Enhancing your outdoor play area with less expensive resources
As we know children learn so much from outdoor play. It is important that children have access to outdoor play daily as this is highly emphasised in the EYFS. Children should go outside no matter the weather.
As children run around outside they are learning about the effect physical exercise has on their bodies Being outdoors helps so many areas of children’s learning and development, they learn to build confidence in themselves, they learn about problem-solving and socialising with other children. When outdoors children learn about risk taking, practitioners feel that children learn vital skills when risk taking.Read more about risk taking.
When revamping your outdoor play area, resources don’t need to be expensive be creative and source resources such as logs crates and old tyres. Children will spend hours creating dens using the recycled equipment. Open-ended resources are great for outdoor play as children use their imagination to think of how to use the resources.
Many plastic toys nowadays don’t offer children many opportunities as they are very limited in what they can do, whereas using natural and reclaimed resources the opportunities are endless.
Why not hang hanging baskets around your garden as this will attract wildlife, giving children contact with the natural world. There are also other ways you can attract wildlife such as creating your own bug hotel using received materials eg broken plant pots, logs, branches, planks of wood and bricks etc. A bug hotel is a great resource as children can visit this and see what creatures they can find using magnifying glasses.
A popular addition to an outdoor play area is a mud kitchen, these are great for developing children’s imagination skills as well as their personal social and emotional development. Children use their imagination to reenact experiences and recreate new scenarios. A Mud kitchen is easy to make and doesn’t have to be too fancy. Old pallets are great for making a mud kitchen and why not add an old stainless sink. For mud kitchen ideas click here.
Many people are so quick to pop to the shop and buy resources for the garden when in fact look at what available resources you already have. Old pallets are a great resource as you can make some many didn’t things with them such as a water wall or even a shelter . Have you ever wondered what you could make with decking boards? Wooden sand pits constructed from decking will last longer than a plastic one. You could even construct a stage out of decking for the children to practice their dancing on, as you can see the opportunities are endless.
Like we said the outdoor play area doesn’t need to be fully of expensive equipment as long as what is provided offers children vast learning opportunities, then this should pass the Ofsted approval.
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