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The Garden Classroom: The Next Journey
Tag: garden
Soil and Mud Play
Soil and Mud
This is something that is available to children in large quantities and it’s great to see how the changing elements of the season change the children’s relationship with it.
Checklist of Opportunities
- Wet mud
- Dry mud
- Poking and wondering what will happen when it rains, sun shines
- Transporting mud to different places
- Mark making with mud
- Combining mud with different loose
- parts: bricks, pebbles, flower petals and leaves.
- Mud and role-playing cooking
- Exploring the texture of mud and adding different loose parts to explore
- how this changes: sand, gravel, grass cuttings.
The New Garden Classroom: Planning and Preparation
Gardening has many benefits for children and adults alike. While their has great health and social implications, it also provides amazing hands on experiences for learning and can incorporate every aspect of the EYFS https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework–2
My childminding practice has always been a ‘Garden Classroom’ curriculum and I strive to make the environment accessible and an engaging experience for all children.
When I moved to my home, the main attraction was the garden and the garden summerhouse. Unfortunately not long after I moved in, it became obvious the summer house was not safe enough to use and we had to take it down.
Since taking down the summer house it has been my dream to build a stronger, bigger outdoor classroom. We have been planning since that day and 7 years later we have been given the opportunity to make our vision come true.
The opportunity to apply for a grant from the local council came up in May 2025. This grant was offered to settings in Liverpool to enable them to expand settings and provide new places for children under 5 years of age to access quality education.
The children and I took a visit to the local Garden Center to look at various types of garden buildings. This gave us an idea of space, materials and what we would like the classroom to look like. This information all helped when putting the bid together.
We worked hard putting into place the documentation to provide evidence on how we attend to expand our setting. luckily as we had been on our planning Journey over the last few years this part of the plan was in place. It took us another three weeks and a visit from a council representative to put the policies, financial information information and evidence into place to submit to the decision board.
By the end of June we were given the amazing news that we had been successful with the main part of our bid. This was on the premise we can supply further information regarding the company we had chosen to work with and raise the extra funding needed to cover the entire project. We researched another two building companies to gain more information and chose to go with Eon from ‘All good in the wood’ https://www.allgoodinthewood.co.uk/
‘Who we are, Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. We’re a vegan-owned business that keeps our community involved with our local trading system. We’re proud of our products being locally sourced, locally finished and installed by local tradespeople, keeping our community personally involved from start to finish! We know exactly where every tabletop, fence post or roof shingle came from and where the trees grew. Call it our sustainable family tree.’
“Ancient trees are precious. There is little else on Earth that plays host to such a rich community of life within a single living organism.” — Sir David Attenborough
Composting
Guidance and Activity Ideas
Composting is a natural process when natural materials (such as garden waste and food scraps) are broken down by microorganisms (such as bacteria and fungi) to create compost. Compost is full of nutrients and can be beneficial for the soil. sting Important?
By composting garden waste and food scraps, you not only reduce waste from going to landfills but you also create a beneficial product for your outdoor space.
Teaching children about composting is a useful way of discussing sustainability and how we can look after the world around us. It also helps children to understand how their actions can have an impact on the planet. Can be Composted?
When thinking about what items can be put into a compost bin, consider natural garden waste, such as leaves, weeds, lawn clippings and wilted flowers. You can also add most plant-based food waste and natural foods, such as fruit and vegetable scraps and peelings, teabags and eggshells. Other items that can be added include shredded paper (if it isn’t glossy magazines).
It is best to avoid foods that are hard to break down or those that may attract pests or create odours, such as dairy foods, meat or foods like onion and garlic.
Children can be invited to learn about composting using these simple activities.
Collect materials from around the garden or park area to add to the compost bin, such as dead leaves or weeds and leaves. They could also gather fruit and vegetable peels/scraps from lunch and snack time
They could save bits of paper or card from activities, old cardboard boxes and recycle packaging, then tear it up into pieces or use a shredder to prepare them to place into the compost bin or wormery..
Place items into the compost bin and talk about what they can see, what they notice happening and what might happen next. They can take photos of composting activities to see how the mixture changes over time.
Invite children to stir the compost mixture, this adds air to the mixture and helps the composting process. Children could use a broom handle or an old wooden spoon to stir the mixture, depending on the size of the compost bin. Our bin has a handle for the children to turn the materials, this helps with co-ordination skills, and they love taking turns.
Once the compost is ready and it resembles dark-coloured soil (this can take several weeks), invite children to help add the compost to the soil in your outdoor areas. They could dig holes and add small quantities of soil in a planting area or use real gardening tools to help spread the mixture over the soil to add nutrients for growing strong plants.
ENGAGING GROWTH WITH ‘THE GARDEN CLASSROOM’
By Tracie Dowling
Throughout my career as a Registered Childminder, I have incorporated holistic learning into my practices. Over the years this has evolved, and I refer to my way of teaching as ‘The Garden Classroom’ which you can read about on my blog. Although this way of learning is primarily outdoors, the learning is year-long and therefore I have created ways of learning no matter the season. The Garden Classroom practices always incorporate the three prime areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning. Read on to learn how I weave these key components into outdoor play.
OUTDOOR LEARNING
The Garden Classroom is a space where children can learn and grow, connecting to nature and the world around them. Outdoor exploration not only connects toddlers and babies with the seasons and everchanging weather, but also promotes physical activity, a sense of wonder, and an appreciation for the natural environment. Providing gardening activities for my children has proven to be great way to engage them with hands-on learning, including growing food from seed to plate,
food sensory education, pond-dipping and lifecycles, and practicing sustainability through composting and recycling.
The children learn vital skills such as adaptability and resilience by witnessing their environment going through the cycles. This helps them understand the concept of change and builds resilience in the face of transitions. In one area of our garden, we have a pet cemetery. Here, we have buried our family pets and other creatures who have come and gone.
This space allows us to teach the children about the life-death cycle and accept change. Similarly, every year we experience frogspawn, giving us the opportunity to learn about birth and growth as we watch their little tails shrink and their legs grow.
To support the children’s cognitive skills, we provide activities to observe and understand nature through investigation. The children’s favourite activities at the moment are pond dipping and growing and harvesting flowers, fruit, and vegetables. Some of the learning objectives within these activities are linked to lifecycles, categorising, comparison and pattern recognition in nature.
Supporting the children to experience the wonders of changing seasons has a positive effect on their emotional well-being, mine, and Debbie’s too! The children take naps outside and participate in meditation while the birds are singing away. These activities provide opportunities for relaxation and promote a sense of calm and happiness. It is proven that spending time in nature has mental health benefits as well as emotional and physical benefits.
SEASONAL LEARNING
Every season and even every different day outdoors, brings a new set of sensory stimulation by exploring the sights, textures, aromas, even the noises of the natural world. The experiences are endless. The children love finding the strawberries and munching away, and there is no better taste than a sun-ripened cherry tomato, if they leave me any!
Unfolding the characteristics of seasonal vocabulary during our activities also contributes to early language and provides children with the skills to articulate their observations and experiences. Whether its playing in the muddy puddles, counting the frogs or learning to sow seeds, the language opportunities are endless.
The seasons are also a lovely way to promote cultural celebrations and traditions. We love the harvest festival where we like to gather our produce and share with our families, or Diwali where we cover the garden with lights and have a magical Diwali feast. There are many ways to weave cultural traditions into your very own Garden Classroom.
“Lovely to watch her be so interested in how it grows. How she cares for it, and that she’s happy with the end result, we’ve even started growing our own strawberries and sunflowers at home” – Elsie’s Mum.
By incorporating a Garden Classroom into your setting, your children can foster environmental awareness, develop a sense of responsibility and appreciation of the natural world, which in turn lays the groundwork for their future environmental consciousness. Seasonal changes spark natural curiosity and wonder within the children, giving them the opportunity for questioning and exploration, cultivating a mindset of inquiry and lifelong learning.
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) The Early Years Toolkit brings together the best available evidence on key areas of learning and development. It can support all childminders when making decisions on how to improve learning outcomes.
Other research
Physical development approaches | EEF educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)
Useful resource: Garden activities for September :: The Garden Classroom – NurtureStore
The Edible Garden – Alys Fowler (book and BBC Series 2010)
The benefits of outdoor play- How childminders use outdoor spaces to enhance children’s learning outcomes.
‘My greatest childhood memories are of playing outdoors. Running around, climbing trees, playing in my treehouse, making mud pies, using my mum’s roses to make perfume (not always fragrant!) and inventing new games that kept me, and my brother occupied for hours – these are all things that contribute to a happy, healthy upbringing’
Introduction
My name is Tracie Dowling, and I have been an OFSTED Registered Childminder for over 33 years and a Strategic Partner of Liverpool City Region and Beyond Early Years Stronger Practice Hub. One of my roles has been to support the Deysbrook Childminder Network at the Village Community Centre in West Derby, Liverpool.
https://www.evertonnurseryschoolandfamilycentre.org/childminders
Benefits of outdoor learning opportunities
Not all childminders are lucky enough to have a large outdoor space attached to their setting; however, this does not prevent them from ensuring the children access quality outdoor learning opportunities. The childminders at Deysbrook meet up once a week at the drop-in session and have access to a community garden where they can grow produce, exercise and access activities. They also regularly organise to meet up at the local allotment, parks, farm, forest, zoo and beaches.
‘The Early Years Foundation Stage states that ‘children benefit from spending as much time outside as possible. This makes a significant contribution to the progress they make particularly in their personal, emotional, social and physical development’
Having the opportunity to learn outdoors can be a holistic and essential approach to education, offering a multitude of benefits beyond the traditional educational setting. Here are some of the ways the childminders take advantages of outdoor learning opportunities:
Enhanced Physical Development:
The childminders regularly take the children to the local forest to experience the natural outdoor spaces which are uneven and inconsistent (logs, trees, pathways) and therefore improve children’s balance, coordination, agility and encourage movement in ways that improve their muscles, bones and physical endurance.
Cognitive Development:
The openair environment of the local park provides opportunities for exploration (plants, wildlife, habitats) problem-solving (how to cross a big puddle?), critical thinking (how to make a den using found objects), decision-making and building essential skills like spatial awareness and adaptability. The children engage in activities such as den building, learning to look after the environment, and exploring nature.
Communication and Language Skills:
Collaboration between the childminders and peers significantly boosts communication and language development. This provides a natural, engaging environment to practice language, explore new vocabulary and develop social skills.
by providing the children with Imaginative play opportunities, exploring the natural world, and interaction with peers all contribute to language acquisition and communication skills which is evident by the children expressing thoughts, asking questions and listening to their childminder and peers.
While in the outdoor area the children listen to natural sounds and explore other sensory experiences (e.g., the rustling of leaves, the feel of mud and sand) this broadens and enhanced language development by using words such as squidgy, squelchy, scrunching.
Personal, Social, and Emotional Development:
When the childminders take the children on visits for instance to the beach this provides abundant opportunities for personal growth and social development. The children learn to manage risks, (being close to water/climbing on slippery rocks/identifying and studying the jellyfish) develop self-confidence, and form positive relationships in the safety of their childminder and experiences with peers.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World:
Outdoor learning offers a direct relationship with nature, enabling children to explore and understand the natural world, encouraging an enduring interest in science, ecology, and caring for their environment.
We welcome childminders and our community family to share our environment, where we exchange ideas’ share surplus produce and have a swap scheme for instance toys/plants/story sacks to promote positive relationships and encourage cost effective way of living.
Literacy and Mathematics:
Outside spaces can serve as an environment for literacy and numeracy activities. Children can count objects, (bugs, shells, sticks) write using natural materials (sand, soil, chalk, sticks) or engage in storytelling and creative writing inspired by the environment for instance using the ’anywhere farm’ story sack at the urban farm.
Expressive Arts and Design:
Open air environments encourage creativity and artistic expression. Children can be involved in activities such as drawing, painting, or sculpture using natural materials, (logs, sticks, shells, pinecones) furthering their artistic development.
The children are very interested in using flowers and leaves to make natural prints pressing the flowers (from my garden) between two pieces of material to bring out the natural colourings.
My personal childminding ethos and curriculum is ‘sustainability in the garden classroom’. I am privileged to have a wonderful outdoor space where I teach the children to care for their environment. We have a wormery to use up food waste and provide our plants with nutrients, water butts to recycle water and feed our fruit and vegetables, habitats for the wildlife such as frogs, bees, bugs etc. We grow plants (not always successfully) using different methods such as hydroponically, using recycled materials and no dig raised beds.
Conclusion
By childminders being creative and giving children opportunities to access various outdoor environments reinforced with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) 7 areas of learning is a pathway in a child’s holistic development. The EYFS framework recognises the importance of outdoor learning, and the benefits of this approach are undeniable. By providing children with outdoor environments for physical activity, cognitive growth, social interaction, and a deep connection to nature, we nurture well-rounded children and enable them to be better prepared for the challenges of life and holistic learning. This is the collective responsibility of parents and educators to ensure that all children have access to these inspiring outdoor activities and environments that will profoundly shape their future in positive and meaningful ways.
External References and Resources
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/early-years/evidence-store
Reference to Physical Development, Communication and Language, Literacy and Mathematics
https://www.evertonnurseryschoolandfamilycentre.org/strongerpracticehub
https://www.gov.uk/early-years-foundation-stage
https://www.evertonnurseryschoolandfamilycentre.org/early-years-sustainable-hub
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/family-friendly/family-friendly-gardens
This Week In The Garden Classroom
We have loved getting outdoors and sowing some salad crops. We mixed the peat free compost, filled the pots, sowed the seeds and gently watered them in to germinate.
We had fun looking around the garden for bugs, we found snails, ants, butterflies, a dragonfly, wood louse, worm and Fizzy our cat asleep in the shade. Mable and Elliott thought the yellow poppies were pretty.
We had a lovely time in the garden, we are excited to see our seeds germinate and turn into delicious salad crops, so we can have them for lunch.
Stanley Park
Today we had a lovely day at Stanley Park. We walked through the rose garden to the play park.
Ayrn was so clever and determined to climb the stairs to go down the slide.
Mable and Elliott loved playing and are both confident enough to climb up and go down the slide independently.
Alba enjoyed using the climbing wall, pole and ropes.
After we left the play park we went for a walk to find as many different coloured plants and flowers as we can.
The children looked everywhere, up high, down low, near the pond, over the bridge and through the wildflower meadow. (Sounds like the makings of a brilliant book lol)These photos above are the plants we found.
We decided next to have a race on the playing field.
After our race we all needed to have a rest, some water and a biscuit. What a lovely sunny day out we had.
Ladybirds And Friends
We all absolutely loved the story sack ‘What the ladybird heard’ themed activity last week. We decided to extend our knowledge around the little red bugs.
First we decided to go on a hunt to see if we can find any ladybirds in our garden.
Tracie put together an activity tray for us to explore all about Ladybirds, what they eat, where they live, parts of their bodies and their lifecycle.
We were all very inquisitive looking through a magnifying glass, and seeing the detail on their bodies.
We looked at other British bugs and the children took it in turns to point out our ladybird.
Some of the children handled the ladybird and snail. Others needed a bit more confidence and persuading to hold them.
We looked at other bugs including a snail that we found.
The children used descriptive words like squidgy, slimy, disgusting, slippery, tickly, spotty, antennae, small, red, black, shell.
When the bugs walked around the tray the younger children shrieked in excitement.
The children all gave the thumbs up for their activity because they enjoyed learning about their favourite little red bug.
Our Spring Growing Has Started
Last week we sowed our first ‘Salad Pots’
First we needed to clean the pots to get rid of any bacteria or decease from last years plants.
We then put coco disks into the pots and added the seeds.
We chose salad and herb crops because they are fast growing and we love cooking and eating them. We added water and watched as the disks filled out and firmed the seeds down.
We covered the pots with cling film to help them keep the humidity to germinate the seeds.
One Week Later….
We had a look in our salad pots to see if any of the seeds had germinated.
In Jacks pot we found a Cucumber seed had grown, it had reached over 1 inch tall.
Tracie very carefully picked up the seedlings in the coco disk and showed us the roots coming out of the disk.
Alba said ‘yuck they are long and wiggly like a worm!”
We then looked in Alba’s Salad Pot, we were surprised to see that her Cucumber had not started to grow. However she had two healthy Tomato plants growing. These were about 1/2 an inch tall.
We decided to move the Cucumber and Tomato seedlings into a bigger pot and leave the herbs in the long salad pots. This was to give them extra space to grow healthy root stock.
We recycled glass jars to cover the seedlings. This was to help them keep the plant warm and to encourage them to grow healthy and strong.
Once we had repotted the seedlings we covered the other coco disks with fresh nutrient rich soil to encourage them to start germinating.
Tracie's Treasures 