Session 4: Challenges, risks and opportunities
Introduction
Imagine you want to take a group of children from a baby room outdoors for the morning. All the children are aged under 18 months. Some are confident walkers, others still finding their feet. Some are able to navigate transitions from one space to another smoothly, others approach them with more uncertainty. None are yet fully capable of putting on coats, wellies, sun cream or puddle suits (though they can manage a hat) and a few fiercely resist adults’ attempts to assist them. These are just some of the challenges practitioners may face, before the children have even reached the door to the outside space. Once the children are outside, the difficulties continue – can you think of what some of these might be? Figure 1 illustrates some of the challenges that practitioners can encounter once the children reach the outside space: the environment may lead to children getting wet, muddy, or cold; adverse weather may make time outdoors seem unappealing. Meanwhile, unsuitable clothing may cause children discomfort and getting changed may cause distress.
This all may seem quite a negative picture. However, in this session you are not only going to consider some of these challenges, but you are also going to look at how imaginative practitioners overcome them. Before you go any further, listen to the following audio in which Polly Bolshaw, Session 4 author, introduces the content.
Transcript
POLLY BOLSHAW: In this session, you're going to be thinking about what happens in early years settings and what some of the challenges and some of the risks are in giving babies and toddlers opportunities to engage with the outdoors. In terms of the challenges, you will look at three of the most common issues facing early years settings.
Firstly, the difficulties in supporting young children's routines in the outside environment. Secondly, the challenge that a lack of direct access to the outdoor space can provide. And thirdly, how some practitioners can have a reluctance to change, which can mean that children do not have as many outdoor opportunities as they could have.
As well as challenges associated with giving babies and young children opportunities to spend time outside, there are also risks associated with them being in the outdoor environment. You will look at two of these-- risks from weather conditions and risks from the setting's outdoor space. Then at the end of this session, Sandra Roles and Charlotte Roles, from Dimples Day nursery in Kent, talk about some of the challenges that they faced when thinking about outdoor provision for under twos, how they've managed to overcome these, and what tips they'd offer to other practitioners to do the same.
By the end of this session, you should be able to:
- identify the challenges when considering opportunities for babies and toddlers to engage with the outdoors
- outline risks such as problematic weather and health and safety issues
- describe some of the ways to overcome those challenges and risks.