Playing Outside

Activities, ideas and inspiration for the early years

Helen Bilton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781317817543
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Making outdoor teaching and learning work in practice is now a key priority for all early years practitioners.

Playing Outside provides clear and detailed guidance on all aspects of outdoor play illustrated with over 100 colour photographs. This bestselling book has been fully updated throughout to incorporate the Early Years Foundation Stage and includes completely new photographs, case studies and ideas for resources.

To help promote physical activity, healty and well educated children this book provides:

• practical activities that cover all aspects of learning;
• photographs illustrating good practice and imaginative use of equipment;
• examples of work from a range of settings;
• help and advice on suppliers of equipment.

Written for all practitioners working in schools, nurseries and pre-school settings, this book is essential reading for those who wish to provide inspiring outdoor play opportunities for the children in their care.

1 Do we need the outdoor environment?

DOI: 10.4324/9781315818665-2

Any educational experience is made of the who, the what and the how; that is, the children (who), the curriculum or knowledge (what) and the environment (how). We have to be convinced that children will gain from an educational experience, so in this chapter, I will be putting forward the case for providing the outdoor environment. How we bring children and knowledge together is crucial in making the educational experience worthwhile. Done badly, outdoor play does little for any child; done well, outdoor play can help and support children as they think, feel and act.

Figures 1.1–1.11 Children active, absorbed and purposeful.

This series of photographs shows a group of children moving a large mound of bark chippings to create a new play space. This activity lasted the whole afternoon despite the miserable weather. A number of children were fully engaged for the entire time and others joined for shorter periods of time, sometimes returning later. Both boys and girls were involved. At times, the teacher was involved, and at others, she was standing back. Children learned to manoeuvre spades and wheelbarrows, cooperate in terms of space and equipment, balance on the mounds, consider and discuss the next steps, help others and our school class, be responsible and, most importantly, use language in a meaningful context and learn new language. Children danced, ran and slid.

The children were practising dispositions needed to be successful in the educational setting and society – perseverance, consideration, concentration and curiosity. Katz has strongly argued for a long time that children can learn, and seemingly achieve, when given academic tasks, but that unless they grasp the dispositions for learning, the skills will wane (Katz and Chard 1989). Why bother about science if you do not have the disposition of curiosity? Lastly, this activity did not need specialist or fancy equipment, and it had not been created as an activity to fit the curriculum. It was part and parcel of the ‘everyday’ of that class. The best and most effective classrooms are ones where these work activities are seen as learning experiences. It did not require workmen to move the bark, because the children were taking responsibility for their garden.

The adults did interject at critical times, to ensure play continued. Two children were throwing the bark chipping near a drain and the adult suggested using the water tray to put the bark in. Two children were arguing about a tyre and the use of it, and the adult suggested getting another one. They did and played well, but two terms ago this would not have happened.

Figure 1.12 Some comments while moving the bark chippings (see Figures 1.1–1.11).

Three reasons for having outdoor play

Reason 1

Outside is a natural environment for children; there is a freedom associated with the space that cannot be replicated inside.

If children feel at home in a particular space it seems logical to teach them in that area; education should not be a chore, but an enjoyable and worthwhile occupation. Ask any grown-up about their childhood and a glazed expression will come over them when they talk about going outside to play! They talk in terms of doing their own thing, staying away from grown-ups, spending lots of time with friends, negotiating and cooperating to make things, having and sorting out arguments, having fun, getting really worn out and just simply relaxing. Outdoors is somewhere most children like to be, but it needs to be enjoyable, fun, relaxing and involve others. The grownups mention learning in terms of learning about being with other people and learning how to give and take, understand and forgive. Grown-ups do not often mention the formal curriculum, but they will have learned about every subject area of life. They will have learned to be self-reliant, to take risks, but not put themselves in danger when jumping a stream or climbing a tree. They will talk in terms of understanding the weather, reading the change in atmospheric conditions, a part of the science curriculum learning. Through dividing children, stones, etc. into groups, they would have been putting into practice the multiplication tables.

If you ask children who controls the home, most say the mother; to the question who controls the classroom, it will be the teacher; but when asked who controls outside, children will say no one. If that is the case, then one cannot be judged in that space, hence why children might feel more comfortable in this environment. If they cannot be judged, then they have a freedom to be their true selves and to take risks where failure may be possible, but where they will not be condemned for it.

Case study

William, aged 9, said, ‘Sometimes I feel really itchy and spiky when I get home from school and not very nice, but if I go outside, then I feel OK again and I am not horrible to anyone.’

This child knows how he feels in different environments and how that then impacts on people around him.

Reason 2

The environment in which children and adults play and work can affect their emotions, behaviour, personality and ability to learn. To give you a perspective of this, envisage the underground in London. Some people like it, some do not. Some feel claustrophobic, some love looking at all the different people. So that is an emotional response; this then affects the behaviour of the people, whether they are furtive or bold. This can, in turn, dictate whether they get to their destination with ease or not. So then we think of outside, another environment, and not only do children react differently to it in comparison to inside, but in comparison to each other. Some may feel more confident outside, some more creative, some more vocal. So looking more specifically, how are children affected by being outside?

• Some children prefer to work and play outside. Certain children seem to prefer to play inside, some outside and some seem able to utilise both areas. However, even those children who prefer to play outside, given good inside and outside areas, will utilise both, but the inside area to a lesser extent. Traveller children, and often refugee children, may prefer to be outside, as this is where they naturally live for most of the day. For them, they need to be outside, as this is where they feel empowered.
• Some children are less inhibited outside. You can find in a setting one child with two personalities, one associated with inside and one outside. Inside, a child can be reticent, shy, unwilling to get involved with many of the activities. However, outside, the same child can be vocal, effervescent and perfectly happy to have a go at any activity. It would appear that the affecting force is walls and a ceiling; this is sufficient to affect the child’s whole personality.
• Some children are more able outside. Outside play for some children can involve more mature discussions, more advanced play and more ability. For me, the very crucial issue is that if these children are tested/judged/assessed outside, they would be found to be more able than if they were judged inside.
• Some children are more assertive and imaginative outside. Being assertive means being able to put one’s ideas or points of view forward, and being confident enough to take a lead role in the play; this can only occur for certain children if they are playing in an outdoor area.
• Some children will use activities placed outside that they would not use inside. Some children can feel reticent about books and writing and, for some, there is a greater ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Do we need the outdoor environment?
• 2 The adult’s role before, during and after outdoor play
• 3 The curriculum out of doors
• 4 Creating a workable playing environment
• 5 Where do we go from here?
• Resources and contacts
• Bibliography