Resourcing for Provocations

Guest Post by childminder Jodie Williams @jodiewilliamschildminding 

Teaching children about nature and giving them the opportunity to be outdoors exploring is a very important part of our day. I found the child thrived when doing outdoor activities especially in the local woodland areas.

They love to collect objects, bringing them back to the setting and incorporating them into their play and exploration.

Over the past year it has become more important to be able to be outdoors, exploring in our own little group setting. Which has helped all of us to cope with the current pandemic & changes.

This is why I have now started to change how I teach and the resources I use. I haven’t got much space to store lots of one use resources. So this change has definitely allowed me to minimise resources to ones that provide the most learning opportunities.

We now have a lovely collection of natural resources. A variety of baskets containing small logs, log slices, stones, & sticks. Also tinker trays & jars containing smaller natural resources such as acorns, feather, conkers & pebbles. These resources are mainly collected during our daily explorations.
I have replaced most of our one use plastic toys for open ended resources. I have also brought different wooden resources such as wooded numbers, animals & cars.

Bringing nature into the setting has enabled me to set up some fantastic invitations to play & provocations for each child. Natural objects are so versatile in play. I have found that the children are using their imaginations more. We use these natural objects in all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

I have brought more plants, blankets, pillows & fairy lights for my home, which is also my setting. It’s definitely made my home feel more cosy & warm.

The children’s are playing & learning differently to before we brought nature in. Children are able to use their imaginations with just a few objects found on the woodland floor. They can talk about different plants that are growing. They can spot moss, fungi & underground burrows. It’s wonderful to see the differences in our setting and children’s learning now we are all more in tune with nature.
Parents have noticed that their children are more turned into nature and their surroundings when they are outdoors with family.

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