The topic of my diploma thesis is outdoor kindergarten. The thesis is mainly theoretical and is enriched with the interviews of three people working on different levels of education. In the first part of my work I presented the history of outdoor pedagogy and the emergence of first kindergartens and schools in the open air. I have found that people have always seen nature as an important source of information for children. Next, I defined the notion of outdoor pedagogy and explained why this term is more appropriate than the phrase forest pedagogy. I presented the characteristics of the outdoor kindergartens, their advantages and the role of pedagogues in the open air. The key method of outdoor education is playing, as a spontaneous and relaxing activity for which children are internally motivated. For a child to fulfill his potential, the space and time of the play must be flexible and must enable creativity. In the next section, I wrote about outdoor kindergartens around the world. In doing so, I pointed out Scandinavia, where outdoor kindergartens and schools began, and the outdoor education system is part of every educational curriculum. Next, I described outdoor kindergartens in the United Kingdom. They have numerous educational programs for outdoor educators. In my thesis I also described outdoor education in Germany, a leading country in formal arrangement of the outdoor kindergartens. I also wrote about outdoor kindergartens in Slovenia. First, I introduced outdoor education programs that are allready taking place in our country. I pointed out that outdoor kindergartens do not have room in Slovenia yet, because they are hampered by legislation. I reviewed Slovenian legislation and I focused critically on the legalisation of outdoor educatiors, outdoor place and equipment, and the financing of private kindergartens. I enriched my thesis with interviews with a person from the Institute for Natural Learning of the Samorog, with a person employed at the Institute of Education and with a teacher in a public kindergarten.
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