How Do Young Children Learn: Outdoor Learning and Play

1. How do young children learn? This resource was originally created as part of the
Early Years Outdoors membership scheme from
Learning through Landscapes.
To find out more about membership
call 01962 845 811 or visit www.ltl.org.uk
Curriculum to meet their desire to move and be
actively involved, such as role-play contexts
that allow movement and action. Look for
Support ways of extending activities that encourage
whole body involvement, such as in sand and
water play.
How do young children learn? Using all the senses
As adults we rely heavily on our eyes and
When planning for outdoor opportunities and listening to others talk. Young children use all
experiences for your children, it is important to bear their senses to find out about the world
in mind how young children learn. What learning around them. Their brains act like sponges,
environments work best for young children? What soaking up everything around and building
experiences will ensure that learning will be literally millions of connections. It is only later that
satisfying and successful for them? the filtering process takes place that makes us
In this Curriculum Support, we will look at some of focused and direct as adults. It is important that we
these key areas. The outdoors offers some of the support young children during this phase to develop
things young children need for learning such as all their sensory receptors, interpret this sensory
room for movement and ample opportunity for information and integrate this in their body and brain.
hands-on activity. Think about providing small, quiet Recent research on prioperceptors – sensory nerve
places, outside as well as indoors. In your short, endings that sense changes in body position – shows
medium or long term planning include these elements how we learn to store this knowledge for immediate or
and features to create the conditions young children future use. For children, whole body movement
need to thrive best in their learning and development. opportunities and physical challenges are essential to
Many of these elements interact and strong experiences hone these skills. They also listen to every sound and
with a lasting impact can be planned in quite simple seem to be alert to tiny details in what they see that we
ways. The best provision links experiences across the have learned to filter out. Plan experiences that give
indoor and outdoor environments, making use of what children sensory input, rich in things to see, hear, smell,
each has to offer. taste and touch and in which they can move all parts of
the body. There is no shortage of sensory opportunities
Doing, movement and whole body involvement in the outdoors: ensure rich sensory content, such as
Young children like to move and some children, growing in real soil and playing in the rain.
especially many boys, seem to need to move most of
the time. It is now well known that movement helps Real and first-hand experiences
learning and that young children learn through doing Until they have learned through concrete and direct
and moving – they are ‘kinaesthetic learners’. Brain- hands-on experience, children are not ready for abstract
All photographs ©Learning through Landscapes unless otherwise stated.
building in young children actually takes place through thinking or second-hand knowledge. What does a
movement of the body, so the more active the child can metre mean unless you have travelled along many lines
be and the more parts of their body they can use at with your body and got a real feeling for the idea of
once, the better the child understands and learns. distance? What does weight really mean until you have
Plan for experiences that encourage and enable children held something in your hand? Young children will get
deeply absorbed in real experiences, often for
surprisingly long periods of time, and gain hugely from
everything that experience has to offer – the benefit
maybe quite different from that which you had
originally planned! Their experiences will help them
make some wonderful connections and theories about
how the world works. All questions and ideas are valid
and an important part of learning. Children work like
scientists, who don’t assume they understand
something until it has been thoroughly tested through
experiment. The outdoors is rich in possibilities for real
and first-hand experiences and you will have many to
choose from even in a small outdoor area: nature, the
Digging in deep sand with a long-handled spade provides elements of the weather, digging and growing,
a whole-body immersion in the concepts being explored exploring running water, sand and natural materials,
and is a richer experience than reaching into a sand tray, woodwork, running and going up and down slopes or
using only hands and arms. steps, the list goes on.

2. Imitation
Watching and imitating is a major
way of learning for young children.
We can teach young children through
how we behave. Role modelling
curiosity and enquiry will bring children’s
attention to something interesting
without needing to call them.
Behave in a confident and careful way
towards challenges to give children a
positive approach to risk-taking. Value the
outdoor environment, show this in
planning creative activities and making it
genuinely available. However, because of
the sponge-like way young children absorb
their surroundings, impressions have
The importance of planning for play unconscious but lasting effects, including
Young children are self-driven learners and are adult behaviour that give clues as to how
constantly curious and exploratory and discover through they feel about being outside today! For those children
play. Although they love adult attention and who prefer to be outdoors, the perception that adults
interaction, they also want to follow their own ideas and do not really value it can damage their self-esteem.
find it hard to do what adults want them to for very Children of the same age and older children can be
long. Children’s play is often based upon what they excellent tutors for play, communication and behaviour;
know about or are interested in – making sense of so planning times when ages mix in outdoor play is well
experiences they have had by playing with the ideas, worth consideration.
often repeatedly. The experiences could be from home
or the setting. The best outdoor provision supplies Repetition
plenty of play opportunities. Plan for ample time for Young children like to repeat an activity that interests
children to be able to process ideas at their own pace, them again and again, until it is fully understood or
making the outdoors available every day for long mastered. They often like to return to something in
periods. This will have a beneficial impact on children’s order to practice and refine their ideas and skills, or
learning and development and reward your planning. simply to feel a sense of familiarity and competence.
Plan for children to be able to go back to activities or
Social learning experiences over a long period of time, giving them the
Young children are very sociable and learn best by chance to work at their own pace and repeat as much as
interaction with other children and adults. By sharing necessary. Plan for long periods of time outdoors and
interest and talking about what they are seeing and for all weathers, so that children know they will be able
doing they build their thinking abilities and their to carry on the next day. Plan also for children to access
understanding of how the world works. Encourage resources themselves so that they can get involved in
children to play and work outdoors with other children what they want to do without the need for adults to set
and with adults. Give time for long interactions to occur, things up for them.
supporting a ‘social co-construction’ of knowledge.
Activities that genuinely interest practitioners will offer Making use of these suggestions and ideas in your
many opportunities for sharing the focus (sustained setting will give you more time for the important tasks
shared thinking) where both parties are genuinely of interacting, talking and supporting children’s
interested in something and find out about it together. learning.
Future issues of Curriculum Support will offer more detailed guidance for planning effective outdoor play.
Suggested Reading
A Shared Vision for Outdoor Play poster in your Early Years The Potential of a Puddle Claire Warden , 2005,
Outdoors pack. Mindstretchers, ISBN 0954488350.
www.mindstretchers.co.uk
Smart Moves: why learning is not all your head
Carla Hannaford, 1995, Great Ocean Publishers, Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years,
ISBN 0915556278. 2004, Research report No 356, DfES.
www.dfes.gov.uk
First hand experience: what matters to children
D. Rich, D. Casanova, M.J. Drummond,
A. Durrant and C. Myer, 2005,
Rich Learning Opportunities, ISBN 0954968301.