Enabling Environments in the Early Years by Liz Hodgman

Author:Liz Hodgman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: communication, environment, inclusive, children, physical, space, assessing, outdoor, indoor, practitioners, managers, early years, sustainable, risk assessment, policies, procedures, checklists
ISBN: 9781907241468
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2012
Published: 2012-05-21T00:00:00+00:00

Small outdoor space

For settings with a small outdoor space this presents challenges, however even the smallest garden can provide access to gardening activities.

Large plastic shopping bags (like those from IKEA) filled with soil, make great cheap planters and can be folded away when not in use. (Remember to make some drainage holes in the bottom first). Recycled car tyres, decking planks and flower buckets from supermarkets also make cheap planters.

If you grow plants that are sensory you will be adding more learning opportunities. As a child I loved stroking the velvety-soft leaves of Stachys Byzantina - we called it Lamb’s Tongue. By adding plants that are rich in nectar you will encourage wildlife such as butterflies to visit the garden. Adding some logs and stones to a very small area can create a home for minibeasts. Rotting wood, leaf litter and a place to shelter will provide an ideal environment for minibeasts to flourish. Provide the children with magnifying glasses and pots to put them in while they are being observed. Include some laminated signs, using words and pictures to encourage the children to look for different types of insects and to increase their understanding.

Filling several bags with different materials, sand, soil, rocks, gravel and bark, for example, provides the children with the opportunity to explore them using their senses. Adding some containers, scoops, spoons, or shovels enables some large-scale physical activities with the children filling and emptying them with the different materials. This idea could be expanded into role play, by adding a shopping till, as the landscape part of a garden centre.

Mark making in a small garden can be incorporated by adding chalk boards mounted on legs and installed into the ground or attached to walls or fencing. A plastic crate with chalks and a cleaner can be easily carried in and out by the children when needed.

A small space can still enable children to develop large motor skills. Fasten a heavy-duty string or washing line across the space. From this line hang down cords with plastic hollow balls on the end of each. Provide the children with plastic rackets and encourage them to hit the balls. The balls need to be spaced so that the risk of the children hitting each other is reduced. The line may need to be adjusted so that the balls are unlikely to hit the children in the face and hurt them.

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