Creating Enabling Environments for Children in the Early Years
Lisa Bartleton
26th October 2021
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (DFE, 2021) defines an enabling environment as one which is rich and varied that supports children’s learning and development. It gives the child the confidence to explore and learn in secure and safe, yet challenging, indoor and outdoor spaces. There are fundamental elements within that statement that should be embedded throughout an environment for children. Importantly, the spaces that children, play, learn and develop within should be safe to allow opportunities for investigation, enquiry, and discovery. They should be secure and responsive to their everchanging needs and interests. The adults supporting their learning must have the appropriate skills to be able to empathise with them and support their differing emotions (DFE, 2021). Ultimately, a child’s environment should be stimulating, engaging, welcoming and contain accessible, age-appropriate resources that entice, challenge, and support their development. This article will focus on those elements of a safe, stimulating, and emotional environment and how this should look for the child and be put into practice.
Safe
Safety should be of paramount consideration when planning an enabling environment, it should be secure, appropriately heated, aired, and free from hazards (Wilcock, 2007). The setting should look uncluttered, light, and airy and have space for children to move around and play. It is important that practitioners carry out risk assessments to identify any hazards within the setting and enable measures to be put in place to minimise these. A risk assessment should cover anything that the child may encounter that may cause them harm. Additionally, outdoor play areas must undergo health and safety assessments to check for any hazards that may be present for example broken glass or animal excrement and also that all play equipment is CE or UKCA approved standard, also the height and steps of play equipment must be developmentally appropriate (Beckley, et al, 2009). It is important that the environment is clutter free, as a tidy uncluttered environment is necessary to allow children the freedom to move around, play and explore, particularly, for babies and young children to enhance both physical and cognitive development. Further health and safety measures should be in place to ensure that the setting is both safe and secure. Providers must take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of all stakeholders including children, staff and others on the premises, regular fire evacuation procedures should be practiced and a record of these logged. Reflections and observations should be carried out to establish the security of premises to minimise the risk to children. Due regard must be paid to health and safety laws relating to keeping information about accidents and incidents and informing parents and carers of these (Beckley, et al, 2009). There should be adequate space for each child according to their age and guidance detailed within the statutory framework (DFE, 2021). Practitioners should plan activities to be carried out in both the indoor and outdoor environment, there should be a balance between adult-led activities and child-initiated activities. This is to ensure that skills and knowledge are taught and modelled by adults but also that the child can take the learning forward to where they want it to go. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of every practitioner to identify any possible risk elements within planned activities and to minimise any possible danger to children involved (Beckley, et al, 2009).
Stimulating
A stimulating environment should include defined areas that represent learning, play and relaxation. This can include: cosy, calm spaces such as soft furnished areas and book corners where children can relax, look at books, play quietly and sleep if they need to (www.my.optimus-education.com). Writing areas with different materials to encourage children to mark make and develop their fine motor skills. Imaginative corners that can be changed and adapted for children’s interests, festivals or changing seasons, a shop, a home corner, an airport or Santa’s grotto where language and social skills can be enhanced. The environment should be changed and altered by practitioners following observations of their key children to respond to their changing needs and interests as babies and children thrive within an environment that supports and promotes their active learning and development (Wilcock, 2007). Adults should manage the pace of activities, planning varied and interesting new experiences that stimulate learning but also provide opportunities for children to revisit, practice and enjoy a sense of mastery (DCSF, 2009). It is also important that the equipment and displays are altered in accordance to meet different stages of development of the child. Responding to research which suggests that young babies focus best on high contrast tones of black, white and red, some settings have developed high contrast areas within their baby rooms (DCSF, 2009). The thinking behind this concept is that babies respond to black and white colour schemes as this stimulates the development of the optic nerves and can encourage cognitive development without over stimulating them (www.tinylove.com). Practitioners’ should provide flexible and open-ended resources that can be used in many ways to facilitate children’s play and exploration. These might include lengths of plastic guttering, tubing which can be used in the water play or to shoot cars down to see which one can go the fastest! Different sized containers within the sand and water play to develop critical thinking and early maths skills developing the concept of capacity, which size container will hold the most sand? Scraps of fabric and pegs can be used to make dens or even saris taken from the dressing up box. I have seen children have so much fun with a large paintbrush and bucket of water using them to paint the outdoor fence. These types of open-ended resources can be used flexibly and creatively and provide opportunities for problem-solving, developing new connections in the child’s learning and represent ideas that are meaningful to them (DCSF, 2010). When children use open-ended resources there is no requirement to produce a finished or end product, therefore, there is no external expectation of a right or wrong way (DFE, 2021).
Emotional
Creating a secure emotional enabling environment for children is as equally important as creating an enabling physical environment. An emotional environment should provide warmth and acknowledgement that each child is unique (Hodgman, 2015). A legal requirement within all early years settings is that every child must be allocated a key person (DFE, 2021). A key person develops a genuine bond with children and offers a settled, close relationship. The key person approach is fundamental to creating and enabling a fully responsive emotional environment for the child. The benefits to very young children are that the key person approach can provide them with a deeply satisfying and enriching experience of nursery life that compliments their home life. The relationship a baby has with their key person, provides the attention and sensuous pleasure they need to make sense of their experiences and set in motion the process of mental development. Above all this intimate, personal relationship sets the foundations for the child’s holistic development (Elfer, 2002). Early interaction with skilled and knowledgeable adults are crucial for healthy emotional development (Renowden, 2003). As a child starts at a new setting, it is important that time is allocated for the child to get to know and become familiar with their new key person.
Early years practitioners ideally should create an environment that is warm, welcoming, and nurturing where children and families feel that they have a sense of belonging (www.eyalliance.org.uk). This can be achieved by the setting working closely with parents/ carers the EYFS encourages the adoption of an enabling environment that responds to the individual needs of children and builds strong partnerships between practitioners and parents and or carers (DFE, 2021). Working together with parents helps practitioners to identify what is necessary for each child at any time. Practitioners should ensure that they are always available to parents by providing an open-door policy, where they are available to respond to parental queries and provide time to pass on vital exchanges of information. This reassures parents that they are welcome within the setting. Wilcock (2007) asserts that working together with children and families enable settings to create learning environments that best provide for the needs of all children. This welcome to stay can be extended long after the child has settled and sends a clear message to parents that their child is happy and safe with you (Lindon, 2009). To further ensure that all children feel welcomed and valued displays of family photos can be collated in collaboration with parents also the setting can provide comfortable, welcoming and private areas where parents can sit with staff to discuss their needs, feelings and obtain answers to any questions that they may have. Providing a reassuring environment through the development of these key relationships contributes to encouraging good self-esteem, confidence, and independence. The EYFS states that children’s independence is most obvious when they feel confident and self-assured, such as when they are in their own home with family, or with friends and familiar carers such as a key person (DFE,2021).
The setting up of an enriched environment is critical, the level of openness in the resource and environment should be such that the child is able to explore boundaries, allowing their uniqueness to emerge (Pascal 2006 in DCFS, 2010). The importance of providing an enabling environment within the early years cannot be underestimated, research cited by the Carnegie Corporation New York (1994 in Fisher 2007) suggests that a lack of experience and impoverished environments in the early stages of learning may have long lasting detrimental effects on the development of the child. This can place the child at risk of developing a variety of cognitive and physical difficulties. These findings create an argument that there is a clear need for practitioners to create an environment that offers experiences sensitive to the needs of young children and one which is developmentally appropriate (Fisher, 2007).
References
Beckley, P. Elvidge, K. and Hendry, H. (2009) Implementing the Early Years Foundation Stage. Nottingham: DFES publications
Department for Education (DFE), (2021) Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Nottingham: DFE publications.
Department for Education (DFE), (2021) Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Nottingham: DFE publications.
Department for children, schools and families (DCSF) (2009) Learning, Playing and Interacting. Nottingham: DCSF Publications.
Department for children, schools and families (DCSF) (2010) Finding and exploring young children’s fascinations. Nottingham: DCSF Publications.
Elfer, P. (2002) Attachment and the key person role. {online} Available at: www.surestart.gov.uk Accessed July 2021
Fisher, J. (2007) Starting from the Child. 3rd ed, Buckingham: Open University Press.
Hodgman, L. (2015) Enabling Environments in the Early Years. London: Practical Pre-School books.
Newborn development {online} Available at: www.tinylove.com Accessed July 2021
Renowden, H. “It’s a princess- Fostering creative and aesthetic development in young children” (2003) Abott, L. and Moylett, H. (eds) Working with under three’s responding to children’s needs. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Riley, J. (2007) Learning in the Early Years. London: Paul Chapman.
Optimus Education: Creating an enabling environment: Three to five-year- olds. {online} Available at: www.my.optimus-education.com Accessed July 2021
What makes an environment enabling? {online} Available at: www.eyalliance.org.uk Accessed July 2021
Wilcock, J. (2007) The Early Years Foundation Stage in Practice. London: Step Forward Publishing Limited.