In the first of a two-part series on planning for the outdoors, Jane Drake looks at how inside provision can be replicated outside
Awell-planned outdoor area can, and should, enable children to make progress towards the early learning goals in all areas of the Foundation Stage curriculum. Just as indoor areas are organised and resourced to offer a wide range of learning opportunities, so the outdoor environment should be planned to encourage active learning across the whole curriculum.
Outdoor learning should be available to children as part of the permanent and continuous provision and, ideally, children should have free access between the indoor and outdoor areas for as much of the session as possible. For children to be able to make links in their learning, and to follow their own interests, they must be able to make choices and decisions and to develop ideas over time.
Planning areas
When planning outdoor provision, it is a good idea to organise the space into several areas and take into account the size and position of each area in relation to the sort of activities that will go on there. Make available:
- Play areas such as sand, water, paint, role play and construction, just as you do indoors. However, they may include different resources that will enable children to work on a larger scale or to extend their investigations in another context. For example, outdoor water play could include collecting rainwater and building systems for transporting the rainwater from the collection tray to the garden area, using guttering and crates.
- A space large enough for children to run, skip and jump.
- A designated area for wheeled toys.
- An appropriately resourced climbing and balancing area, ideally with both flat areas and gradients.
- A quiet area where children can sit and observe, reflect and talk with friends. It could include outdoor seating, rugs and cushions and should also offer a range of books and magazines.
- A free digging and exploration area. Add sand, gravel and other natural materials to the area and logs to attract minibeasts such as woodlice.
- Gardening tools and equipment, and spare Wellington boots.
- An easily accessible resource base for science equipment that will support children's learning.
- An organised garden area so that children can learn about plant growth and to take responsibility for the plants. A herb garden can offer exciting sensory experiences, and a vegetable plot can provide fresh produce for tasting and cooking activities.
Additional resources
Many of the resources from the indoor area will be duplicated outside. Below is a list of equipment that is likely to be exclusive to the outdoors:
- crates (milk crates are usually robust and stackable)
- tyres (varying sizes)
- cones
- logs, rocks, stones, gravel
- guttering, half pipes, pipes
- large buckets and other containers
- decorators' brushes, rollers, sponges
- chalk
- wheeled toys (trucks, trailers, bikes, tandem bikes, scooters)
- climbing frame, slide
- wooden planks
- large wooden 'hollow' blocks
- large cardboard boxes
- small equipment such as balls, beanbags, quoits, skipping ropes, hoops
- den frames, lengths of fabric, tents
- waterproof mats, rugs, carpet pieces
- easily accessible and transportable sets of equipment - for example, a science box (magnifying glasses, information books, 'bug boxes' and collection trays), weather boxes (equipment that will enable adults to make the most of learning opportunities as they arise), book boxes (fiction and non-fiction), office box (full of mark-making tools, clipboards, mobile phone, calculator, telephone directory and a diary), tool box (play tools such as hammer, screw driver, saw, spanner), maths box (number lines, tape measures, large dice), gardening box (trowel, spade, rake, sieve, plant pots).
Planning areas
- Settings will need a large storage space, as much of the outdoor equipment will be bulky. An outdoor store or wooden shed is ideal but will need to be secured when the setting is closed.
- Consider how to use the storage space, as staff will have to move much of the equipment on a daily basis and there will be health and safety issues to think about.
- Keep equipment that is heavy or used regularly near the front of the store, so staff are not expected to lift awkward items over other equipment.
- Install shelving so that you can store more and make equipment more easily accessible. Hooks or rails are also useful for hanging items such as ropes and larger gardening tools, and brackets can be used to support pipes, tubes and guttering.
Risk assessment
Decide what is an acceptable level of risk when planning provision and activities in the outdoor area. The possibility of accidents should be reduced and obvious dangers eliminated. This will entail looking at the organisation of areas within the space, landing surfaces, adult supervision and regular checks of equipment. But it is important to remember that an area where children are unable to take any risks is unlikely to be challenging or useful in supporting their developing judgements about their own safety.
Learning across the curriculum
Opportunities for learning in the outdoor area can be rich and varied, but for children to access the full potential of these opportunities, there must be effective adult support. The nature of the support should include:
- recognising, valuing and building on children's interests
- sensitive intervention
- modelling of skills
- sharing information
- asking challenging questions
- engaging in play alongside children
- providing additional resources as appropriate.
Learning experiences that may take place include:
Personal, social and emotional development
- Sharing and taking turns with equipment.
- Working on collaborative projects, such as building a 'bridge'.
- Developing independence - by taking responsibility for plant care, putting on appropriate clothing and setting up their own obstacle courses.
- Being excited by the outdoor world and motivated to learn.
Communication, language and literacy
- Exploring mark-making using water and brushes on paving flags and walls, chalk on paving flags, finger marks in sand, dry-wipe markers and white boards, pens and pencils on paper (on clipboards or lining paper rolled out on the ground or wall).
- Making and using signs, such as road signs.
- Using information books and story books as a starting point for outdoor activities. For example, Billy's Beetle by Mick Inkpen (Hodder, 5.99) could lead to a 'beetle trail'.
- Using voices to explore sounds (such as 'whoosh', as they pretend to be a rocket), listening to environmental sounds (such as cars, or wind in the trees) and developing early phonics skills through sound discrimination.
- Talking about their observations, negotiating plans and communicating ideas through role play. Mathematical development
- Counting petals on flowers, spots on ladybirds, legs on spiders.
- Playing number games such as 'What time is it, Mr Wolf?'
- Matching number plates on wheeled toys to numbers on the ground or the fence.
- Looking at pattern and shape in the environment, such as brickwork.
- Making patterns using pebbles, shells or twigs.
- Measuring and problem solving, for example, 'How long does the washing line need to be to stretch from this branch to that one?'
- Comparing quantities, such as 'this plant pot is heavier than that one'.
Knowledge and understanding of the world
- Investigating, for example, plant growth and insects.
- Observing seasonal changes.
- Exploring and comparing materials, such as wet and dry soil.
- Making 'pulleys' to lift heavy objects.
- Looking at shadow shapes at different times during the day.
- Building and constructing on a large scale.
- Exploring the purposes of ICT, for example, using walkie-talkies to communicate with each other in role play.
- Making maps and following routes.
Physical development
- Developing gross motor skills and spatial awareness - for example, by moving construction equipment and negotiating a route for a truck.
- Developing fine motor skills, for example, by planting seeds and picking up pebbles.
- Becoming aware of and talking about changes in the body after running.
- Discussing healthy eating habits and any fruit and vegetables grown in the garden.
Creative development
- Making large murals.
- Dancing in the wind with ribbons and scarves.
- Making mobiles (with found natural objects) to hang in trees or on wall brackets.
- Making music using, for example, large boxes and tins as drums.
- Playing imaginatively, for example, going on holiday or for an expedition in the 'forest'.