Invited by the Child Education Centre for Teaching & Learning under the Childcare, Elderly and Community Services of the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Shatin), OWLHK was the main co-organizer of the project “ECF-Kids' Greenway-Outdoor Environmental Educational Programme for Preschool Students”. In 2021, we organized professional teacher training about outdoor preschool education. A total of 48 teachers, coming from kindergartens and nursery schools all over from Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories, participated in this training.
We led teachers to visit urban parks for field trips, including Shatin Park, Kowloon Park, Hong Kong Park, Yuen Long Park, and Tai Po Waterfront Park. The training emphasized the importance of outdoor environmental education and provided an overview of Hong Kong's ecology and biodiversity covering themes of birds, plants and insects as examples to conduct outdoor environmental education activities in urban area.
In addition to attending trainings, teachers were required to put their knowledge into practice by designing picture books and outdoor education handbooks for young children. Throughout the process, we, as the professional consultant, guided the teacher in teams to further explore different ecological topics and fun facts. Feedback and suggestions on the design of picture books and outdoor education activities were also given in support of their creation.
We are incredibly grateful to the Preschool Education Center and all participating teachers for their dedication to outdoor preschool education. Let’s work together to create and learn!
The 12 picture books with different themes of ecological fun facts are as follows:
