With an ever-increasing presence of technology in children’s lives, as well as our seemingly risk-averse society, children are having fewer outdoor experiences, and therefore limited connections to nature. We already know that outdoor play is important, with the NHS setting out the minimum recommended activity levels for children per day. However, children are leading more sedentary lives, meaning settings and schools need to adapt their curricula to ensure exposure to nature is a foundation for children’s learning and development.
In Early Years settings, outdoor play can be more easily organised through free flow, enabling children to move freely between inside and outside learning areas during the session. The benefits of this are multiple, with children able to spend extended time outdoors where play can be bigger, louder, messier and away from the confines of the classroom. This is where children can experience nature through play, facilitated through an enabling environment and sensitive, timely interactions from educators.
Schools can provide nature-based play experiences which children can engage with during break and lunch times. This means that even though they are unlikely to have the free-flow opportunities present in early years, children can still be involved in nature play, perhaps through growing projects, weather observations, nature mandalas and nature-based science experiments.
What do we mean by ‘connecting with nature’?
It’s as simple as providing unstructured opportunities for children to experience nature in their play, which inspire learning through the senses and exploration. This could be flowers in the mud kitchen to cook with and make potions, going on a bug hunt (put the minibeasts back where you found them!), bark rubbing, whittling, clay play, observational drawings and paintings or nature walks.
Nature play is a sensory experience, enabling children to explore textures, sounds, smells and sights which stimulates holistic learning and development. This prompts them to be curious and ask questions, encouraging critical thinking about the natural world. We can consider how plants grow, where minibeasts live, how a rainbow is formed or what it’s like to feel rain on our faces.
An enabling outdoor environment
This will look different depending on many aspects, including location, amount of space, staffing, resources and layout. However, creating an enabling environment does not need to break the bank. Sometimes, we just need to make the most of what we already have, as well as sourcing additional resources for free or a limited cost.
Wildlife area
You can start by creating a wildlife area to entice minibeasts, including bees and butterflies who need our help to thrive at the moment. This can be as simple as planting wild flower seeds, placing rocks and logs for creatures to hide under, constructing a hedgehog home and putting up bird houses. Children can help create a minibeast hotel using bricks, sticks, bamboo canes, straw, pipes and pine cones. Not only will this leave you with a fantastic space to house your outdoor critters but it also provides a valuable learning process around ecosystems.
Growing produce
Think about developing a gardening area where you can grow your own produce. Again, this doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. Use pots which can you source from a local ‘Freecycle’ page or ask families if they have any which are no longer needed.
The joy for children in growing their own is the sense of wonder in watching the first shoot appear, then observing its growth over time which is great for bringing in mathematical language and numeracy as you measure day by day. Children can take turns to water, assuming responsibility, which can lead to feelings of self-worth and value. Then, when the time comes, children can share the task of harvesting the produce, whether that’s runner beans, French beans, potatoes, carrots or radishes.
Natural loose parts
Natural loose parts should feature in an enabling environment, not only because they are so tactile but also because they are so flexible in how we use them. Some of our favourite natural loose parts include: leaves, sticks, pebbles, shells, flowers, log slices, pine cones, conkers, bark pieces and driftwood. You can use them with frames for children to create transient art, incorporate them into the mud kitchen, display them on a sensory table, use them for counting, making patterns, incorporate into small world play, use them for balancing, stacking and storytelling purposes.
The role of the adult
We need to be realists here. In every job, there are tasks that people don’t particularly enjoy. In education, some staff will prefer indoor to outdoor play. If this rings true for you and your setting, think about how you can address this, as we know that children are like sponges who pick up on everything. They’ll know who is happy and enthusiastic about being outdoors and those staff who stay huddled up in the corner, complaining about the cold or the rain. We want staff who are supervising outdoor play to be keen to engage with the children to seek out nature-based experiences, joining them in play and celebrating moments of awe and wonder. In this way, they can act as role models to other staff who perhaps are new to the profession or need to develop their skills in the outdoor environment.
An important consideration in enabling the adults to be enthusiastic about outdoor play is making sure they are aware of the need for appropriate clothing. Although we talk of children needing to be dressed for the weather, we quite often forget about ourselves. We are much more likely to enjoy and appreciate the outdoors with children if we aren’t cold or have rain soaking through our clothes!
Perhaps, most importantly, we need to remember that we can make a lasting impact on children’s learning and development through the experiences we offer them.
Author
Emma is an interim senior lecturer, leading on early childhood and childhood and education programmes. Prior to this, Emma worked in early years as teacher and manager and a qualified forest school leader. She is completing a PhD which focuses on leadership in the PVI sector.
