Outdoor Environment

At Hamond House Day Nursery we believe and promote outdoor learning, which encourages children to be independent and confident learners.
The impact outdoor play has on a child’s learning and development in the early years plays a crucial part in a child’s later adult life.
Engaging in quality time outdoors not only allows a child to be physical but it increases their wellbeing, health and happiness.

At Hamond House Day Nursery we encourage Free Flow play, which gives the children the freedom to choose whether they want to play and learn indoors or outdoors.

Here at Battye Street we have a beautiful open garden space for riding bikes, planting, outdoor sand pit access, water wall, construction area and music wall.

Health and happiness is fundamental at Hamond House Day Nursery We have a wonderful field located outside of the nursery which we walk to, this which allows the children to explore their natural environment around them which gives them opportunity’s to connect with nature.

Our nursery children spend their days exploring and investigating the natural habitat around them, collecting leaves, making dens, creating art out of natural objects, reading books, making mud pies and looking for mini beasts.

We have an outdoors Tepee where children go with supervising adults to get creative in activities and learn about nature.

On the field we have some wonderful Hens, which the children walk down to visit and feed. Here are some benefits of children looking after animals:

It decreases allergies
It teaches responsibility
Helps with learning
It encourages a healthy lifestyle
It teaches the circle of life
It provides comfort and companionship
It’s exciting and fun.

There are so many benefits to outdoors play for children well being here are some key benefits:

1. Learning
Playing outside helps children to develop their learning abilities. By putting educational equipment outdoors, children are soon learning through play, which is a fun way of helping children to learn new skills. As well as this, outdoor learning encourages children to think of learning an on-going process instead of just something done indoors.

2. Creativity
Outdoor play is great for encouraging children’s creativity. Being outside children’s imaginations is stimulated by the objects around them and they quickly tap into their creativity.

3. Health
There are numerous health benefits to playing outside. With more room to explore, children are often more active when outside, which helps them to build strong bones and good fitness levels, while also enabling them to burn off extra energy. As well as this, being in the sunshine, even in winter, means children naturally absorb vital vitamin D, which regulates mental and emotional moods, increases energy and sharpens memory. In as little as 15 minutes of playing outside, children can get their daily dosage of vitamin D.

4. Social skills
As outdoor spaces are usually less crowded than indoors, it is less intimidating and helps children to naturally come out of their shells and be more social. This means that children will be more willing to join in games and activities, while they will also be more likely to talk to different children and make new friends. This all encourages children to learn social skills and how to interact with other children away from adult supervision.

5. Well-being
Giving children the freedom of playing outdoors helps them to feel happier and calmer. As already stated, being outside means that children naturally get vitamin D, which is proven to help improve moods and create a positive mental attitude. The freedom outdoor play also encourages children to get rid of built up energy, particularly if they tend to be fidgety when sitting for long periods of time, this leads to them becoming calmer and ultimately helps them to be more focused when in the classroom.

6. Independence
The large space in which to play means that when outside children have more space from the direct adult. This helps them to learn independence when socially interacting with other children, as well as learning to play by themselves. They learn how to take turns playing games, to pick themselves up then they fall, and how to negotiate unfamiliar equipment, resulting in children learning how to be independent and self-reliant.

7. Explore
Often outdoor play equipment has a little more risk than indoor toys. Whether it is encouraging children to use slides they might be a little afraid to go down, or to try challenging play trails; outdoor play equipment can help children to learn to push their boundaries and become good at risk assessment. It also teaches them to explore new games and become confident in learning to try new things without being guided by adults.

We believe the power connection in the outdoor world and children is fundamental for children’s well being to help them flourish.