to reinforce the principles taught during road safety modules and they do it in a practical sense. The children get to practice their awareness and safety protocols every time they leave the Centre, and they can do it in a safe way, harnessed into a stroller.
Compliance with Te Whariki
The New Zealand early childhood curriculum, Te Whariki, ‘encourages teachers to provide a range of rich learning experiences for young children that will foster their growing understanding of people, places, and things in the wider world.’ Excursions are proven to be an effective way of supporting young children's learning and development, reinforcing the principles highlighted in Te Whariki.
More Confidence
Participating in trips to places outside of a child’s early learning centre can help them become more confident in social situations. Greater confidence helps foster independence, better communication, more participation, a better self-image, stronger resilience and wellbeing, and a positive learning experience.
Learn To Explore
When children can get out and about in their local community, they are able to experience new surroundings and things to explore. Children who can question things and explore prepare themselves for lifelong learning. By exploring in the early years, they stimulate their cognitive development, encouraging the vital skills of critical thinking and problem solving.
Choosing The Right Multi-Seat Stroller
Successful excursions will rely on having the right multi-seat stroller for your Centre. Every Centre has different needs, so it is important to choose a stroller that is going to help your children get out and about more.
The KinderPod Arohanui is often the perfect solution due to its versatility. The base is a side-by-side double stroller that is comfortable enough to sit two preschoolers, but compact enough to easily fit through standard doorways. The magic happens when you add the extra ‘pods’ or seat attachments.
Choose from a selection of toddler seats and reclining baby seats to tailor a transport system that perfectly suits your Centre. The seats are so easy to change that you can have a different setup for each trip out, depending on who is attending.
Check out the KinderPod Arohanui 4-seat stroller here.