Spaces – Indoors

What are they?

The learning environment is the “third adult in the room” – it should inspire, enable, empower.

(Loris Malaguzzi)

“The first aim of the prepared environments is, as far as it is possible, to render the growing child independent of the adult.”

(Maria Montessori)

“To support cognitive development the learning environment should be rich in opportunities for children to engage with concepts and foster skills for learning, such as reasoning, creativity and problem-solving. The choice of experiences on offer should reflect an environment of open-ended possibilities in which children can feel intrinsically motivated to explore and investigate through play – including taking calculated risks and learning from mistakes.”

(Realising the Ambition, Education Scotland, 2020, p. 47)

Key messages:

Continuous provision: Carefully plan learning environments to take account of all children’s stages of development where children can learn independently in the absence of an adult. Learning environments should act as the ‘third adult‘.
Free flow play and independence: Allow free-flow play throughout the room, allowing free access to a rich range of materials that promote open-ended opportunities for play, representation and creativity (Froebel Principles). The learning environment is set up to encourage independence and allow children to follow, extend and revisit their ideas, interests and extend their own thinking.
Open-ended resources: Indoor spaces promote enquiry, creativity, imagination and problem-solving through a range of rich open resources, including loose parts.
Invitations to learn and provocations: Practitioners use ‘invitations to learn’ or ‘provocations‘ for learning based on the children needs or interests.
Flexible and responsive: Learning environments are flexible, transformable and responsive to children’s changing interests and pre-occupations and are influenced by children’s ideas, choices and needs, demonstrating that children’s contributions are valued (Bringing the Froebel Approach to Early Years Practice, Tovey, 2017, p. 35).

Curriculum linked:

The 7 principles of curriculum design are supported through the provisions of the learning environment.
Numeracy and Literacy rich: Numeracy and literacy are embedded throughout the physical learning environment and in the opportunities through day to day routines and interactions with adults.
Wider curricular area: Indoor spaces are also carefully planned to ensure children access the broader curriculum, e.g. digital technology, expressive arts, science and technology.
Sensory experiences and calm neutral environment: Learning environments support children’s holistic development and offer somewhere children can relax, feel safe, happy, content and cosy, giving a sense of care and wellbeing (Realising the Ambition, Education Scotland, 2020, p. 27).
Schematic play is extended and supported through the learning environment. Practitioners understand schematic play and how to facilitate it through the environment. This is achieved through observations that identify schemas and respond to the child’s needs.

Ways we can do this:

Continuous provision: Carefully plan spaces to take account of all children’s stages of development and enhance learning opportunities. For example, how well are fine and gross motor skills supported through the environment? How well does the environment promote problem-solving, independence and enquiry skills? Practitioners use audit tools to help this process and evaluate the learning environment.

It can also be helpful for practitioners to have an ‘area’ of responsibility to develop each learning space. This promotes an understanding of how each play area supports children’s learning and development.

Free flow play and independence: Children access the play areas freely, and the environment is set up to allow children to access resources independently. For example, in the art and craft area, children can freely access paint, glue and cello tape without the need of the adult or have the opportunity to create their own playdough or other malleable materials. To further promote independence, core provision should be appropriately labelled, shadowed or templated with numerical representations, e.g. 5 frames to enable children to return resources to their place.

Open-ended resources: Natural loose parts and other real-life, open-ended and natural resources are used to explore ideas and materials using their imaginations freely. Practitioners understand the positive impact of open-ended resources on children’s creativity and learning.

Invitations to learn and provocations: Practitioners use these to promote curiosity, enquiry, problem-solving and challenge. Provocations invite children to explore something new and originate from the practitioner’s thinking. Provocations’ provoke thinking and emanate from the child’s interests or thinking.

Flexible and responsive: Practitioners notice how the children interact with their environment and respond to their interests and use of their spaces flexibly, adjusting the learning environment to suit the needs and interests of the children (Realising the Ambition, Education Scotland, 2020, p. 47). Children are involved in these developments.

Curriculum linked: The 7 principles of curriculum design are supported through the environment. Practitioners ensure that learning environments provide enough developmentally appropriate resources in each area to allow the children choice, challenge and depth. Resource the environment in response to the children’s individual ideas and interests, allowing them to revisit and extend their thinking.

Numeracy and Literacy rich: Literacy and maths is embedded throughout the environment and built naturally into everyday experiences and play to promote children’s learning. Use literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing audit tools can identify where to support or develop the environment and experiences.

Wider curricular areas: Practitioners understand the purposes and the possibilities of the different play areas and materials provided and how these link to all curricular areas over time. Children have the opportunity to engage with digital technologies, e.g. iPads, Beebots, smartboards etc.

Sensory experiences and calm neutral environment: The learning environment is regularly reflected upon to ensure that it takes all children’s sensory processing needs into account and provides a safe and secure environment for learning to take place. Spaces are sensitive to children’s need for calm and neutral spaces, which are not overwhelming with colour and clutter. Consider the lighting, the colour of the walls, the noise levels, and scents to enhance the learning space.

Schematic play: Provide plentiful opportunities for schematic play by introducing additional materials and resources across play areas based on observations. For example, if the child engages in the rotational schema by turning on and off taps, introducing wheels or tyres for them to move around, or a tinker table can extend this area of interest.