The Quiet Child & The Boisterous Child – space for both

Every child is unique with individual interests and behaviours. We like to look at their characteristics and construct a session that will interest and engage them in their own way, without too much pressure on achieving.

Quite often, parents set out roles for their child or others to fulfil. How many times have you been in the park or playground and had another parent comment about their child “He’s a quiet boy, isn’t he” or someone makes a call about your child “very boisterous.” This is normal child behaviour with some children full of energy who bounce around a lot and chat, whereas others prefer their own company or small groups. There is a place at The Outdoors Project for all children - shy, confident, energetic, gentle or full of gusto. We invite and encourage all to play and learn outdoors, identifying their personalities and accomodating them. That quiet child may indeed suprise you when in a natural environment and suddenly become full of questions and intrigue. That loud and bousterious child might suddenly settle down being in a green space with reduced stress and freedom to burn off excess energy. We believe children shouldn't be assigned self fulfilling roles as "the joker" or "the shy one", they should all be given regular opportunities to achieve and try something that interests them outdoors. With instructors who encourage self-belief and self-esteem, all children can enjoy being outdoors together and will benefit from doing so, challenging those concepts of themselves and growing in confidence. 

“My kids attend the after school club.  My shy son has become a confident and comfortable participant who has attended for years. Both absolutely love this club and I am so pleased it gives them the opportunity to play unusual and stimulating outdoor games.”

The Outdoors Project gives children a chance to explore, be leaders, investigators, become curious about the world around them and learn something new at almost every session.

When children arrive at the holiday clubs there is always a real mix of personalities. Some come with friends, some with siblings and many on their own, often not knowing anyone at the holiday club. We start off with group warm up games that involve lots of running, and not too much face-to-face chatting, which helps those who may find it more difficult to talk to new people. Green exercise releases feel good chemicals which help children feel more at ease and promote enjoyment and wellbeing.

We love children coming with their friends to clubs, but we also ensure that those on their own are included in group activities from the very start. At the start of the day the children are split into groups (usually by age), this is not set in stone, if the children want to stick with a friend or sibling, or if they want to switch groups half way through the day, of course they can.

Our leaders are fantastic at reading children; very little will surprise them; they know when to step back and let children resolve their own conflicts and when to step in. They can spot the really confident children straight away and utilise these children by mixing them up with the more reserved ones.

The instructors will stay with that group for the day and are on hand to guide and engage both the quiet and methodical, as well as the loud and livelier to participate in the activities in a way that suits their personalities. The variety of activities mean that children have lots of opportunity for different ways of being involved. Some activites are structured, such as firelighting and others require some level of strategy or discussion to win, such as Nerf. This encourages team chat and often the quieter children come out on top here as they sneak past their opponents showing clever tactics.

“My son is always a bit anxious or nervous before going but as soon as he is there, he has a wicked time. He really enjoys the themes and activities and the staff is super friendly and make him feel at ease. I super recommend!”

Being out in nature slows children down, they have the opportunity to examine the smallest details and in our After School Club sessions they begin to notice the change in the seasons in more detail each time, something that during playtime they often don’t tune in to. In their busy lives, being out in nature has never been more important for our children, quiet, loud, funny, shy - all children are welcome at our clubs.

We look forward to welcoming you to one soon.