For good-quality outdoor play to be enjoyed on a daily basis, setting out equipment and resources and clearing away needs to be made as easy, straightforward and safe as possible. If your shed is kept in a manageable state and equipment is easy to get out from its storage, it will stay in good condition and be used regularly.
The need to encourage children's independent play and learning will also have a bearing on how you contain and present resources. In order for them to be easily accessed, storage must be well arranged and adults need to be sure that risk to children and themselves - such as from items falling or stress on the back through reaching and lifting - is minimised.
Settings with very limited space outside may find that they have to store equipment within their building and some resources, such as fabric, soft toys and books, are best stored indoors. It will be important to pay special attention to how these resources can be made as easy as possible to transport outside by adults or children, so that they do get used.
Reducing the effort of getting resources out and clearing them away is one of the most effective steps to take when starting to develop your provision for outdoor play. Equipment that is well organised and managed will lead to better quality play and will leave adults with energy and enthusiasm for supporting children's learning outdoors.
Organising your resources
Knowing where everything is, keeping resources in manageable sets and making them easy to transport, both to and from storage and around the outdoor area, is important for both staff and children. The right container will make it easy to store and transport resources, and children may be able to use resources directly from this container.
To choose the right containers, consider the type of item, your needs for both storage and transportability and the ease of use from the container.
Containers which children can manage themselves will support independence and decision-making in play, so these should be stored at child-height and be safe to collect and return.
Some of the best containers for organising outdoor resources
* Plastic crates with robust wheels or smaller ones that can stack - try to get those with close-fitting lids
* Plastic bins, such as dustbins or those with rope handles (from DIY stores)
* Kitbags, especially those with wheels and large handles, and backpacks (child-sized ones are very appealing to children)
* Bags sold as 'sack race' sacks by educational sports equipment providers are very useful and can be hung on sturdy hooks
* Plastic trolleys with wire trays are good for balls and sand- and water-play resources
* Trolleys with trays (such as an A3 paper trolley from educational suppliers) can be equipped with mark-making or investigative resources, joining equipment or small-world toys and can be simply rolled out to support role play, construction play or any other aspect of provision
* A lightweight laundry basket (nylon net), bag-type shopping trolley or suitcase provides a suitable container for fabric resources that can then become a play item itself.
Useful advice about organising your resources
* Have deep and easy-to-use shelving, suitable for crates, boxes and other large items, with lower shelves accessible to children so that they can independently access resources.
* Use hooks to store bags of sorted resources and bins to contain awkward items such as long-handled gardening tools. Elasticated 'bungee' cords, sold for car roof racks, can help to retain items prone to falling over.
* Store less frequently used items or special topic resources in boxes on upper shelving when not in use and have lists of resources for themes, so they can be quickly gathered for a project or spontaneous opportunity.
* Some resources can be left outside, such as tyres, milk crates, logs, cobbles and gravel. To keep them from becoming unpleasant to use after a rainy period, cover them with tarpaulin type material (available from garden centres).
* Where settings do not yet have their own outdoor space, equipment can be organised so that it can be taken off-site. Backpacks (for children as well as adults) set up with kits of resources ready for use can be stored on a row of coat pegs, and children love to take responsibility for them.
* The 'transition zone', where children move from indoors to outdoors, needs to be given careful thought so that it helps children to make full and independent use of the outdoors. Coats and shoes, raingear and wellies, cold weather clothing and sun hats should be easy to find and change into.
Children need to be supported to learn how to keep this storage area organised, so make good use of hooks, pegs, boxes, baskets and labels.
Large, laminated photographs at child height can remind children what to do.
Maintaining your storage and its organisation
It is vital to keep your storage organised and this needs to be seen as an on-going management issue. Supporting children (and adults) to find resources and to return them to the designated place will maintain order in your shed. Use laminated photographs as well as word labels to show the contents of a container and to help children match it to its place in the shed. If children take these photos themselves, they will understand the process more clearly.
Having an agreement on how tidying up takes place and who will maintain order in the shed (perhaps on a rota basis) will help a great deal. There is much to be gained from including children in clearing away, and it is worth the effort involved in developing this ethos and a system of practice. In Steiner Kindergardens, plenty of time is planned for this and older children teach younger ones what to do.
In time, staff will find that the effort of setting out and clearing away is much reduced in a child-led environment where children are encouraged to access their own resources. However, the major gain is in the quality of play and experience which develops as children learn to use resources on an ongoing basis. Staff can spend more time observing them and can suggest or add resources, to extend the learning that is taking place.
Ensure that a member of staff is designated responsibility for the maintenance of containers and their organisation as part of your ongoing risk assessment and maintenance, and that systems are in place for all containers to be regularly checked and for removal, repair or replacement to be carried out. Teach children about any potential hazards and how to access and use the containers safely. They can help you look out for problems with storage/containment, equipment and resources, and will learn to look out for each other too.
Focusing on this aspect of your outdoor provision will give ample rewards in terms of the enjoyment and satisfaction of staff and the quality of children's play and learning. Do make the time and financial resources to develop your storage and organisation of resources - you will be glad you did! NW
More information
This article is reproduced from Early Years Outdoors Materials, the outdoor play support service for all early years providers of care and education for children from nought to five years. For further information or to subscribe, contact the EYO helpline on 01962 845811, e-mail eyo@ltl.org.uk
or see www.ltl.org.uk.
A useful list of good resources for outdoor play can be found in A Place to Learn from eys.advisors@ lewisham.gov.uk, tel: 020 8695 9806.
