Outdoor learning

Make the best use of available outdoor space

• Look at how children currently make use of outdoor space:
  
  
  • Is there sufficient choice, adult support and interaction?
  • Are there opportunities for children to play alone or in groups?
  • What are they doing out there?
  • How could this be extended, made more interesting and stimulating?
  • Is every bit of available space used well?
  
  
• Create a range of environments: places for bikes and wheeled toys, places to dig and plant, to build and construct, to hide, to explore and imagine, to sit and chat, to play games and run.
  
  
• Get to know your local area and make use of spaces and environments nearby to widen children’s experience.
  
  
• Make use of weather and seasons as natural learning resources.
  
  
• Provide a range of found materials: shells, stones, gravel, wood cuttings.
  
  
• Manage potential limitations creatively: even a small outdoor space can be used effectively with thought and imagination.
  
  
• Encourage children to make use of a range of natural materials: trees, water, stones, earth, mud, leaves.
  
  
• Ensure that children are dressed for the weather: dry and warm when it’s wet and windy, shielded and protected from the sun in warm weather.
  
  
• Provide a range of opportunities for outdoor play: in small groups or larger ones, with close adult support or children playing independently.
  
  
• Create hidey holes and different vantage points.
  
  
• Provide opportunities for children to use all their senses: smells, sounds, interesting things to examine and explore.
  
  
• Add in new resources to create surprise and excitement: a mirror, a torch for looking under a hedge, a key and a locked door, a letter, a painted stone.