One afternoon, I arrived at nurseryto find my three-year-old daughter cycling to her heart's content. Not on a trike, but a bike. She had never mentioned it. Neither did she see what the fuss was about when I praised her. For her it was just what she did at nursery.
Twenty years later, cycling has become de rigueur. It came as a surprise to me, then, to learn that not all early years settings are fans of having bikes. In fact, some have got rid of them altogether.
DIFFERENCES OF OPINION
Wanting to find out more, I used Twitter to create a mini poll about having bikes in early years settings. I found the responses seemed to be organised into three main camps:
- Those who have made the decision to get rid of bikes.
- Those who see the pros and cons of having bikes, so make compromises about their use.
- Those who are totally in favour of bikes and see no cons.
An interesting finding is that not all three camps felt equally confident about speaking out. Of the practitioners and schools who had decided against having bikes, very few wanted to be mentioned in this feature.
Although they had strong opinions and valid reasons, they clearly did not feel comfortable about saying it. Consequently, the first case is anonymised.
Approach 1: complete removal
Jasmin is a practitioner from a setting in Lancashire. ‘Our cohort this year was majority boys and a lot of children with SEND. The bikes became a problem soon after the children started full-time. They were in the middle of the outdoor space. The garden became a race track.’
This resulted in the staff spending a lot of time organising and monitoring the bikes for the sake of safety. ‘It wasn’t a good experience for them, or efficient use of their time,’ Jasmin continues. ‘The children loved the bikes, but it became dangerous for others, especially those who didn’t recognise the danger. In the end, we made the decision to remove the bikes.’
Jasmin considers this decision a game-changer, with the children not only getting a much richer curriculum but developing social skills too. ‘The group of boys who loved the bikes now engage in potion-making; getting messy in the mud kitchen; den-building; role-playing in the reading shed; organising bat and ball games; joining in with parachute games; pavement drawing and putting on stage shows. They even participate in tidy-up time.’
Another effect of this reorganisation is that the shy children have the confidence to access all areas of the outdoor space now that the bikes are no longer hurtling around. ‘As a staff, we’re not patrolling the bikes area but engaging in constructive play with all children,’ Jasmine says.
Approach 2: mitigated use
Rachel O’Neil is head teacher of Hoyle Nursery School, Bury. Rachel sees the pros and cons of having bikes in the nursery. ‘On the plus side they develop physical skills, body strength, co-ordination, balance, agility, core muscles and skills in negotiating space.’
Rachel, who has both balance bikes and pedal bikes, adds, ‘We have a child who is non-verbal and lacks confidence. She would ride a bike and follow the other children or sit and watch them from a distance. She did this for quite some time. Now she rarely goes on the bikes but is much more involved in their play. The bike gave her confidence to watch from afar before making her way into the group.’
Another pro is providing access. ‘A lot of our children don’t have the funds to buy bikes or access to open spaces. Having them at nursery is, therefore, important.’
However, she points out that some children would just ride around all day, given the chance. ‘They can also cause lots of arguments. Having said that, it is also good for them to resolve their problems, so this is both a pro and a con.’
Approach 3: unfettered access
Laura Crawford is deputy head of Gainsborough Nursery School, Lincolnshire. She is a huge advocate of bikes. Her principal reason is that ‘most of the children who come to us have little access to a bike or garden. The impact of Covid has meant that many of the children have been sedentary, not active outdoors.’
She adds, ‘I feel very strongly that bikes are brilliant at developing spatial awareness; physicality; core strength; positional and directional language. They provide brilliant opportunities for developing problem-solving and conflict resolution.’ Laura points out that they also use bikes to develop number recognition.
She thinks that the one of the reasons people are put off bikes is having to solve squabbles. ‘At our school we use a High Scope approach and teach the children conflict resolution. This means that children as young as two are taught the language of turn-taking.’
HELMETS
Some see helmet-wearing as integral to all bike riding and a good habit to get into. Others think that helmets need only be worn when there is a real danger to the child.
Becky Dolamore is executive head teacher at Rachel Keeling Nursery School in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ‘We do wear helmets. A very central part of this is not only to wear a helmet but to know how to fit it properly.’
Becky continues, ‘Children are highly independent and support each other in ensuring their helmet is the right size and fitted correctly.’
As well as this, the staff teach bike maintenance. ‘We see this as important as learning to cycle. Staff have been known to sabotage bikes as a teaching point so that children learn to spot flat tyres, loose brake cables and wonky helmets.’
Saudaa Nadat, area operations manager at London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), which published its own action research on bikes in 2021 (see Further information), says, ‘We tend to use tricycles in the nursery areas and do not currently use helmets, especially as most of the outdoor areas are surfaced appropriately. We operate a bike lending scheme in most LEYF nurseries and offer parents helmets – they choose whether they would like their children to wear one.’
Rachel at Hoyle Nursery says they were introduced after one child fell off a bike and hurt his head, resulting in a hospital visit and stitches. ‘We hang the helmets up outside next to the bikes and find that the children are in a good habit of picking a helmet before they get on the bike.’
FINAL THOUGHTS
It goes without saying that riding a bike is a skilful thing to learn to do. If learned at a young age and in a safe environment, all the better. Cycling provides a lot of outdoor enjoyment and a wealth of health and wellbeing benefits.
For a whole range of reasons, however, many settings are not using bikes. It seems a shame that practitioners do not feel comfortable about speaking up about this. If those who don’t engage with an activity that is promoted as ‘good practice’ feel unable to speak up, then has something somewhere gone wrong?
In my naivete and ignorance, I assumed that, because my daughter's nursery gave her the opportunity to learn to ride a bike (and saved me a job), all nurseries should. Unalloyed ‘shoulds’ of this nature are rarely a good idea.
More voices…
Kierna: ‘I took them away about six years ago and have never regretted it.’
Kate: ‘I used to have bikes in my last setting, a mixture of pedal and balance. Child lost a tooth falling off one. Quite stressful to manage from a staff perspective, but the children loved them. I did find they would use the bikes rather than anything else.’
Carey: ‘I feel bikes don’t encourage a lot of play. They are a huge nuisance as the children often argue about them. When you only have little space, like our garden, they take up a lot of room. I feel there is better equipment out there.’
Cullompton Pre-School: ‘We have bike and no-bike times. Bikes definitely stop collaborative play – when they are put away, we see much more play and conversation.’
Helen: ‘I think having space is the most important thing. We have a multi-use games area which we can use first thing every day. This means the children have a large space in which to use the bikes, and other play can continue in our smaller playground.’
Nik: ‘It's done wonders for their gross motor skills and they just love it.’
Nicola: ‘What is wrong with bikes? All a plus, not sure of a downside.’
FURTHER READING
- ‘Rethinking how we use bikes in the nursery’ by June O’Sulllivan, Leila Roberts and Saudaa Nadat, May 2021: https://leyf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/LEYF_Summary_Report_Rethinking-Bikes-in-the-Nursery_FINAL-2.pdf
- A blog on bike maintenance: https://www.rachelkeeling.towerhamlets.sch.uk/learning-blog/get-on-your-bike
