Nursery World - Early Years on a Shoestring Never-ending

In the final instalment of this series on providing resources on a tight budget, Shardi Vaziri looks at open-ended spaces and the outdoors.

A gravel pit, woodland area and mud kitchen are some of the areas where loose parts have enabled child-led activities

Loose parts in the outdoor classroom are just as invaluable as they are in the indoor classroom. When we are thinking about outdoor learning, we can think big. Outdoor learning should involve developing gross motor skills, and big loose parts support this as well as lots of other skills such as problem-solving and imagination. I still provide the children with a selection of small loose parts such as conkers and pine cones, which they can transport around the space, but they also have a large selection of big loose parts as continuous provision and open-ended areas to use them in.

When thinking about open-ended provision, I think it is also important to consider how open-ended the areas of the indoor/ outdoor classroom are. Providing the two combined creates spaces which are totally unrestricted to the children.

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