Enabling Environments: Making Spaces... Cloakroom

I know it takes a while to help children get dressed for the outdoors, but what are we doing wrong, as it seems to take forever? We have a small cloakroom by the back door which leads into our garden. How should we organise this space to speed up the process (and avoid frustration for children and staff), while still helping to promote children's independence?

Getting a cloakroom area right can involve a lot of trial and error before you create the environment that functions well for you, your children and the space you have to work with.

The problem seems to exist just as much in purpose-built nurseries where architects haven't really considered the logistics of getting large numbers of small people dressed for outdoors - and relieved of their waterproofs and wellies on the way back in again. Early years practitioners are nothing if not creative with space and storage, but sometimes to find solutions, you have to go back to square one and ask yourselves some critical questions.

ASK YOURSELF ...

Continuous access to outdoors not only allows children to follow their interests, it also reduces the traffic jams and demands on adult attention. With continuous access, children tend to trickle in and out, while practitioners find it a more natural and easier way of working. There will still be some problems to overcome but these can generally be sorted out with a bit of creative thinking as the benefits far outweigh the difficulties.

Sometimes a bit of lateral thinking makes all the difference, so it is worth reviewing the way that the space has been used traditionally. Are there other ways of using it that might make more than one exit viable? Do you need a separate cloakroom or would storage for outdoor clothes be better within the children's rooms? Sometimes what seems like a wild idea makes better sense in the long run.

Chances are your ideas are seriously expensive or impossible but hold onto them as part of your vision and long-term goals for your children. Then see what small steps you can take to increase the pedagogical value of the space and strive always to use it the best way you can. Don't let the phrase 'but we've always done it this way' stop you. The position, layout and storage for your cloakroom area/outdoor clothes will have a direct impact on the accessibility of your outdoor provision and the quality of the free-flow play experience for your children. This means it has a direct impact on their learning too.

Early years practitioners now appreciate the value of being outdoors in all weathers, but the hassle of getting children properly suited and booted - or wearing hats and covered in sun block - can easily be used as an excuse to cut down access to the outdoors. The right kind of storage makes all the difference to frustration levels and improves the way that children can access things independently.

• Make sure the pegs aren't too close together

• Provide a bench to sit on, to change shoes/boots

• Have individual storage space under the bench for each child's belongings

• Label pegs or trays clearly

• Have a couple of spare baskets handy, one for hats and gloves, the other for shoes and boots that wander away from their owners.

If you've got a canopy or covered area immediately outside the exit, consider wheeled storage that can be brought outside, to make it easier for adults to supervise from outdoors.

We all want children to become independent, but the little routines of helping a child button up their coat or tie their shoes can be valuable opportunities for intimacy and nurture that we shouldn't miss. Knowing our children well means we know when to give them that little nudge into independence and, equally, when to offer the little bit of help that allows them to finish something they can't do.

To give a little tickle or a squeeze at the end of fastening a zip or row of buttons makes the routine special and intimate, which for some of our more vulnerable children may be vitally important. This is much easier to do when children are not all clamouring for help at the same time, so another good reason to make the outdoors available continuously.

Children love to help each other, but are much more likely to offer each other help if they see it modelled and encouraged. Next time a child comes to you asking for help with a zip and your hands are covered in paint, try asking another child to help them out. Or ask a child to help you button your coat, pull up part of your zip or wrap your scarf round your neck. Children feel good helping you, and the process involves being down at their level, so providing a non-threatening purpose for the face-to-face and eye contact with which some children struggle.

Why the rush?

Arrivals, lunchtimes, home times and personal care routines often don't get the attention they deserve as we rush to achieve as much as we can in the time we spend with our children. But if we really do want to engage with the 'whole child', then we mustn't forget these critical aspects of their day. They figure much larger in a child's sense of well-being than we give credit to.

Think about the cloakroom in the context of the first two characteristics of effective teaching and learning in the revised EYFS (see statutory framework, page 7):

• Playing and exploring - children investigate and experience things and 'have a go'. Children who are not being rushed to get ready to go outside can take as long as they need to try to put things on for themselves, to investigate how zips and fasteners work and to find out how others do these things.

• Active learning - children keep on trying if they encounter difficulties and enjoy achievements: that just about sums up the whole experience of trying to get into a pair of waterproof trousers or zip up an anorak. There is a real sense of achievement in doing it for yourself. Children also know what is beyond their capabilities and will ask for help when they need it, especially if they are strongly motivated to get outdoors quickly.

With continuous access to outdoors and suitable storage, many cloakroom frustrations disappear. Relax and give yourself permission to see it as an important feature in everyone's day and you can start to enjoy all those buttons and shoelaces.

GET YOUR COAT

If it's time to revamp your cloakroom, then take a look at Community Playthings' range of wall pegs (from £70), welcome benches (from £150) and cubbies (from £317), which you can combine with other interlocking seating and storage units to create a welcome centre. For planning ideas, see 'Transform your coat hooks' and 'Transforming spaces: rethinking the possibilities' at: www.communityplaythings.co.uk

This feature is sponsored by Community Playthings

www.community playthings.co.uk