Your setting may be lucky enough to have a flower bed or patch of lawn which can be dug over. If so, add some top soil if the earth becomes too compacted for the children to dig. Mark boundaries with low willow fences or milk crates to confine the soil to the designated area.
Settings with limited space can use old tyres and large plastic tubs by filling them with, for example, compost, gravel, pebbles, sand and bark chippings. Children will have just as much fun digging in these.
Position Select a sheltered position, which will protect the children (and the plants) from intense sunlight and strong winds. An adjacent wall can provide such protection and is useful for attaching brackets for hanging baskets, shelves, tool baskets or wind chimes. Or you can use freestanding shelf units, but make sure that they are stable and an appropriate height for the children.
Also try to position the digging area near to the storage shed, as the shorter the distance you have to transportbulky garden equipment the better!
Resources When setting up a digging area, consider providing:
* long-and short-handled garden tools such as a rake, hoe, spade, trowel and fork - there are plenty on the market designed specifically for young childrenn garden sieve n watering cans n wooden barrels, large pots (plastic and ceramic are widely available), tyresn compost, sand, gravel, pebbles, bark chippings n 'grow bags' n concrete 'stepping stones' n seed trays, propagators n large, shallow builder's tray n wheelbarrows * Wellington boots.
Organisation * Organisation will depend on the setting and staffing levels. You may decide to open the area only when staffing levels allow for ratios of about 1:3. Certainly in the beginning, the children will need support in using equipment appropriately.
* Provide suitable footwear and Wellington boots.
* Don't limit use of the area to focus activities, such as planting vegetables and investigating worms - allow the children plenty of time to explore freely and follow their own interests.
Cross-curricular learning If resources are carefully planned, learning will take place across the Foundation Stage curriculum. Very young children need lots of sensory and exploratory experiences and will revel in handling the soil and smelling damp bark chippings.
Encourage the children to touch the different materials, such as sand and compost. Fascinating investigations into consistency and change can follow if you then provide a watering can and trowel. Tactile investigations may continue for some time before the child is ready to move on to using the materials in other ways.
Children enjoy filling and emptying pots and should be provided with a range of graded pots through which they can explore size, shape, capacity and volume. This also provides a real context for using language such as full, empty, heavy and light. Children can often be observed counting the scoops of soil needed to fill a pot and, with encouragement, will begin to compare amounts and use vocabulary such as more and less.
Opportunities for role play are plentiful and children will probably come up with a few ideas of their own. A few extra resources can transform the area easily into a farm, garden centre or market garden. It may even be necessary to extend the area with a few grow bags if business takes off in a big way!
