Let’s go outside - the importance of outdoor play for young children’s development
The outdoors can be the most wonderful space to play and learn in the Early Years and beyond. Although it can be seen as an extension of the classroom, the outdoors holds enormous value.
Gone are the days when we just take our indoor resources outside. Thankfully, we’ve moved on to embrace the wonder of the outdoors environment as a unique space to calm the mind, engage with nature and enhance learning.
What is so important about the outdoors?
The great outdoors offers open space, free from the boundaries imposed by walls and ceilings. It allows children a sense of freedom and space to play differently. We can run, be noisy and messy, make big movements and enjoy natural light.
The outdoors can also serve another purpose – it's somewhere that can be calming and peaceful - a space to be still and engage with nature. A less restrictive environment than the classroom, the outdoors is an essential space for young children’s learning and play.
As the natural world is ever-changing, the outdoors is a flexible environment that we can use to promote awe and wonder. It changes with the seasons and the weather - giving us ice, rainbows, green shoots, blossom, hail, frost, fallen leaves and puddles.
We can embrace this with children by figuring out together how these things happen and extending our learning in a fun and hands-on way. That’s the joy of the outdoors – it offers us the magic of experiencing the natural world firsthand. Why talk about different weather types indoors when you can get outside and experience it for real?!
The outdoors can enable us to make a connection with nature through play and exploration. We can hunt for bugs, kick the leaves, grow and care for plants and vegetables, spot clouds, feed the birds, explore natural loose parts and have picnics – all ways to open up the wonder of the outdoors.
The outdoors is a space to develop learning across the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) as well as the National Curriculum. Space allows for big movements, helping us practise our gross motor skills, whether it’s running, climbing, digging or ball play.
We can use the outdoors as a place to problem solve, make decisions, practice taking risks and learn to think critically. It’s also a rich, sensory environment where we can experience the wind in our hair, the sun on our face and try catching raindrops on our tongue!
Embracing the outdoors…
The way we view the outdoors has changed considerably over the years. From fears about stranger danger and risky play to concerns that children will catch a sniffle from playing in the wet and cold. Thankfully, we have embraced the benefits of the outdoors, understanding that the space holds unique value in the lives of children and adults.
Forest Schools have evolved across education, from our youngest nursery children up to the older teenage years. It is recognised as having a huge impact on learning as well as personal, social and emotional development. This in turn has changed teaching styles, with the understanding that children thrive in the outdoors - an environment where they can be free and express themselves.
Open-ended resources….
Using open-ended resources in the outdoors is a fantastic way to develop play skills and imagination in a fun, hands-on way. Some great open-ended loose parts for the outdoors include –
Large resources
Planks, tyres, guttering, pipes, logs, crates, blocks, fabric, boxes, cable reels
Small resources
Pine cones, leaves, shells, pebbles, cotton reels, sticks, curtain rings, peg dolls, buttons, beads
By incorporating open-ended resources into the outdoor environment, children can experience rich, purposeful play creatively. There is no right or wrong way to play. Children have full control over how they use the resources and what they come to represent. This leads to problem-solving, critical thinking, experimentation, and choice over how they play.
Children can follow their innate drive to be curious, exploring ways to manipulate, move, combine, transform and create. Play can be on a bigger scale outdoors – taller and longer, where bigger constructions and creations can be crafted. This gives children a sense of perspective and dimension that they wouldn’t get from indoor play.
Learning across the EYFS can be observed when children have the opportunity to engage in play with open-ended resources. They might choose to play with smaller, more intricate loose parts, impacting their fine motor skills, creativity, imagination and dexterity.
Larger loose parts might see a collaborative play where children have to communicate ideas and instructions. This also promotes physical development, where children have to use their larger muscles to move resources and build constructions. No matter how children choose to play with open-ended resources, we can support this by facilitating an inspiring and well-resourced environment.
Outdoor essentials…
A well-resourced environment will contain many essentials known to offer challenge and inspire opportunities to play and explore. One top essential - especially for those settings who enjoy an extended time outdoors - are waterproofs! They enable children to fully embrace the wetter weather without fear of getting their clothes muddy. Rainy days offer immense opportunity for play!
Other resources you could think about incorporating into your environment if you haven’t already included…
A mud kitchen, digging pit, garden tools, pallets, a sheltered area, cosy nooks (where children can enjoy quieter time), magnifying glasses, binoculars, loose parts and of course, mud!
In whatever way you choose to use them outdoors, we hope you have lots of fun!
Outdoor Resources to get you started:
Natural Resource Treasure pack
Mud Kitchens
Natural Water channels
Mini Beast Hotel
Magnifying Carry Box
Water Play