A Unique Child: Practice in pictures - Outdoors: On the ball

Michael is 15 months old and loves being outside at nursery. He particularly enjoys going up and down the little grassy hill, which for him presents quite a challenge. His key person, Vicky, runs up and down with him, joining in the fun and commenting on their actions.

He finds a ball, kicks it a little, then carries it over to the hill. He watches it carefully as they roll it up and down the hill to each other. He sets off again running up and down the hill and Vicky runs alongside him.

As he builds up speed he tumbles and lands on the grass, laughing. Vicky responds intuitively to this by joining him on the ground, mirroring his movement and his enjoyment of the tumble.

GOOD PRACTICE

1. Michael is making the most of every opportunity to develop his movement skills. He uses the space in the nursery garden to walk and run freely, to tumble down and pick himself up.

Michael is getting a lot of positive movement experiences that feed his emotional well-being. By being out in the fresh air, in natural light, running and tumbling, his brain is being stimulated to produce important 'feel-good' chemicals. Dopamine makes him feel energised and alert. Serotonin makes him feel happy.

These positive feelings encourage him to repeat the experience again and again, which in turn help to build his confidence and increase his physical skills and body control. He is learning how to stop and start and change direction, and is enjoying the sensations of speed as gravity propels him down the slope and experiencing the excitement of falling over on soft grass.

The physical activity is also stimulating him to laugh and make sounds as he runs. Though he is not using most of them yet, he is acquiring a vocabulary of words that can describe and communicate these actions and emotions.

His key person, Vicky, is playing alongside him, and her tone of voice and the words and sounds she makes provide a commentary to describe and elaborate on the physical sensations and emotions that Michael is experiencing. Vicky's feedback is always positive, helping to reinforce his sense of well-being and his confidence in his physical skills.

2. The gentle hilly slope in the nursery garden is an important feature in Michael's outdoor experience.

He clearly gets a lot of enjoyment from the slope and is already beginning to explore the law of cause and effect as he watches what happens to the ball on the slope. Michael seems very interested in 'up and down' and other 'trajectory' schema, using his own body to explore at a sensory-motor level, as he walks, runs and kicks in ways that fit his pattern of thinking.

Children seem to instinctively know that slopes, ramps and surfaces found at different levels provide the kind of stimulation they need to build their physical skills. They will go looking for them if they aren't already there as part of the play environment, homing in on curbs and steps as well as slopes, preferring them to the 'safe' flat, rubberised surfaces designated for them.

Toddlers, in particular, have a lot to gain from playing on gently sloping grass. Ideally, this should feature in all the outdoor spaces designed for them. As Jan White explains in the film notes to 'Toddlers Outdoors', it is important to view these features as an important year-round resource, and not something that is off-limits when the weather is wet. This means providing a budget to ensure good drainage and regular maintenance of the space, making sure the slope gets re-turfed when it wears away through regular use.

3. Watching a toddler hurtle down a slope, no matter how gentle, can be alarming for adults.

It is inevitable that they will take a tumble or two, as Michael does. However, in this context he is neither hurt nor unhappy. It's a useful learning experience, as it helps Michael to build up a sense of his capabilities, which is important in developing his ability to ultimately assess and manage risk for himself.

It is also important in building his confidence and self-assurance, to know that he is all right and that he can sort himself out to stand upright again. But tumbling in this way has other important implications for the toddler.

His vestibular system is stimulated by the fall, which helps him ultimately to develop and maintain his sense of balance. Falling also helps with proprioception - having a sense of where his body begins and ends - and how it connects with the world around him.

The sensory experience of falling on soft grass in a playful way provides enjoyable stimulation, which Michael will be keen to repeat again and again. He is finding out about his relationship with gravity, and repeating the experience of toppling over or speeding up as he runs down the slope helps him to make sense of that new information.

Vicky's' tuned-in' response to Michael's fall reassures him that he is really all right and that falling can be fun. She instinctively gets down on the ground and mirrors his position. Her voice and warm eye-contact show him that she is not concerned and that she sees falling down as part of the game they are playing together.

Children, particularly (though not exclusively) boys, often enjoy throwing themselves around, either with other children or with an adult. It is a significant feature of 'rough and tumble' play. Adults can very easily inhibit a child's physical explorations by showing their anxieties and reacting negatively to accidental trips and tumbles or attempting to stop boisterous play. It is important that key carers get to know their children well so that they can gauge a child's physical development and the amount of risk that is appropriate for them.

4. Vicky happily follows Michael's lead, playing ball and running up and down the hill with him.

Michael enjoys having Vicky's attention and is relaxed, knowing that she will respond to him. He watches her closely and pays particular attention to her legs when they are running together. They are both clearly having fun.

Movement play of this kind is very important in building secure attachments, as it reinforces for Michael that Vicky is interested in him and his motivations. Seeing his actions mirrored by her gives him important neurological feedback that he and his actions are valued and worthwhile. Both he and Vicky are building and exercising their brains as well as their bodies.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

• - Film notes to 'Toddlers Outdoors: Play, Learning and Development' by Jan White
• - Jan White, Playing and Learning Outdoors: Making Provision for High Quality Experiences in the Outdoor Environment (Nursery World/Routledge Essential Guides for Early Years Practitioners)
• - Sally Goddard Blyth, The Well-Balanced Child. Hawthorne Press
• - Nursery World Physical Development series by Anne O'Connor and Anna Daly

Further information: The stills are taken from Siren Films' 'Toddlers Outdoors: Play, Learning and Development'. For details, visit Siren Films at www.sirenfilms.co.uk or call 0191 232 7900

Links to the EYFS guidance

• - UC 1.1 Child Development
• - PR 2.4 Key Person
• - EE 3.3 The Learning Environment
• - L&D 4.1 Play and Exploration