Planning play environments for learning

Planning play environments for learning

Creating secure, safe and challenging environments that promote play interactions and learning is fundamental for achieving and maintaining quality early childhood education programs. In planning play environments for learning, educators need to consider:

• the components of the physical environment (which include furniture, resources, lighting and acoustics) and how physical elements such as these can support or hinder play. For example, using a reading lamp attached to a table can help focus children’s attention on the play materials they are using provocations for learning which invite sensory exploration and investigation using a range of resources, media and technologies. A beautiful collection of shells displayed with non-fiction books on shells, for example, can invite and provoke children’s interest and learning
• aesthetics or the beauty which will surround children and adults in the environment
• positioning equipment and resources so that children can access them safely and in ways that respect their agency and competency. Ensuring that very young children can access toys they want to play with by placing them on low shelves or in baskets on the floor supports children’s capacity to make choices, which is agency in action
• providing equipment and resources which children can use in multiple ways to promote exploration and creativity. Large wooden blocks, for example, promote exploration and creativity. Blocks can be used in many ways— indoors and outdoors—and by children across a wide age range.
• providing a safe physical, social and emotional environment so that children learn to take appropriate risks in learning and exploration. For example, educators providing children with the opportunity to extend their physical skills with a new climbing experience would monitor the activity closely, while encouraging children to ‘have a go’. The adults’ physical closeness helps children to take safe risks as they attempt the new experience
• planning the daily timetable so that children have large blocks of time to develop quality play themes and experiences
• collaborating with children, families and others to regularly assess the environment to ensure it promotes quality play-based learning experiences. In one centre the staff, children and families undertake an annual ‘audit’ of the outdoor playground, which provides information about what aspects are working well, where there could be improvements to promote children’s safety and learning, and how any proposed changes could be achieved. The ‘audit’ includes taking photographs of the outdoor environment, talking with children and families, and focused discussions at staff meetings. One audit process resulted in the establishment of a ‘sensory’ garden with fragrant bushes and herbs, plants with interesting leaf textures and wind chimes hanging from a tree
• ensuring children have daily access to natural materials in both indoor and outdoor environments
• making a variety of media available that children can explore and use to represent or express ideas
• documenting play experiences around the room for children and others who work with the children to reflect upon.