The importance of outdoor play in Early Years
Supporting parental understanding of the benefits of outdoor opportunities within our Early Years setting.
Associated Course:
Project summary:
This was an opportunity for me to get to the root cause of why our families seemed to have a reluctance to allow their child/ren to be outside in changing weather patterns.
Parental groups were asking staff to stop their child going outside or playing in water for fear of their child getting wet or being cold.
Parents were displaying worries that the didn’t want their child/ren to have free access to the outdoors.
Introduction
This project looks at the conflicting attitudes towards the benefits of outdoor access during a child’s day at our Nursery setting.
I believe this enquiry was particularly important to me and our setting as we were having daily conversations with family members on why children have access to the outdoor spaces with a free flow open door policy.
During these conversations practitioners were finding it difficult to bust the negative myths around the worries and anxieties parents seemed to display, and seemed to fear the confrontation too.
I want to find a way that resolves these fears/ worries and issues without practitioners or family members feeling confronted in a negative way put is informative and relatable in a way everyone feels comfortable.
So, I needed to create a questionnaire which should help me truly understand were the thoughts and feelings of our Families actually lie and then gage how I can help produce information in a positive way for our existing or new families.
Context
The project was particularly important to me as we had an almost daily conversation with families on the subject of why we have an open free flow access to the garden and children are able to come and go in and out as they choose.
Trying to explain to our families that this wasn’t the reason why children became poorly was proving quite difficult.
Maybe this was a fear begot by the aftermath of covid?
Maybe it was gained by the parents own beliefs, but I was feeling the need to not only justify our practices as a setting but also trying to resolve worries and anxieties on nearly a daily basis.
Being a parent myself I understand these views.
Trying to help Parental groups understand that we have an open-door policy and children have the right to choose where the play/learn and how they learn during their time at nursery is the very basis of our ethos.
Parental groups seemed to struggle to see the bigger picture, The developmental and learning opportunities that are freely available to children through outdoor challenges and exploration.
I knew this would be no easy task. We try hard to unite our families and communities in many different ways and at this particular time we seem to fall short.
Parental engagement isn’t an easy task at our setting and even with open events online events, fundraising and bring you’re adult to Nursery events seem to constantly fall short of interest too.
Taking into account the diversity of our family groups I had to try offer different ways in which we can reach as many parent/carers as possible, and all our families have access to the app we use to document individual child learning and experiences. (Seesaw).
I had to consider that most parental groups probably work, some work shift patterns and some work away from home too and the only access that would benefit a wider audience would probably be through Seesaw.
Parental groups and families needed to be able to view and reflect in their own time and be aware that they were taken seriously in their worries and questions.
I decided to devise a questionnaire that was short, to the point, anonymous and gave opportunity to put their worries and thoughts in writing.
This would be created on Smart survey and open for a period of one week.
Once it went live with the link and a description of the intent through the seesaw app announcements all of our families would be able to complete the survey without judgment or restriction.
Ethics
Using the Seesaw app and placing the survey in the announcement section meant that all who wished to take part were aware that their comments and answers were completely anonymous and would be only used in sight of improving practitioner informational services to all of our parental groups.
The use of an anonymous platform meant that I was certain I would get a better insight into how our families who answer will be more honest and upfront with their answers and we in turn can accommodate with a more specific answer if there is one.
It’s important to point out to our families that we always try our upmost to listen and respond to all comments, thoughts and feelings and deal with any worries and anxieties in a professional and sympathetic way that doesn’t cause upset or bias.
I think it’s also important to point out that not all questions brought to light or family worries can be resolved at this point as our children also have a voice to be heard too.
“Outdoor play is important for a child’s development. The opportunity to explore different areas and interests is key to helping them find joy in their lives” Parent at Scots Corner ELC
Findings
After the closing date of the short survey sent out it was apparent that we still have a long way to go in gaining parental and family participation in the issues and practices we deliver.
Only 2 families out of 52 families responded to the survey before the closing date.
This could have been because it was over the February half term break which I’m unsure this is the case as we are an all-year rounded setting and families have access to seesaw constantly. A simple lack of interest in participation could also be the case.
Results didn’t reveal any shocks, only to conclude that more questions probably need asked.
Maybe I asked the wrong questions, as families seemed to know the importance of outdoor access but wanted the practitioners to tell the children what to wear whilst they play or restrict their play in certain weathers.
The results showed that families weren’t understanding of the child’s rights to choose or learn the appropriateness of adequate clothing whilst out or the opportunity to self regulate through informed choice.
Instead, it seemed families wanted us to tell children to wear adequate clothing or simply dress them for occasion.
After the closing date 3 more families responded to the survey.
They again said they knew the importance of the outdoor environments but felt we didn’t restrict the children or insist the children wear complete weather proof clothing before they enter the garden.
One parent was interested in how we involve literacy and numeracy into the setting and another wanted more information on other aspects of our practices.
What was clear is that parents seem to want planned activity and adult involvement in the children’s choices whilst at nursery.
Maybe we as a setting need to break down the values, vision and aims and show emphasis on children’s rights and the importance of learning through experiences and self-regulation.
At this point I took advantage of a chance to chat to parents’ face to face during their morning visits, we invited the parents to stay for the morning and placed emphasis on the outdoor areas.
And I asked the questions once more, reworded the survey placing questions with a ‘how would you’ beginning.
Conclusion
My conclusions to this is I probably need to dig a bit deeper and build on my questions.
Probably pick one area of practice for example children’s rights and ask parents how important they think it is for their child to have their say.
How willing are parents to hear the voice of their child when a child expresses their wishes in particular situations.
Parents were keen to see short informative videos, maybe we can use this as a platform to showcase these areas with lots of chat from the children whilst out in the community and our outdoor environment.
I also think that a deeper look at how we write our individual child observations would also give better insight and inform the child’s families that actually we didn’t just allow said child to roll in a puddle and not engage – we responded with care consideration and allowed the child to actually learn from that experience, feeling and challenge. For instance, asking open ended questions and invoking thought to process their own perception of what they are experiencing.
The use of QR codes linking our information boards and newsletters to appropriate guidance and policies we use.
Dissemination/Impact Report
Within our setting free access to the outdoors for children is something we value very highly. An open door policy is in place with children having the freedom to make a choice where they engage in their play and learning. From the first introduction visit this is made clear to our parents. Through this as a staff team we promote the children’s independence in preparing for going outside. We try to promote a rights based approach and encourage the individual child to make their own judgement on what they need to wear. This involves supporting the child to recognise if they feel too hot or cold, whether they need a jacket, a hat or scarf with the adult acting as a gatekeeper to support the children in this.
Tracy’s research which she has undertaken has supported us firstly to promote our parental engagement in our service. One of the questions answered gave us an indication of how parents would like engagement to take place and identified the platforms that they would like this to be delivered. This will support us to develop our ways of communication with parents and add to and promote our parental engagement further.
The research has supported us to identify parent’s perceptions and understanding of the impact on the outdoors on their child’s learning. The study has given us an insight into the barriers that parents have with regards to their children accessing the outdoor environment and how much they value the importance of the outdoors. Although there was only a limited amount of response some answers were very detailed and gave a clear indication of what the parent’s views are and how we could develop and improve our practice further. The study has allowed us to recognise that we want to explore this further and want to gauge a bigger picture of all our family’s views and thoughts on this subject.
The research promoted discussion as a staff team on how we can support the development and understanding of our parents further alongside addressing the concerns that were expressed. Using the information we already have and gathering further research and thought will support us to create a plan on how we can develop this further. This will allow us to build and strengthen our relationships with our parents, show that we are listening and valuing what they are saying and work in partnership to develop and improve our practice.
Julie Davidson
Senior Early Years Practitioner
Research implications
To be completed
Practitioner enquiry
To be completed
Leadership learning
To be completed
Author and role
To be completed
Comments from other network members
What did you appreciate about this research? What forward-looking questions did it raise for you?