How can outdoors be an enabling learning environment for all children? Julie Mountain reports on how award-winning early years settings provide routes to inclusion outside

We know from our own observations that children behave and play very differently outdoors than indoors. When allowed outside to play, we’ll often see quieter children become more lively or communicative, boisterous children focusing their energy in a purposeful way and anxious children making choices about places or resources that help them stay calm. We also know that play doesn’t mean the same thing to every child, so an enabling environment for physically disabled and neurodivergent children might result in play that looks or sounds different to their peers.

As a sector already attuned to the variable developmental needs of children of all ages and abilities, we know that playing and learning outdoors can provide crucial routes to inclusion, and it was fascinating to see this in action at the award-winning settings. Each setting recognises there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to inclusion and each had clear plans for how the physical, emotional and intellectual development of individual children could be supported through a rich and accessible outdoor environment.

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