May 2022 Parenta magazine

How to make the most of
your outdoor space
Spring is here and it’s time to shake off
the winter woollies and explore the great
outdoors! Not everyone has some outside
space in their setting, but if you are lucky
enough to have even the smallest space,
make sure you are making the most of it
and inviting the children to use it to have
fun and advance their learning. Here are
some ideas on how you can create some
meaningful areas, even in a small space.
Outdoor play areas
Many nurseries have a traditional play
area which may have some swings,
climbing equipment and slides in it which
are great for developing children’s gross
motor skills such a running, jumping,
climbing etc. However, if you can’t afford or
don’t have the space for these items, think
about other things you can create such as
hopscotch pads, snaking number lines or
basketball hoops. Getting the children to
play catch will also help with fine motor
skills and hand-eye coordination too
and you can use ball, bats/racquets and
bean bags (homemade!) to add to the
excitement. A tray with some sand on and
a hosepipe to make muddy puddles are
also great fun.
Obstacle courses and
games
You can make a homemade obstacle
course with virtually anything and they are
a great way to reuse and recycle items
from your setting. For example, you can
use old cycle or car tyres (clean them first)
for children to run in and out of, wooden
stepping stones, or plastic tub and buckets
turned upside down with an old broom
on make great improvised horse jumps/
hurdles. You could create a large snakes
and ladders board by painting or marking
out a square board. Make it different
each time by using lengths of rope and
wooden poles or sticks as the ‘snakes’ and
the ‘ladders’. You could also make some
outdoor counters using old pan lids or jam
jar lids.
Sensory space
Outdoor areas can be used to create
some wonderful sensory spaces with
different textures, smells and sounds, and
most of these can be created simply and
cheaply in a small area. Remember to use
vertical height to maximise space. You can
buy vertical planters and put in different
smelling/texture plants, filling some of the
pockets with other items such as feathers
or stones.
You can create different sounds in the
garden by using home made drums, and
windchimes using bottle tops, old metal
cutlery or tin cans. Half filling some old
soda bottles with small stones, water,
sand or other objects will allow children to
shake them to make different sounds too.
Grow your own
Over the last year, we have run quite a
few articles of the benefits of allowing
children to grow their own plants as it
taps into a lot of the Understanding the
World parts of the EYFS. You can use lots
of different objects to grow things in, from
inexpensive seed trays to old buckets, cut
down plastic bottles and yoghurt pots.
Most plants need water to drain freely so
make sure the water can escape from the
bottom of the container to aid drainage.
After that, there are a whole host of things
that children can grow, from quick growing
plants like cress and mustard, to larger,
slower growing things like bulbs, flowers,
tomatoes and pumpkins. Vertical planters
are useful here too if you have limited
space and you can create your own living
wall.
Creative play
Being outside sparks lots of creativity in
children so make sure you have an area
where your children can create things.
How about encouraging some wild art
by using sticks, leaves, stones, feathers,
moss or anything else you can find to
create some interesting pictures? You can
paint stones with colourful pictures too.
Clay soils are good for creating mud pies
and sculptures and flower petals can be
used to create some interesting perfumes
or why not create a fairy house/garden?
Remember to get children to wash their
hands thoroughly and make sure they are
well supervised too. All children love to
create dens so make sure you have some
long sticks and old blankets available too.
You can also create an area for making
music by setting up some homemade
drums and beaters,or by using different
objects which make different noises when
struck. Using jam jars and filling them with
different amounts of water will change the
pitch of the note they make.
Graffiti corner
If you have a boring wall or fence, why
not change it into a graffiti corner and
let the children experiment with their
imaginations. If you don’t want to paint or
mark the fence or building, then you could
pin up some cardboard boxes, or wooden
panels and let the children draw on those.
Have different media available for the
children to use such as chalk, paints and
washable pens so that they can markmake
and create whatever they want. Also
think about giving them different things
to use as well as paintbrushes, as grass,
feathers and leaves can create interesting
prints and effects.
Wildlife
Any outdoor space however small, will
also be home to lots of creatures even if
you can’t see them, so make sure you are
sharing your space well with your local
wildlife. Think about how you can help
encourage wildlife into your outdoor space
by setting up some bird feeders and bird
houses, and remember that birds and
animals needs a watering station too.
It could be as simple as placing an old
tray or frying pan in a corner and filling it
with water as a bird bath. You can build
a minibeast or bug hotel using old sticks,
twigs, bamboo, straw, fallen leaves and
rotting bark and there are plenty of sites of
the internet to give you ideas of how to do
this. Wormeries are relatively easy to make
and will teach the children a lot about
the world around them and the creatures
living underneath their feet.
Ponds are exciting but you need to be
very careful with children around water,
although there’s lots to be learned from
pond dipping. You can make a simple
small pond using an old washing up
bowl which can attract things like small
tadpoles, water boatmen and pond
skaters. You can even make simple nets
using old wire coat hangers and some old
tights!
Whatever you do with your outdoor space,
respect it and enjoy it.
Useful sites and
inspiration
15 ideas for children’s outdoor spaces
Wildlife watch activities
How to pond dip – Woodland Trust
Sensory gardens for schools
20 sensory activities for toddlers
32 May 2022 | parenta.com
parenta.com | May 2022 33