Welcome to our May newsletter.

In this edition we discuss the scientific benefits of sunshine and encourage you to get outside to enjoy them.

We also discuss the attitude towards early childhood development in Finland and how their approach has given them the unofficial title as the country with the world’s best education system since 2000.

Happy reading!

The science of sunshine

- Get outside and Soak up the Sun

 Improve sleep 

Research indicates that an hour of natural light in the morning will help you sleep better. Your body creates a hormone called melatonin that is critical to helping you sleep. Because your body starts producing it when it’s dark, you usually start to feel sleepy two hours after the sun sets. Sunshine regulates your circadian rhythm by telling your body when to increase and decrease your melatonin levels. So, the more daylight exposure you can get, the better your body will produce melatonin when it’s time to go to sleep.

 Reduce Stress 

Being outside will help your body naturally regulate melatonin. Melatonin lowers stress reactivity which can help reduce your stress level. Play on a jungle gym while you’re outside and multiply the effect – exercise has also been proven to lower stress.

 Strengthen your bones 

Vitamin D helps your body maintain calcium and prevents brittle, thin, or misshapen bones. Vitamin D isn’t in many of our foods but one of the best (and easiest) ways to get vitamin D is by being outside. Our bodies produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight for as little as five minutes.

 Strengthen your immune system 

Vitamin D is also critical for your immune system, and with consistent exposure to sunlight, you can help strengthen it.

 Fight off depression 

Sunshine boosts your body’s level of serotonin, which is a chemical that improves your mood and helps you stay calm and focused.

 Live longer? Maybe 

A study that followed 30,000 Swedish women revealed that those who spent more time in the sun lived six months to two years longer than those with less sun exposure. More research needs to be done in this area, but it’s something scientists are continuing to study.

A note of caution: A little sunshine can go a long way (and too much is harmful for our skin). Depending on the shade of your skin, scientists estimate your body can produce vitamin D in about 5 to 30 minutes in the sun. If you're wearing sunscreen, you may not produce as much vitamin D.

An admirable approach to free play in Finland

The time available for free play both at school and at home in South Africa is being eaten away by academic, sporting and cultural activities. During the school day, lunch breaks are shorter and often filled with supervised educational activities. After-school hours are being filled with homework and extracurricular pursuits. Where is the time to reap the life-long benefits of free play?

Finland has held the unofficial title as the country with the world’s best education system since 2000 and they value play as an integral part of the school day. Finland’s model of education focuses on the importance of ‘play’ and ‘joy’ in education. 

In Finland, educators believe that free and teacher-directed play embeds life and learning skills, improving attention span, problem-solving abilities and perseverance. Outdoor play is especially valued, with a 15-minute outdoor break every hour all the way up to secondary school level.

In Finland, school, and formal learning, does not start until age seven. Before then, children’s preoccupations are not reading, writing or arithmetic, but learning more important things such as how to make friends, communicate, be active, get creative, explore the outdoors and manage risk.

“The main goal of kindergarten, which about 75% of three- to five-year-olds attend, is not to prepare children for school academically, but to make sure they are happy and responsible individuals”. 

Pasi Sahlberg, Finnish educational expert

Quite a different perspective to that being held in South Africa.

Do we have too big a focus on academics at the expense of developing other aspects of our children’s character at a young age? As parents and educators, we need to try to re-balance the equation in favour of creating free, outdoor playtime for our children so they can also reap the developmental benefits inherent in such activities.

Another happy customer

Bulungula Incubator

Rustics Jungle Gyms recently repaired the jungle gyms installed and cared for as part of the Bulunulga Incubator in Ngileni Village in the Mbhashe municipality.

Lindiwe Tukane - Manager Bulungula Incubator Education Programme, says,

“The Rustics team came here and did a wonderful job, quickly and quietly.

They are such a pleasure to work with.”

Thank you to our team Xolani, Simpiwe and Lungisa for always holding the name of Rustics Jungle Gyms up high!

Bulungula Incubator aims to sustainably end poverty in a generation while enhancing community life and cohesiveness. Its interventions span the spectrum of Pre-conception to Career, in four focus areas: Education, Health and Nutrition, Sustainable Livelihoods and Vibrant Villages. Find out more about this awesome project on their website https://bulungulaincubator.org/.