6 Summary of Session 5

As you come to the end of Session 5, it’s a good time to reflect on what you’ve learned about the ways outdoor provision for babies and young children can be developed. Key criteria to bear in mind are a setting’s surfaces, stimulus, staffing and supervision, storage, seating, shade and shelter, sustainability, safety and security, and space. As part of surfaces, you may consider materials such as grass, sand, bark, tarmac, rubber, concrete and soil, all of which offer provocations to young children. In terms of stimuli, some of these may be natural, such as puddles, water and sand, and some of these may be manufactured, such as provocations like mirrors. And you should also think about the role that adults can play in developing provision, both practitioners and parents.

You should now be able to:

• describe the principles of engaging outdoor provision for babies and toddlers
• outline what effective outdoor spaces may look like in relation to their surfaces and stimuli
• describe the role of the adult in engaging outdoor provision for babies and young children.

In the next session, you will be moving on to consider the difference between being outdoors and being in nature as you explore definitions of natural environments.

You can now go to Session 6 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .