Your Gardens

**mumofone** · 18-07-2016, 09:13 PM

What do you all provide in your gardens, as your outdoor provision? I'm worried i don't have mud kitchens and water walls and stuff!

**loocyloo** · 18-07-2016, 09:29 PM

I have a water tray and no water wall, I have a little house with a play kitchen inside and then a couple of little tables outside along with chairs and old pans etc that the children 'cook' with.
I have a small shed with cars, construction vehicles, megablocks, books, buckets and spades ( for when the water tray has sand in it, not water! ) balls / bats / etc.
I have a slide and swing climbing thing and a little plastic seesaw, and a few ride on toys.

I have a patio and gravel area and then a grass lawn.

**sarah707** · 19-07-2016, 06:55 AM

We are very lucky to have lots of outside space - where the children can move around freely and choose their games - we don't have muddy things because I don't like them...

We have a small water explorers area with a little bit of wall and a tray which is used for other things - a lovely play house for role play - a patio undercover for the little ones ...

We set up an easel and space for painting - chalk - drawing etc ... mark making outside is on a bigger scale which the children enjoy.

Hth

**BallyH** · 19-07-2016, 11:01 AM

I think the key thing to remember about outdoor space or any space for the minded children is that the 'equipment/toys' have to be what the children want to currently use/play with. So you could have 100 brilliant bright toys/activities and the mindee could choose to play with 2 birds feathers lying on the grass. It has to follow their interest so they can develop from that. On my inspection day I had an all singing all dancing back garden and the mindees choose to play on the 2 wooden balance bikes and would not get off them no matter how hard I tried to coax them with the inspector beside me. She commented something along the lines of 'isn't it great to see them so active and happy' and then went back indoors. And yes they were happy, very happy and noisy and engaged.

**moggy** · 19-07-2016, 12:16 PM

I don't have any 'fixed' outdoor things- only the sandpit. I and the children pull things out as we want- planks, pipes, balls, trays for water, buckets etc and build and create as we go.

**SYLVIA** · 19-07-2016, 01:35 PM

I have a large patio area, fairly big grass area but no fixed equipment. We have a sand pit, water play, a wheelie bin full of balls, bats and other outdoor toys, cosy coupe cars, and ride ons, I also have Quadro construction set which is currently a climbing frame, slide and tunnel but can be changed to suit our game. Last week it was a pirate ship. All other resources are stored in the conservatory and newly built shed and is rotated for indoor and outdoor play. At my last inspection we had lots of toys out in the garden and she commented that I had covered all the areas of learning. It was just what the children had chosen that day.

**FloraDora** · 19-07-2016, 01:54 PM

I think I've contributed to many a thread about my garden, but essentially, like Moggy I don't have 'toys' in the garden or permanent areas....I do have a sand/ water tray that can be put away. I do have an outdoor kitchen type thing that DH made that doubles as a great bench / ice bowl when we have barbecues. But mainly I have loose materials that the children and I bring out put away. The majority of outdoor play is nature linked or science, water, shadows, weather activities, bug hotels, logs, water catchers, feeding the birds, gardening ..that develops the characteristics of learning around perseverance and problem solving and critical thinking.
I love my garden and the children are involved in all my gardening activities...I do have a small greenhouse for them now as ours is usually overflowing. I have natural shaded areas all day and the patio is always in the shade.

Come 5 o'clock though you would not think children have played in it all day. The fairy garden and dinosaurland return to a grown ups garden, all sand and water equipt in the shed...just peace and quiet and a reflective time with DH over aperitifs....

Some new research this week around outdoor play:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/e...n-when-outside