Foundation Degree Level 5 Play and Recreation: Enabling environments Lecturer: Laura Griffiths

Lesson Aim  The aim of today’s lesson is to explore our findings on the Foundation Phase and discuss the benefits of enabling environments

Lesson Objective  By the end of today’s session you should be able to….  Identify what enabling environments are and their benefit to children’s learning.

Enabling environments:  “The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning”.  “Enabling environments encourage babies and young children to play because they feel relaxed, comfortable and ‘at home’ in them”. (Early Years Matters, 2014 p.1)

The Indoors  “Rich indoor environments have an immediate effect on the quality of children’s learning and development”. What is a rich environment?  “It’s comfortable, interesting, attractive and appropriate for the child or children who use it. For some children it becomes like a second home where they eat and sometimes sleep”. (Early Years Matters, 2014 p.1)

Successful indoor environments  Indoor space needs careful planning as it needs to be flexible to accommodate children’s changing interests and needs.

Current initiatives for Children Learning: Forest Schools  In 1993 a group of childcare students visiting Denmark witnessed the benefits of Forest School.  Their lecturers considered how they could apply what they had seen to the childcare provision in their own Early Years Centre.  Since then the idea has grown and Forest Schools are spreading throughout Britain. (Forest School Initiative, 2010)

 Watch the following video and take notes on how children’s learning benefits from taking part in a Forest School.

Current initiatives for Children’s Learning: Forest Schools  “Forest School is an inspirational process that offers children, young people and adults, regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands on learning experiences in a local woodland environment”. (Forestry Commission, 1996 p.3)

Current initiatives for Children’s Learning: Forest Schools  Much research has been carried out to identify what are the benefits of attending Forest School are.  The research suggested that learners who struggle in the formal classroom learning environment, flourished in the outdoors.  During 2006, a 14-week Forest School programme was run by a Forestry Commission Wales Education to observe the actual benefits.

Current initiatives for Children’s Learning: Forest Schools  This is what they discovered……..  Increased self-esteem and self-confidence  Improved social skills  The development of language and communication skills  Improved physical motor skills  Improved motivation and concentration  Increased knowledge and understanding of the environment  New perspectives for the teachers, leaders, learners and parents involved in Forest School (Forestry Commission, 1996 p.6)

Extracts taken from FS reports (Forestry Commission, 1996 p.5)

Task:  Look for other initiatives that support children’s learning.  State… 1. What the initiative is. 2. How it benefits children’s learning.

References:  Early Years Matters. (2014) Enabling environments: Effective Practice. [Online] Accessed: 20 th September Available at: environments/ environments/  Forestry Commission (1996) A Guide to Forest School in Wales. [Online] Available at: final.pdf/$FILE/ForestSchoolEnglish2010-final.pdf. (Accessed: 2 nd March 2014). final.pdf/$FILE/ForestSchoolEnglish2010-final.pdf  Forest Education (2010) Forest Education Initiative. [Online] Available at: /background_to_fei_schools/ (Accessed: 2 nd March 2014). /background_to_fei_schools/