Children have a right to outdoor learning and, just as practitioners plan experiences and activities in the indoor area, they should think carefully about the opportunities they are offering for learning outside.
The importance of outdoor learning is noted in Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, which, under 'Principles for early years education', notes that to be effective, the curriculum should involve 'planned and purposeful activity that provides opportunities for teaching and learning, both indoors and outdoors' (page 11).
Some settings are lucky enough to have access to a large, often purpose-built, outdoor space, and can offer a diverse range of areas within this space on a continuous basis (see 'Inside out', Nursery World, 10 April 2003, page 12). Other settings have considerable constraints on space and access. When looking for new premises for a nursery, access to a suitable outdoor area should be an essential criterion and, if operating in a setting with very limited or no outdoor space, practitioners should consider finding alternative, more appropriate, premises.
However, a move may not be a realistic proposition in the near future, and many teams manage to provide high-quality outdoor learning in difficult circumstances, by adopting a creative approach to organisation and curriculum planning.
It is important to think of the indoor and outdoor areas as a whole learning environment, and children should be able to move freely between both. If this is the case, it will not be necessary to 'cram' all the children into a small outdoor area at once and the size of the provision becomes less of an issue.
Storage
In a small outdoor area, storage is often a challenge. Practitioners are reluctant to limit the space further by placing a large, permanent store in the area, and it may be that outdoor equipment has to be kept in an indoor cupboard. If this is the case, the cupboard should be positioned as near to the access door as possible, to reduce the burden of transporting equipment.
Some teams are able to erect a small, wooden shed in the area, that can be used to store more awkward items, such as bikes or climbing equipment. It can also double up as a playhouse during session times. Of course, no equipment should be left stored in the shed while the children are playing.
Organising resources well is a significant factor in offering good quality provision in any outdoor area. If you have to transport equipment far each day, then consider buying wheeled boxes and trolleys for storing items such as hoops, cones and quoits. Smaller equipment can be kept in labelled stacking boxes.
Equipment should be sorted into, for example, role-play, water and sand play, gardening, mark-making, investigation and weather resources.
All staff should be aware of what is available, so they can plan for, and respond to, children's needs and interests effectively. Equipment should be catalogued and audited regularly, and any broken or damaged items replaced or mended.
All outdoor areas, whatever their size and shape, are exposed to a range of UK weather conditions and these, rather than determining whether staff and children stay inside or go outside, should be valued for the rich and diverse first-hand learning experiences they offer.
At the ready
To respond spontaneously to unpredictable conditions, practitioners must be well prepared in advance. Preparing weather resource boxes helps to raise teams' awareness of possible learning experiences, and enables them to take full advantage of opportunities as they arise. These could include:
* Snow/ice/frost: Ice cubes containing glitter or sequins (to be kept in a freezer or ice box), scoops, buckets, trowels (for snow 'sculpting'), squeezy bottles that can be filled with warm water in (to make line patterns in the snow), plastic pepper pots filled with powder paint (to make colour patterns in the snow), absorbent paper (for taking prints off frost on windows).
* Sun: Sunshades, sunglasses, sunhats, shadow puppets, vertical kitchen roll holders (to be used as 'sun dials'), chalk for drawing around shadows.
* Rain: Suitable clothing (for example, splashsuits, Wellington boots), umbrellas, roll of cooking foil (to wrap over umbrella to accentuate the sound of rain), funnels, buckets, lengths of guttering (for water collections).
* Wind: Windmills, wind socks, kites, wind chimes, ribbons (to 'fly' or hang in trees).
In rotation
Where it is not possible to offer a full range of provision daily, teams will need to consider how best to offer areas of provision on a rotational basis. Children need to be able to revisit experiences and ideas over time to deepen their learning. It is much more effective to provide an area for a period of, for example, two weeks and then change it, rather than to alternate two areas daily.
If the available outdoor space is less than inspiring, with just a bleak concrete and tarmac area, there are ways of making it more attractive and stimulating as a learning environment:
* Tubs, troughs and tyres filled with compost can provide growing environments for shrubs, bulbs, plants and vegetables. Hanging baskets or plastic troughs, attached to a wall at the children's level, add another dimension.
* Brackets or supports on the walls at different heights can be used by children to rest lengths of plastic guttering against - as they roll balls down the guttering they can experiment with inclines.
* Brackets and hooks on the wall (be aware of safety issues here) can also be used to hang pictures and posters, a blackboard, numbers, aprons, musical instruments or collecting bags.
* Large trays filled with soil, turf, rotting logs, stones and pebbles provide numerous opportunities for looking at creatures such as worms, slugs, snails and woodlice. With regular watering, turf can continue to grow.
If trays or small tubs need to be brought inside at the end of the session, it is worth making a couple of transport platforms with wheels. These are simple to produce - a piece of MDF with castors screwed into the underside corners and a length of rope attached for pulling will make it easy to move heavy and large items.
Beyond the walls
Most outdoor areas will offer a view of the outdoor world beyond the boundary walls. Whatever is visually accessible to children over walls or fences should be used for the learning opportunities it offers. The potential that such a location presents is likely to include:
* Comparing heights and shapes of buildings, and perhaps constructing buildings using cardboard boxes and packaging.
* Counting windows on buildings.
* Observational drawing of buildings.
nThinking about the differences between buildings in which people live and those in which they work.
nListening to traffic sounds and reproducing the sounds with voices and instruments.
nLooking at the different vehicles that pass.
* Counting lorries as they go past.
* Making tally charts of, for example, red and blue cars.
nLooking at and making road signs and traffic signals.
It is important to realise that there will also be valuable learning taking place as children look through windows from the inside area at the world outside. Adults should recognise and support the potential learning available here. Windows covered with pictures, notices or painted designs obstruct children's view of weather conditions, trees, birds, buildings and vehicles, and the result is missed opportunities.
On a walk
Some teams with very limited access to an outdoor area place a strong emphasis on exploration and investigation indoors by planning first-hand experiences such as providing seaweed, shells and driftwood in the water tray, or autumn leaves and conkers in the sand tray. Such experiences can be very exciting and valuable to children, but they should be in addition to, not instead of, outdoor learning experiences.
For such settings, it is crucial that practitioners show a commitment to outdoor learning, and take full advantage of the wider learning environment, planning walks to the park - looking at seasonal changes or searching for 'minibeasts', going on 'weather' walks or visiting the garden centre.
A digital camera can be a useful piece of equipment to take on walks, and children should be encouraged to use the camera to record objects or events of interest. Photographs can be discussed back in the setting and used to show changes over time.