Why_It_Is_Important_to_Establish_an_Environment_That_Meets_the_Care_and_Learning_Needs_of_All_Children

The important to establish and environment that meets the care and learning needs of all children is they learn with enjoyment and challenge. Through play children explore, develop and represent learning experiences, which help them to make sense of the world. They practise and build up ideas, concepts and skills. They learn how to control themselves and understand the need for rules. They have opportunities to think creatively and imaginatively, take risks and make mistakes. They can work alone, alongside other children, or cooperate, communicating with them as they rehearse their feelings, investigate and solve problems. They can express fears or re-live anxious experiences in controlled and safe situations. Environment education starts at early age with hands-on experience with nature. The environment is based on affection for nature that only develops with autonomous, unmediated contact with it. In early years, children’s development tendency towards empathy with the natural world needs to be supported with free access to an area of limited size over an extended period of time. It is only by intimately knowing the wonder of nature’s complexity in a particular place that leads to a full appreciation of the immense beauty of the planet as a whole. In today’s society, environmental education requires that in schools, children have regular personal interaction with as diverse a natural setting as possible. ‘A rich and varied environment supports children’s learning and development. It gives them the confidence to explore and learn in secure and safe, yet challenging, indoor and outdoor space.’ (PiP 3.3 EYFS 2008). Play is the child’s means of discovery, communication and expression. To facilitate this as a practitioner I need to provide care, space and appropriate equipment so that the children can engage in spontaneous play. The learning environment should be attractive, welcoming and stimulating to children. There should be identified areas so that children feel comfortable, safe and secure. They should feel confident to access to different resources and should not have to waste time and energy searching for equipment. Areas should be safe, clean and uncluttered, with adequate space for children to work. There should be opportunities for children to sit, kneel, stand and lie down to work. Indoor and outdoor areas need to be planned thoughtfully. Daily planning helps children to explore indoor and outdoor environment within the day. In my nursery children explore messy play daily where they discover different textures, colors and surfers and in summer times most of the day children spent outdoors in the play ground, engaging in different activities and younger children go outings to the park near by which they have more space to run and play freely. Each outing has a theme were children learns about the nature in different ways. Example ‘insects’, they look for them on the ground, show to the others and when they come to the nursery they talk, draw, collect pictures and make a chart on that relevant topic. This develops children’s communication skills by learning new words in to their vocabulary, physical movement were they run about in finding, discover and sharing ideas with other children and adults. This kind environment is introduced in Forest Schools children between 3 to 18 years old, to explore the environment in order to develop healthy bodies and love for the natural world. Children take part in child-center and then child-led activities, which helps them to learn about the need for taking risks, taking care and taking responsibility. Self-awareness, self-regulation, intrinsic motivation, empathy, social communication skills, independence and a positive mental attitude, self-esteem and confidence are the aims develop through Forest Schools. Jean Piaget’s (1896-1980) stages of child development directly relates to play as he stated that intellectual growth occurs as children go through the stages of assimilation or manipulating the outside world to meet one’s own needs, playacting and accommodation or readjusting one’s own views to meet the needs of outside environment or work. Froebel’s (1782-1852) significant contributions to early childhood education was his theory of introducing play as a means of engaging children in self-activity for the purpose of externalizing their inner nature.