Outdoor Learning Environments
	Friday, February 14th 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM Presented by Mark Baker, Vice President of Sales and Design at PDPlay CEUs: LA CES 1.5 To reserve this seminar Click Here

Course Description
Children learn by doing. Experience and play in the outdoors are vital to children's well-being, health and development across all areas. For experiential learners, the outdoors provides an exciting, hands-on, deeply interesting space in which children learn from the natural world, one another and from their play.

How an outdoor learning environment is designed, equipped and maintained has a deep impact on youngsters and their learning. Well-designed outdoor spaces encourage discovery, promote activity and provide diverse opportunities for learning. They also encourage creativity, imagination and exploration. By supporting positive social interactions, the development of strong social skills, competence in conflict resolution and growth of communication and language skills, well-designed, well-equipped and well- maintained outdoor learning environments minimize aggressive and/or negative social interactions and behavior.

Biography
Mark Baker is the Vice President of Sales and Design at PDPlay, a turn key manufacturer of award winning recycled plastic commercial play structures and Outdoor Learning Environments. Mark has over 25 years of experience in the commercial playground industry from design to manufacturing to installation. He has spoken and published extensively on the topic of outdoor learning and natural playgrounds. He was the keynote speaker at the 1998, 2001, and 2003 NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) conference's session on outdoor learning and natural play spaces.

After spending a few years at Playmore Design in the late 1980s as the designer of their preschool outdoor play products, Mark founded and managed M&M Playgrounds in North Carolina for over 14 years where he refined his approach to building incredibly popular outdoor learning and natural play spaces at childcare centers throughout the southeastern United States. In 2008 he joined PDPlay in San Diego, CA bringing his ideas and concepts about outdoor learning and natural playgrounds with him. Mark played an instrumental role in the company's development of its very popular Outdoor Learning Environment's product line.

Mark Baker, Vice President of Sales and Design at PDPlay

Schedule subject to change