Outdoor Play and Ecological Learning: Towards an Integrated Sustainability between Green and Blue Literacies


Abstract

In a time marked by ecological crisis and digital transformations, new educational challenges are emerging from early childhood, particularly regarding children’s relationship with technology and the need to foster an Emergent Ocean Literacy (Ødegaard et al., 2024). In this context, outdoor play represents a privileged device to support education for sustainability, fostering an affiliative bond between children and the natural world and contributing to the development of environmentally esponsible behaviours throughout life. This contribution explores the potential of play in and with nature, focusing on the role of early childhood professionals in designing playful and learning outdoor contexts that consciously and reflectively integrate digital and scientific tools in support of an embodied, inclusive, and transformative education, in meaningful dialogue between the green and the blue.