playnotes

January 2011 Early Years Outdoors

children opportunities to be excited, feel anxious, to make new discoveries about themselves, develop physically and to anticipate what might happen as a result of their actions, building on their knowledge. Adventures help children gain confidence, giving a sense of achievement and motivation to try again. For boys, the power of adventure may be especially relevant. Some research suggests that they develop concepts of movement and space first, so it makes sense for learning to take place in an environment such as the outdoors that allow these concepts to become concrete (see Further resources).

enabling adventurous play

Adventure for children transports them into another world. Enabling adventure is not necessarily about each day planning for special activities but instead supporting their interests. Observing children outdoors will help give you the best idea of what stimulates them. Supporting their interests may then involve reassessing the design, use and resourcing of your space.

Reassessing your space

Look at ways of redesigning your space or developing existing features to offer new possibilities for adventurous play.

Whether climbing up, jumping over

Adventurous play
If someone said to you the word adventure what image or memories would it conjure up? Climbing trees? Standing on top of a hill, thinking about running down it? Making a camp fire? Exploring woods or playing unsupervised? Children need challenging play but, according to early childhood expert Jennie Lindon (see Further resources), the risk-averse culture that many of our children live in today is damaging their ability to grow physically, intellectually and emotionally. Well-designed and well-used outdoor spaces can, however, offer children the space and freedom to experience adventurous play with appropriate risk. This Playnotes looks at: what we mean by adventure enabling adventurous play

how to tackle risk and adventurous play the role of the adult. What do we mean by adventure?
Adventurous play doesnt have to be adrenaline-packed or large scale. After all, a four year old, hiding in the undergrowth, is on an adventure. You are having an adventure when you are challenging yourself, pushing your own boundaries, being slightly the other side of your comfort zone. More commonly termed as the stretch zone this sits between comfort and panic, where challenge is at the forefront. Channelled sympathetically, adventures can set children off on a journey that enriches their learning. They can offer

or crawling through, children want to experiment and try physical activities beyond their capabilities. Outdoor spaces in early years settings, however, are often topographically dull flat, mainly mown grass and tarmac. Incorporating mounds, banks and changing gradients may involve taking professional advice, but once you have clear designs the physical work could easily be carried out by volunteer staff and parents. Height,

Learning through Landscapes

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for example, can transform play, giving children a different perspective on the world, while banks, slopes and hills can help develop childrens large motor skills. Opportunities should be given to children who have physical disabilities to access heights through using bridges, aerial walkways and tree houses.

Many settings already have walls of

varying height. These can be used for balancing along and jumping off providing great opportunities for challenge and developing a sense of achievement. They can also be adapted into traversing walls encouraging children to learn about their own body strength, and to estimate how far they need to stretch their body to move along it. children, offering a place to initiate adventurous pretend play being lost, and then being found, being in danger, then being rescued that is secure yet secret. Fences can be used to attach material or tarpaulin to and create spaces and dens for children to hide in. Wild spaces from a huddle of bushes to an area of unmown grass are also valuable areas for attracting children in search of adventurous play.

Nooks and crannies are vital for young

Supporting adventurous activities

Providing opportunities for adventure doesnt mean having to change your whole space.

Simply allowing for free rather than

adventurous activities Moving through tall grasses Hiding in bushes, hedges, play houses Climbing on logs/boulders/ladders Dressing up Experiencing cooking outdoors Making dens Using small world resources in sand,
grass, mud Using open-ended resources Stories that inspire the imagination Swinging on tyres on a rope attached to a tree Playing in rock pools, puddles Going on outings

prescriptive play can make being outdoors unpredictable, exciting and challenging. Free play can unsettle practitioners as it lacks structure and adult involvement, but you can still set boundaries. Introduce resources such as water, logs, crates, tyres and large pebbles all useful, non-prescriptive, open-ended items that encourage exciting free-play. out their miniature adventures. If you only have tarmac outdoors, fill shallow trays with grass and water to offer more varied small world environments. children have to be adult-led such as cooking over a fire. Try chocolate buttons in bananas wrapped in foil on a barbecue. This experience will provide opportunities for discussion, feeding into childrens imagination around adventurous play.

challenge and that through play children can take risks and make mistakes. An outdoor environment that is safe enough is not one devoid of risks and challenges, so it is important to have written policies, such as a health and safety policy and an outdoor play policy, to support staff in encouraging this type of play.

Small world play allows children to act

Some activities that excite young

Assessing risk
Well-designed and well-used outdoor spaces can readily offer children the space and freedom to experience physical challenges with appropriate risk. The key is to approach risk assessment with a positive attitude with young children recognised as competent learners, so they can learn how to stay safe without being limited. One of the best ways to feel confident about providing risky play at your setting is to carry out a risk-benefit analysis (see Further resources) in which the emphasis is placed on enabling children to take risks safely. In addition:

how to tackle risk and adventure

Children want to experiment and try activities beyond their capabilities its in their nature, and its essential that they do so. Only then can they build knowledge and skills through experience. In defining play the EYFS (2007) says that providing well-planned experiences based on childrens spontaneous play, both indoors and outdoors, is an important way in which practitioners support young children to learn with enjoyment and
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have conversations with your colleagues

about how the space is being used, to check you havent overlooked anything.

case study
Sticky Fingers Day Nursery is a privately-owned nursery in London sharing its space with the local scouts group. Keen to offer more adventurous activities especially secret, sensory experiences the setting, which has developed a positive relationship with the scouts over the years was able to agree an area that they could develop to offer these experiences. The new area is the result of hard work by the staff and parents. It includes boulders and logs for stepping along and climbing over, a bridge-style walk way, and planting with textured and aromatic shrubs providing secret, sensory areas. The staff have noticed how the children use their imagination a lot more, and develop ways of assessing risk for themselves working out different ways to get across the bridge, sliding, jumping and climbing round it, for example. They can experience different heights and perspectives the eucalyptus tree, for example, has a branch that helps the children stand on the boulder and there are nooks and crannies where they can appear hidden, reflect and work out their next move. Although the committee were wary of the changes to the outdoor space, they have seen the benefits an adventurous space like this can bring to the children.

playnotes january 2011

check accident records often to see if consider the range of abilities of

there are regularly incidents in specific areas or with specific equipment. children who will be using the different outdoor areas, making decisions based on what is developmentally appropriate rather than on the childrens ages. Use your judgement to decide whether the

existing safety measures are adequate or if additional precautions need to be put in place.

positive lesson for the children.

keep calm about the incident, discuss point out the dangers and ask the
children for solutions to stay safe.

Dealing with accidents

It is inevitable that accidents will happen children need to experience, for example, falling over if they are to learn to balance or navigate uneven surfaces. How you deal with accidents can, however, provide a

with the children what happened and encourage them to ask questions.

reinforce boundaries. treat incidents as mistakes that children

can learn from by using a no blame approach. listen to them if they want to talk. planning if appropriate.

comfort a child if they are upset and reflect on the accident in future the role of the practitioner
Observing children at play allows the practitioner to build up knowledge of the children in their care. If an activity is beyond an individual childs mobility skills or level of understanding, then there is potential for a risk or challenge to become a genuine hazard or danger. However, giving children opportunities to try, maybe to fail, and to try again until they learn a new skill or technique (and then celebrating their success with them) will not only boost a childs physical capabilities but their confidence too. As a practitioner, you will also know
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case study
When Childrens Place, an early years setting in Halifax, decided to develop their grounds in order to encourage adventurous play, they had to work closely with parents and other early years specialists to ensure they developed a safe garden space, offering children the opportunity for risk and challenge. To help put their ideas in place the nursery received Quality and Access funding from their local authority. As members of LTL they were then able to research ideas for outdoor play before setting up a consultation process which included a parents forum. Staff also visited other settings, encouraged the children to draw pictures showing what they like to do outdoors, and everyone experienced a forest school day, which involved lighting fires and climbing trees. Following the consultation process it was decided that installing a number of

rocks and boulders in two areas would offer the type of physical challenge and adventure the children needed. The staff managed the new space by gradually introducing the children to it, devising a one-way system to avoid them colliding with each other, and developing outdoor rules such as we must take turns. Despite the settings best efforts, one of the children at the nursery did injure herself following a fall. This forced the setting to reflect on how and why the incident occurred and how best to progress. The issue was discussed with parents, advice was sought from LTL, and with everyone in agreement the rocks in one area of the outdoor site were replaced with low wooden posts offering a different type of physical

challenge while making the whole outdoor space more manageable for staff. The development of their outdoor space has highlighted to staff the importance of taking childrens ages and abilities into consideration when planning how to manage change. The setting recently held a parents forum during which the development of an outdoor play policy was discussed using outdoor play policy guidance from Learning through Landscapes. A draft policy is now in process, working in partnership with parents, children, staff and the settings local authority early years consultants. This helps to inform new parents that outdoor risk and challenge is an important part of its ethos.

which children can acquire new skills easily and those who will need support. Set boundaries and be specific about safety rules around using new resources:

Further resources Playnotes Up, over and under (July

break activities down into manageable

steps by telling them what you are doing. safety aspects.

let children watch as you explain the

encourage them to ask questions about the equipment. Show pictures or written instructions for the activity. support.

2009), Boys and the outdoors (November 2008), Nooks and crannies (September 2010), Curriculum support Risk Assessments. All available to members to download for free from our website www.ltl.org.uk. Lindon (National Childrens Bureau, 2003)

Too Safe for Their Own Good by Jennie

This resource was originally created as part of the Early Years Outdoors membership scheme from the national school grounds charity operating in Scotland as

let them try the activity with your gradually allow the child some
independence to have a go.

Learning through Landscapes Grounds for Learning

(registered charity no. in England and Wales 803270 and in Scotland SCO38890).

at times some activities/actions are only

appropriate for adults. You need to explain why this is to the children.

allow children to try and try again.

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To find out more about membership call 01962 845811 or visit www.ltl.org.uk