The Great Outdoors

The best classroom and richest cupboard is roofed only by the sky

McMillan 1952

“Young children should be outdoors as much as indoors and need a well-designed, well-organised

integrated indoor – outdoor environment, preferably with indoors and outdoors available simultaneously” (The Shared Vision & Values for Outdoor Play in the

Early Years, 2004)

All children have the right to experience and enjoy the essential and special nature of being

outdoors

Young children thrive and their minds and bodies develop best when they have free access to stimulating outdoor environments for learning through

play and real experiences

Knowledgeable and enthusiastic adults are

crucial to unlocking the potential of

outdoors

Young children need ALL the adults around them to

understand why outdoor play provision is essential for them, and adults who are

committed and able to make its potential available to

them

Outdoor provision can, and must, offer young children experiences which have a lot of

meaning to them and are led by the child

Play is the most important activity for young children

outside – it is a means through which children find stimulation, well-

being and happiness, and through which they grow physically, intellectually

and emotionally

The outdoor space and curriculum must harness the special nature of the

outdoors, to offer children what the indoors

cannot. This should be the focus for outdoor

provision, complementing and extending provision

indoors

Outdoors should be a dynamic, flexible and versatile place where children can choose,

create, change and be in charge of their play

environment

Young children should have long periods of time

outside. They need to know that they

can be outside every day, when they want to and

that they can develop their ideas for play over time

Young children need challenge and risk within a framework of severity and safety. The outdoor

environment lends itself to offering challenge, helping children learn how to be safe and to be aware of

others.

‘A child who has not been exposed to risk will not know their capabilities and is more likely to

encounter danger.’

‘If you are going to keep children safe you must provide places in which they can get the thrills they need; there

must be things they can climb and ways in which they can safely get the experience of adventure and the sense of

challenge they crave’

A hazard is something a child does not seeA risk is a challenge a child can see, and

chooses to undertake or notEliminating risk leads to a child’s inability

to assess danger

Our outdoor provision is planned for in the same way that we plan for indoor learning because it is

a whole classroom

We provide a balance of experiences that we as the practitioners plan and or create, naturally

occurring opportunities linked to seasons, weather and nature, but also ensuring there is significant

space and time for spontaneous activities that children initiate for themselves

Personal, Social and Emotional DevelopmentSelf Care - Show willingness to tackle problems and enjoy self-chosen challenges, operate independently within the environment and select and use activities and resources

independently - Plan opportunities for children to take the initiative in their learning, provide opportunities for self-chosen activities, and for choices within adult-initiated

activities.

Literacy

Handwriting - Use one-handed tools and equipment, draw lines and circles using gross motor movements, and manipulate objects with increasing control - Provide

opportunities for large shoulder movements, for example, swirling ribbons in the air, batting balls suspended on rope

and painting. Encourage children to make shapes like circles and zig-zags in the air and in their play, for example, with

sand and water and brushes.

|Mathematics

Shape, Space and Measures - Show awareness of similarities in shapes in the environment, show curiosity about and

observation of shapes by talking about how they are the same or different - Have large and small blocks and boxes available for construction both indoors and outdoors. Provide a range

of natural materials for children to arrange, compare and order.

 

Knowledge and Understanding of the World

Exploration and Investigation - Explore, play and seek meaning in their experiences, and show curiosity and interest

in the features of objects and living things - Make use of outdoor areas to give opportunities for investigations of the

natural world, for example, provide chimes, streamers, windmills and bubbles to investigate the effects of wind.

Physical Development

Movement and Space - Move freely with pleasure and confidence in a range of ways, such as slithering, shuffling,

rolling, crawling, walking, running, jumping, skipping, sliding and hopping. Move with confidence, imagination and in safety

- Plan opportunities for children to tackle a range of levels and surfaces including flat and hilly ground, grass, pebbles,

asphalt, smooth floors and carpets. Provide time and space to enjoy energetic play daily, both indoors and outdoors.

Expressive arts and designBeing Creative and Developing Imagination and Imaginative Play -

Capture experiences and responses with music, dance, paint and other materials or words. Use their imagination in art and design, music,

dance, imaginative and role-play and stories - Encourage children to discuss and appreciate the beauty around them in nature and the

environment.Provide opportunities indoors and outdoors and support the different

interests of children, for example, in role-play of a builder’s yard, encourage narratives to do with building and mending.

If we havent convinced you enough.......It is a requirement of the EYFS Framework that we “ensure that children have the opportunities to be outside on a daily

basis all year round” This is further stressed under the Childcare Act 2006 in saying that “from September 2008, all early years providers will have

a legal responsibility to ensure that their provision meets welfare, learning and development requirements that include: children having access to outdoor play on a daily basis...rain

does not stop outdoor play” 

And finally....We go outside in all weathers and we often get

messy!!!