Enabling Environments: Let's explore ... Autumn

The revised Early Years Foundation Stage framework identifies physical development as a funda- mentally important and Prime area of learning.

Autumn is a great season for venturing outdoors and actively exploring the changing environment. With this in mind, the following activities are particularly suited to getting physical at this time of year.

RUMBLE IN THE WOODS

Go for an excursion into the woods. Choose a location where the children will have plenty of physical opportunities. If there is a park near your setting that has an outdoor adventure playground, this would be ideal.

Adult role

• Encourage the children to explore the environment. Allow them to wade through deep leaves, clamber over logs and fallen trees and jump in muddy puddles.

• Encourage the children to collect natural objects such as leaves, acorns, conkers, chestnuts, twigs, sticks, seeds, pine cones and anything else that might be around. Take these back to the setting for close examination.

• Help the children use information books and the internet to find out more about where each object comes from and what its natural purpose is.

• Help the children to create an autumn display with their finds. Encourage them to write labels for the items.

Learning opportunities

PD: Begins to recognise danger and seeks support of significant adults for help.

PD: Travels with confidence and skill around, under, over and through balancing and climbing equipment.

UW: Develops an understanding of growth, decay and changes over time.

AUTUMN COLLAGE

Use seeds and natural materials collected during the previous activity to create a large-scale collage.

Adult role

Set out a large piece of thin wooden board in the outdoor area and provide brushes and PVA glue. You can approach this activity in various ways.

• A more structured approach is to draw a simple picture outline in pencil on the board. This can have an autumn theme - for example, a hedgehog, an acorn or a leaf. Or ask the children for their ideas about what they would like the picture to be. Encourage the children to examine the autumn materials closely, look at the colours and talk about the textures and shapes. Help the children to choose which items best suit different areas of the picture.

• Otherwise, provide the children with drawing implements and allow them to draw their own pictures, shapes and outlines. You might like to let the children each take a space on a large board or you might want to give them smaller boards that they can work on in groups or pairs. Again, encourage them to explore the materials and think carefully about how they would like to use them.

• Alternatively, provide various shapes and sizes of board without pencils and allow the children to create their collages without any drawn outlines at all.

Learning opportunities

PD: Draws lines and circles using gross motor movements.

EAD: Uses and explores a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture and form.

KITE FLYING

Help the children make diamond-shaped kites.

Adult role

• Work with small groups of four or five children and make one kite per group. First, cut the plastic sheet into a diamond shape. You can make this easier and ensure it is symmetrical by folding the sheet in half lengthways. Then cut the dowel rod down to size and stick one piece lengthways down the middle of the kite, securing it in place with the tape. Stick another piece of dowel across the kite widthways so that the dowelling makes a cross. Make a small hole in the plastic where the dowelling crosses over. Tie the string to the dowelling at that point and thread the string through the hole so that it comes out the other side.

• Go out and fly the kite. Encourage the children to look around them at the trees and grass as they blows in the wind. Ask the children how the wind feels on their skin and hair. Talk about how the kite works and ask the children to describe what they are doing as they try to control it in the wind.

Learning opportunities

PD: Negotiates space successfully when playing games, adjusting speed or changing direction to avoid obstacles.

PD: Shows increasing control over an object in throwing and pulling it.

FRUIT FORAGING

Take the children blackberry picking.

Adult role

• Talk about the different types of berries and why it is not safe to pick random berries and eat them. Show examples of inedible berries and look others up in books.

• Later, show the children different types of edible berries and allow them to taste some.

• Make blackberry and apple pies.

• Encourage the children to talk about which fruits they like and dislike. Ask them for more ideas for pie fillings.

Learning opportunities

PD: Handles objects with increasing control.

PD: Eats a healthy range of foodstuffs and understands need for variety in food.

PSED: Expresses own preferences.

HELP WITH HIBERNATION

If your setting is in an area that is likely to have hedgehogs, get the children to help build a den that might encourage the animals to come and hibernate. There are quite a few considerations to take into account when building a hedgehog den and you can find more information at www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/natureactivities. This website also has many more ideas for similar activities.

Adult role

• Share some information books to find out about hibernation. Which animals hibernate? How do they prepare to do this? What happens while they are hibernating?

• Use a crate or wooden box turned upside down to create a hedgehog den. Make sure it has an entrance.

• Put it in a quiet area, perhaps under some plants, where the children will not disturb it. Cover it with soil, leaves and stones to camouflage it. There is no need to put any bedding in the box because the hedgehogs will do that themselves.

• Set up a digital camera to take time-lapse photos of the den. You never know, you might capture the moment a hedgehog moves in.

Learning opportunities

PD: Handles tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control.

UW: Makes observations of animals and explains why some things occur

MORE IDEAS

• Muddy mark making Collect a variety of twigs and sticks, then create muddy patches outdoors or set out a tray filled with thick gloopy mud. Encourage the children to draw patterns in the mud with the sticks.

• Squelching in wellies Get the children covered up in their waterproofs and wellies and provide them with watering cans and buckets. Allow them to add water to the muddy puddles from the previous activity and then have a good squelch about. If possible, try to encourage the children to gradually add the water a bit at a time so they can experience splashing in the puddles as they become increasingly watery.

• Squashes If possible, take the children to a market, farm shop or local grocer to help buy some squashes. Allow the children to examine them. Talk about the different shapes, colours and patterns. Make butternut squash soup or pumpkin pies. Taste the food and encourage the children to talk about their likes and dislikes.

• Seed search Go for a walk to collect fallen seeds. Examples of seeds that can be found in the autumn are horse chestnuts (conkers), sweet chestnuts, sycamore seeds (windmills) and acorns. Play games: have a conker tournament or drop sycamore seeds from various heights and see where they land. Use books and the internet to find out more about the seeds: which animals like to eat them? What does each seed grow into? Roast some sweet chestnuts and taste them.

Resources

• Rumble in the woods: waterproofs and wellies.

• Autumn collage: large piece of thin wooden board, PVA glue, brushes, pencils, rulers and stencils.

• Kite flying: dowel rod that is 5mm in diameter, electrical insulation tape or similar, a thick sheet of plastic that is 50cm wide and 1m long (a two-ply plastic bag will do), and strong string.

• Fruit foraging: tubs for collecting fruit.

• Help with hibernation: information books about hedgehogs and hibernation, crate or wooden box.

Books

• Guess How Much I Love You in the Autumn by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram - Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare play outside on a breezy autumn day.

• Ferdie and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson and Tiphanie Beeke - Ferdie the little fox is very worried about his favourite tree because it is losing its leaves.

• Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert - a man made of leaves goes travelling on the wind. Beautifully illustrated with real autumn leaves.

• Hedgehog Howdedo by Lynley Dodd - counting book about a little girl searching for hibernating hedgehogs.

Marianne Sargent is a writer specialising in early years education and a former foundation stage teacher and primary and early years lecturer.