“When I first started working at Sheephouse I wasn’t so keen to get messy and didn’t really like the children getting absolutely soaked or covered in dirt either. I’ve grown and learned that it is okay to get dirty and take risks with the children because they can gain so much from these opportunities whether it be learning and developing holistically, learning life skills or just having an awesome time enjoying themselves and simply having fun!”


Being a relatively new setting has brought many positives in how we approach outdoor play. Our children, regardless of their age and stage, have been instrumental in informing our physical environment. Our mud kitchen, loose parts area, outdoor LEGO® and water walls, chalk boards, large scales and even our decision to lay some artificial turf in our yoga garden were all put in place to enable a particular outcome for each of our children. For us, every opportunity for play starts with a child and the resulting outcome of the play is an opportunity for that child.


Our team take meaningful observations and use floor books (both inside and outside) to help explore our children’s interests and develop next steps. From this our team create many different play opportunities – all with the outcome in mind. A good example is an opportunity that our team developed around aeroplanes and airports as a direct result of one child’s contagious enthusiasm for all things related to aviation. Inside the children built their own security scanner between one of our doorways yet outside they created a whole security check-in system complete with trays, scanners, security men and luggage. It was the same fantasy play happening both inside and out and the children didn’t distinguish between the spaces. The location made no difference really other than


the fact that being outside gave the children more space and more options to build on their play – ultimately benefitting them even more.


We’ve found that involving our families and our community has really helped to develop everyone’s passion for getting outside. Initially we found that some of our families were really concerned about the children getting dirty and taking risks like tree climbing or using hammers and nails. We believe that communication is key and we are always honest with new families: we go outside a lot, we get dirty, your child will get sand and mud everywhere, but they will wash, learn how assess their own risk and gain vital life skills which will set them up so well!


We’ve learned to reinforce this as we go along and this year we opened


enabled many of the adults to reflect and appreciate that getting dirty or rained on really doesn’t matter and that risks, given that the children are being enabled to manage them, are a positive.


For settings that are really struggling with getting outside, the best thing to do is keep it simple. You don’t need to go mad and spend a fortune on ‘outdoor specific’ equipment


"We’ve found that involving our families and our community has really helped to develop everyone’s passion for getting outside."


the nursery garden to our families and the wider community and invited them to come in and take part in a range of risky, sensory and heuristic activities that we just happened to be able to do outdoors. We offered fire building sessions, yoga, a drumming workshop, we had loose parts play, our mud kitchen was fully set up for families to create whatever culinary delight their imagination fancied, a construction table with saws and hammers and nails as well messy sensory play for the smaller children. At each station our team talked our visitors through the benefits and how they could replicate it at home – even on a smaller scale. Seeing first-hand how much fun the children were having and actually experiencing some of the fun for themselves


and don’t try and do everything at once. Start by taking some of your inside out or even bringing some of your outside in. Loose parts such as guttering, crate and tyres and treasure basket items such as pebbles and twigs are really easy to come by and it’s relatively simple to continue to add to them and change them. Likewise, get your parents involved by asking them to donate items. This gets them on board and helps you at the same time! Gradually you’ll find that it’s not about being inside or out, it’s about taking part in the opportunity regardless of where it’s situated.


Happy adventures!


Shop Little Learners ypo.co.uk/earlyyears


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