Nursery World Article: All About Outdoors Under 3 - Outdoor Matters!

eyfs best practice
The Early Years Foundation
Stage has established high
expectations about outdoor
play on a daily basis for all
children, but we urgently
need to decide what appropriate
provision outdoors actually
means for babies, toddlers and twoyear-olds.
Children of this age are intensely
driven to explore and are hugely disadvantaged
if their explorations are
restricted to a limited, safety-surfaced
area. To provide the best possible circumstances
for well-being and healthy
development, we must offer rich and
extensive daily outdoor provision that
provides what the indoors does not.
Teams need to discuss how being outdoors
can benefit the babies and very
young children in their care in a way
that indoor provision cannot.
The outdoors is special to very
young children, and being outdoors
is substantially different to being
indoors. Any exploration of appropriate
provision must start from the
child and match this to what is special
about the outdoors for them. Through
thinking extensively about what children
are like at each stage of this period,
we can decide on the experiences
they need at any particular time.
Considering the key experiences
that babies, toddlers or two-year-olds
need for well-being and development
across each year then gives clear guidance
for developing appropriate and
valuable provision that harnesses the
special nature of the outdoors. By
knowing the experiences we want to
support through outdoor provision,
we can begin to create a truly responsive
place for well-being and development
that also extends what we are
providing indoors.
BABIES
Babies’ earliest months are a time of
amazing development of the senses,
mind and body as they gradually
develop the art of sitting, crawling,
standing and beginning to walk.
They are intensely interested in the
humans, events and things around
them, but must rely on adults to be
tuned into what interests them, make
experiences available to them and
respond positively to their reactions
and needs.
The outdoors is a wonderfully
sensorial place for a baby throughout
this year, with lots of sensations
for the body, things to notice, watch
and reach for, objects and materials to
touch, feel and handle, sounds both
near and far to listen to, and interesting
places to be in with an attentive
and responsive adult.
Sleeping
Many settings are finding that babies
and toddlers sleep better outside in
cool, fresh air in flatbed cots or prams.
Many children fall asleep more easily
and transfer more gently into wakefulness
with the gentle mobile of clouds
or a leafy branch overhead and the
sounds of nature and children playing
outdoors. Good clothing and bedding
enables young children in Denmark
to sleep outside in temperatures going
down to -12°C!
Rocking and swinging
Babies need to be rocked, finding this
motion soothing and stimulating.
The experience of rocking and swinging
plays an important role in the
neurological development of balance
and co-ordination, so it is sought out
by children throughout childhood. It
should be an important element of
good outdoor provision for all ages.
Hammocks are a resource that offer
a range of gentle swinging motions
from birth onwards and are perhaps
easier to provide than swings. Rocking
chairs and outdoor swing-seats to
share with adults are also particularly
effective for babies in this year.
Sensorial stimulation
Not only do babies experience their
world through movement and sensation
– they must work hard to develop
these sensory systems so that they
become sophisticated and well integrated
with each other.
The outdoor world is full of smells,
sounds, sights, textures and changing
light, air quality and temperatures. The
feel of the wind caressing the skin and
moving the hair, the sensation of dappled
light under a tree, the pleasure of
TODDLERS
A child’s first year is a wonderful time
of movement and exploration as they
think and understand through moving
and using their whole body.
The outdoors is full of interest, with
the space and opportunity for movement
that they need so much, and
providing the first-hand experiences
that toddlers need to construct knowledge
and understanding.
The one year-old constantly handles
and moves materials, intensely
curious about the world and ardently
discovering how things behave, learnfeeling
light rain on arms and face, are
just a few of the valuable experiences
babies can have outdoors. They need
to experience the full range of weather
conditions throughout the year – suitably
clothed, but not over-dressed.
Plants with a range of textures,
smells and ways of moving in the
wind, such as grasses, lavender,
thyme, rosemary and camomile, can
provide valuable sensory experiences.
Tummy and back play
It is imperative that babies spend lots
of time lying free of restraint on their
backs, and especially on their tummies.
A great deal of neurological and
anatomical development takes place
through being in these positions, also
allowing babies to play with their feet
and work on rolling over.
Depending on weather conditions,
babies can lie directly on grass, sand
or paving so that they can feel temperature
and texture on their body,
or they can be more protected with
cushioned picnic mats. The number
of things to listen to and look at outside
will ensure that they enjoy these
experiences, especially with an attentive
adult on the ground with them.
Looking, gazing, batting,
reaching, grabbing
Visual stimulation is vital in the first
year of life. The outdoors provides a
complex visual landscape that supports
development especially well,
including turning to and locating
sights or sounds, gazing and fixing
on an object, tracking moving objects,
being able to see things at a distance,
developing depth vision and good
spatial awareness.
The outdoors boosts development of physical movements
Non-mobile babies need to be put
in positions that give them plenty
to look at, reach for, bat and grasp.
Adults should carry them to interesting
places or sit with them to share
interest about the environment.
Mobile babies should be moving in
an interesting landscape with different
views and perspectives. Watching
older children and the natural world,
such as dry leaves blown by the wind,
can be fascinating.
Surfaces for crawling
Crawling babies need a variety of
surfaces to provide different tactile
experiences and on which to develop
movement skills. As the baby moves
from one surface to another, their
attention is brought to the contrasting
sensations and the change in how
they need to use their body.
Paving is hard, cool, smooth and
resistant; grass is warm, soft and firm
but may be wet, while sand is soft and
yielding. Gravel is sharp and loose
but bark is warm, moist and graspable.
Tarmac is hard and rough, while
decking might be warm and ridged.
Pulling upright, standing
and cruising
Babies who are ready to pull themselves
upright need pulling up points
and graspable surfaces to hold on to,
stand at and balance on, and later need
a level surface at just the right height
to progress to moving sideways. This
can be planned for as much outside
and indoors: very effective cruising
walls can be made from long mounds
of tough grass 40-50cm high.
These can also provide the boundaries
for a protected outdoor baby
area where they can lie, sit and crawl.
From this new position, standing
babies can delight in watching bigger
children in the rest of the outdoor
space and build up to taking their
first wobbly steps.
ing about their own body and finding
out what it can do. Spending time
outdoors with toddlers is delightful as
they share their intense curiosity and
bring adults’ attention to long-overlooked
and forgotten details, especially
in the natural world.
Moving in different ways
Toddlers have an enormous need for
movement, requiring spaces, adult
support and clothing that encourage
physical activity (such as appropriate
footwear and trousers to allow movement
without presenting hazards).
Like crawling babies, toddlers
who are mastering locomotion and
co-ordination need several kinds of
surfaces demanding a range of body
control, effort and attention. Once
they are past wobbly walking, they
need uneven and less predictable
surfaces and some that give way a
little underfoot, such as grass, paving,
sand, gravel, bark, packed earth,
decking and even pavements outside
the setting.
An outdoor space that has rubber
surfacing only is developmentally
inadequate for children of this age.
Clambering and going up
and down
One-year-olds also love to clamber and
are driven to master the art of going
up and down. So, they need steps,
small changes in levels and slopes
with a range of gradients – some easy
and some more of a challenge. Oneyear-olds
also revel in being higher
up, where they get different perspective
and a sense of being ‘big’.
Motor control and co-ordination
are extremely important for successful
life functioning, so bumps and
bruises have to be tolerated for toddlers
to access enough of this physical
exploration.
➤
Case Study: Sandfield Natural Play Centre, Merseyside
Sandfield Natural Play Centre,
in Whiston, Merseyside, aims
to offer all its children, aged
from birth to 11, ‘curiosity,
discovery, wonder, adventure,
challenge and a strong sense
of belonging’. Babies, toddlers
and two-year-olds have
their own garden, but often
visit siblings and other older
children.
Owner/manager Suzanne
Scott says, ‘Our philosophy
and commitment to outdoors
is borne out of a shared belief
that an outdoor, flexible
learning environment allows
growth as individuals, strong
relationships with others and
attachment to the world,
and encourages creative and
lateral thinking.’
Robust recruitment
procedures and ongoing
expectations of staff, with
close attention to their
confidence and comfort
outdoors, ensure a high
commitment to being outside.
The staff team have taken
time to develop with parents
a shared vision and values,
and parents now choose
this setting because of its
emphasis on natural outdoor
play. Use of ICT for homeshared
records, learning
stories and interpretive
displays deepens staff
knowledge and parental
engagement. Families are also
involved with developments
and work in the garden.
Because of good transition
areas and procedures, children
move between outdoors and
indoors whenever they wish.
Children can sleep outside
and always have appropriate
clothing through the year.
A suitable insurance policy
and strong ‘benefit-risk
management’ approach,
ensuring hygiene and safety
issues are met, allow children
to access a wide range of play
in the natural world. There
is a focus on open-ended,
transformable materials,
especially sand, soil, water
and plants.
Practitioners and parents
witness daily how being
outdoors inspires children’s
action and thinking, supports
their happiness and health
and encourages both adults
and children to take their time
and enjoy just being together.
16 nursery world 29 July 2010
www.nurseryworld.co.uk www.nurseryworld.co.uk 29 July 2010 nursery world 17