All about ... Dens

When you ask adults about their outdoor experiences as a child, they will, almost without fail, mention den-building. It is a pastime that generation after generation has enjoyed.

Many adults describe making a den in the undergrowth, so the den is a creation of their imaginations. Some talk about constructing a hideaway, others refer to their den as a hole, and only recently a woman attending an inset session explained how she and her friends used to let down her mother's washing line, throw a blanket over it and anchor the blanket with tins of baked beans to create a tent.

So why the preoccupation with dens? If we look at the animal kingdom, we find the den functions as a retreat or a habitat, somewhere to run to for protection, as in a lair or burrow. So, in essence, a den is a safe place, a home, a place of sanctuary.

Sometimes, people refer to a room in their own home as the den - it's a place that is exclusively theirs, free from others' interference and demands.

Children's innate interest stems, in part, from the need within us to build our own homes, for warmth, for shelter for safety. Dens provide space free from the demands and expectations of adults.

While a den is a secret place, it is also a social one and a place of discovery. Dens fire children's imaginations, provide a meeting place for friends, reinforce children's sense of self, give children the feeling of control over their own lives and the opportunity to make the rules and take the lead. A den is a home away from home and something in which children can start to define who they are.

Den-building has lasting effects on children, giving them confidence to be a 'can-do', 'have-a-go' sort of person. The Government is keen to encourage independent learners and den-building is an ideal way to foster this attitude to learning.

Yet, despite their importance in a child's development, dens are disappearing from children's books and their play, making it vital that we, as practitioners, recognise their importance, the learning that can stem from them and plan opportunities for young children to engage in den-play and den-building.

Cross-curricular learning

Children like to build and play in dens because they can do it for themselves, and with whatever level of complexity their imagination, strength and dexterity allows. Through such adventures, children can:

- use their imaginations by creating scenes that only the invited players can be party to

- discuss, co-operate and negotiate, otherwise you may not be able to join in with the game

- build and construct, thereby developing physical skills

- engage in problem-solving and choosing resources, which they feel they can control

- solve mathematical problems, such as calculating and estimating

- develop spatial awareness.

Kinds of dens

Dens come in many different shapes, sizes and materials:

- Dens can sometimes exist simply in the imagination - sitting under some branches, pretending to be somewhere else.

- They can be made from pieces of fabric thrown over branches or over a climbing frame to make a secure darkened space inside.

- Dropping a broom handle into cement creates a weighted post. Four of these with an old curtain thrown over the top can create the perfect hideaway.

- Large cardboard boxes constitute a den and two attached and a hole cut through can create an ensuite room.

- Available to buy are cubes that children can cover with material and crawl into.

- More substantial blocks, such as those available from Community Playthings, can involve considered design, building and construction.

- Bread and milk crates can be used to create a surround and can be useful for younger children as they are quite light-weight.

- A-frames, either on their side or upright, can have material thrown over them.

- Children can use a collection of canes driven into the ground, secured together with masking tape with a decorated sheet thrown over the top, creating a tent-like structure. With something like this, children have really got to work together to make it successful, there has to be negotiation and co-operation for it to succeed.

- Even fixed structures such as climbing frames can be added to, to create a den space, material thrown over the top of a climbing frame, secured with elastic bands or string can survive even in strong wind.

Open-ended process

But a den can only be a den if it is allowed to be an open-ended process, that enables children to dictate the direction of the play, that enables them to really think.

All the great designs of this world came about through a process, through trial and error, involving the making and rectifying of mistakes, involving standing back, pondering and considering. Children need to be able to do all of these things for you to say 'yes, we are doing real den-building!'

Extending learning

Once the den has been made it can be the finish or the starting point. If children are simply interested in building they may move on to something else once the den is built. But they may play inside the den, developing an imaginative scenario. This might be extended, with the children adding resources of their choice. For example, children may want to move materials into the den - bedding, cooking equipment, books and so on. They may extend this further and create objects, for example a telephone made from string and plastic cups, a door-bell made from a bell and string.

I watched two children who had created a den in a tree house by adding materials to the side of the house to make it more cosy, then go on to make a moving letterbox. They cut a slit in a shoebox lid, attached the whole shoe box to a hook. This was attached to a piece of string that threaded through a pulley.

When the postman came he rang the bell, the letterbox was let down, the postman put the letters in, tugged on the string and the box was pulled up to the tree house. If the den had not been created, then the letter box could not have been created.

Permanent dens

Permanent dens are not needed as so much of the learning occurs through the design and redesign of the den and most of the fun comes from the building and the collapse of the den.

It is this crucial thinking which helps develop the curious and restless brain of a four-year-old. But if you have a permanent den, maybe in the form of a tree house, or Wendy house, then make sure children can control, change and modify this environment. Make sure they can impact on it and make the space their own, by adding materials to it, so their imaginations are stretched and developed as they think through their ideas.

Time and space

Whatever the design, children are going to need the space to build and also the time to act out their ideas. Outdoor play as a short timetabled period will not allow quality den-making to occur and, worse still, may cause lots of conflicts if attempted.

Children need to know they have plenty of time to develop their ideas, plenty of time to gather and make resources, plenty of time to involve others, including adults. This means you have to consider carefully your ethos within the learning environment. Children don't need to spend all their time trying to find or negotiate the use of resources to find they are not allowed certain items in a particular space. Children need to know that within reason anything they need can be had and that resources can be mixed and matched.

So, if they need dough outside in their den, they can have it; if they need bags, telephones and water in a den, this is possible. Some settings have rules, which when looked at from a distance have no logic to them; it's just that it has always been done that way and the reason for this has been long lost. So with den-building, start afresh and think 'within reason anything is within the bounds of possibility'.

Boys and girls

Boys are generally more interested in den-building than girls because they find it easy. Boys' spatial development, their ability to construct the three dimensional world, is more developed than that of girls and so they are naturally drawn to it. This means boys' den building should be challenged with ever more complicated constructions. Generally, girls' two-dimenstional skills are more finely tuned than their three-dimensional ones, so they will need help and support with den-building, particularly with adult presence and initially maybe with ideas.

Given enough support and encouragement girls will be able to build dens on their own, but enough support might mean every day for between five and ten minutes for about a term.

Planning

If your setting has never done den-building, children will need lots of reassurance that you really do mean they can attach masking tape to a piece of material and you really do mean they can throw a piece of material over the tree branches.

By role modelling den-building, by talking about what they could construct, by showing examples of other children's dens or actual examples of real abodes children can be given a wealth of ideas as to what they could create.

You may need to, as with any imaginative play, support children to extend the play by being part of it and adding ideas in role. Books can be used to spark an idea for a den or a story line inside the den. Having had to take the den to bits at the end of the day it may sometimes be appropriate to put it back together so children can continue their play the next day.

Creative environments

Den building can make the environment look messy, but be reassured this is okay. The best outdoor environment is a workshop, where lots of creations are happening, whether it be 'creating' in terms of imaginative play, gardening or making an abode.

A den may look like a load of old rubbish thrown together, but talk to the child, observe the child and you will find they show much more ability through this than they do by completing a worksheet - you just need to give them time and encouragement.

CASE STUDY: A SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENT

Jess, a PGCE student on her second school experience, decided to do some science work around den-building.

She gathered together materials, such as bin liners, woollen rugs and tarpaulin, to see which would prove to be the most waterproof. These materials were then hung from branches and water was poured on to them. From this experimentation, the children chose which materials to use to make the dens.

The older children had more preconceptions about how they would make the dens - the need to tie down the material because of the strength of the wind, and the need for seating inside the den.

Once the tests were complete and the dens made, the children were free to engage in role play, which they did with enthusiasm.

This activity may appear prescribed, but some children will need such support in building a den as they have little or no experience of it. However, such an introduction to den-building will provide a useful starting point from which the children can extend their ideas.

CASE STUDY: PIRATES AHOY

Four children came into the outdoor area and decided they wanted to be pirates. This was a setting where den-building had been fostered for a long time, so the children were used to being imaginative and creative.

Their immediate concern was making a 'secret place', so using large pieces of material and elastic bands they created a surround to the climbing frame. It was not dark enough so they added another layer of material.

The next consideration was making the den into a boat, so they borrowed two brooms for oars and collected three large umbrellas for sails, which they 'hung' from the climbing frame. Once inside, they decided to write a list of dastardly tricks they could play on other pirates or unsuspecting boats, along the lines of Captain Pugwash.

This play senario took an hour and five minutes. The staff were able to see the players' strengths and their support mechanisms for each other.

The children were fully absorbed within the play scene, able to focus entirely on it. These children put so many skills into action, for example, skills to discuss rationally, to negotiate, to come to a shared agreement, to adapt ideas, to feel confident with trial and error, to write and draw clearly enough to be interpreted by others. I was watching socially adept human beings at work.

CASE STUDY: BUILDING A HOUSE

In one setting the practitioner had brought in some planks from home to enable the children to do some work on designing and making.

A small group of boys discussed what they would build and how. Their main priority was to be able to get inside the house that they had chosen to build. Their conversation demonstrated that their thinking was concerned with ways that the house would be built so that it would be upright and strong enough for them to get in and out.

They chose to work in a small group and after a lot of discussion and problem solving, incorporated a large cardboard box and bread crate into the structure.

They persisted in their task and built a shape that they were able to go into.

The boys talked together about how to position and fix the upright planks and how they could then be connected to the crates in order to make the construction more stable.

This case study is taken from Learning Outdoors: Improving the Quality of Young Children's Play Outdoors (2005), Ed Helen Bilton, David Fulton Publishers.

RESOURCES AND FURTHER READING
Den-building resources
Carpet squares
Large pieces of material
Boxes - cardboard, wood and plastic
Bread and milk crates
Canes
String and rope
Masking tape
Pegs
Logs
Spades and forks for digging
Wood
Hammers, saws and nails
Large umbrellas
Child-sized ladders
Props to extend the play
Sleeping bags
Tool belts
Cameras
Telephones
Personal stereos
Karaoke
Dictaphones
Pulleys
Suitcases
Backpacks

Backpacks can be invaluable. The children can use them to transport items of their choosing, or you can pack them full of resources to give the den-building a particular focus. For example, you could put a torch, notebook, pens, dictaphone, Billy can and spoons, pair of glasses and a compass in one backpack and see where it takes children's play.

Further reading

Children's Dens by Maria Kylin, from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, can be viewed at: www.colorado.edu/ journals/cye/13_1/Vol13_1Articles/CYE_CurrentIssue_Article_Dens_Kylin.ht m.