Children’s learning is enhanced when they’re in an enabling environment that’s bursting with exciting, open-ended resources.
No place offers this more than the great outdoors. A world full of opportunities, the outside classroom exposes children to truly unique experiences, where they can explore different surroundings, connect with nature and have space to develop their play.
Any outdoor space, whether big or small, sunny or shaded, grassy or paved offers children the opportunity to be active and to develop their problem-solving skills, creativity, imagination and physical capabilities.
With this is mind, we’ve hand-selected a range of resources and activity ideas across three key subject areas that are designed to make the exploring easier, the discovering more exciting and the learning deeper.
Getting Messy!
Messy play is the ultimate sensory experience. It allows children to understand how things feel, smell and look, and how materials differ from one another.
Little ones have an innate curiosity, and by allowing them to mix, mush and squelch you’re helping them develop creativity, confidence and communication.
From mud kitchens to sand trays, we have 100s of outdoor resources perfect for encouraging messy play, take a look at some of our favourites…
Every nursery needs a mud kitchen, and at just £79.99, this kitchen is perfect for any setting. Little ones can cook up mud pies and create hours of fun, imaginative play. Find out more.
What better way to accessorise your mud kitchen than with a stylish, lightweight kettle? Perfect for little hands, children will love to ‘heat’ up their magical brew. Find out more.
Activity idea: Why not make colourful, magic mud? Simply mix mud, water, baking soda and powder paint together? Add a cup of vinegar and watch the creation erupt!
Mark Making
Mark making is a developmental milestone for children, and the start of their journey to being able to write. They will use marks to express feelings, develop their imagination and explore their understanding of the world.
The outdoor world is the perfect place for mark making as natural materials such as feathers, pine cones and leaves can be used to create new shapes and textures, and best of all… mess doesn’t matter!
Here are our top 2 products for outdoor mark making…
Set to be a 2019 bestseller, our create and paint easel is perfect for budding artists to get their hands dirty and craft a masterpiece. The easel comes storage pots, paints and even gardening tools, all for just £169.99! Find out more.
Our bestselling bucket of big chalks for little hands, in an array of rainbow colours. develop writing skills. Find out more.
Activity idea: Why not try mixing flowers and petals with warm water to make natural watercolours?
Early Curricular
Developing core curricular skills in the early years is fundamental. Grasping the basics of these subjects early on, supports children in becoming confident and capable as they progress through nursery and into school.
The outdoor world is full of opportunities to develop these skills as nature exposes children to new, rich language and exciting shapes in materials such as leaves and conkers, introducing mathematical language and shape characteristics.
We love…
Chatter Clouds are ideal for developing early communication and language. The spring clip and built-in magnet make them a hugely versatile product for early years. Find out more.
These fun footprints, will help children learn their numbers to 20. Featuring both numbers and dots, children can match the number to the corresponding dots. Find out more.
View the full Outdoor Collection
Do you want to provide outstanding learning in the outdoors?
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