Young children are curious and interested in the boundaries and details of their world. One of the ten principles in the Birth to Three Matters pack is especially meaningful when you consider how to enable and encourage young children to explore their environment - both indoor and out. It is: 'Learning is a shared process and children learn most effectively when, with the support of a knowledgeable and trusted adult, they are actively involved and interested.'
For babies, everything is new and they use all their senses to take in what is happening. Within the early months of their lives, they begin to sort the familiar from the unfamiliar in terms of people and regular events of daily life.
Toddlers can have amassed a great deal of awareness of familiar environments. A well-organised environment enables young children to feel a sense of ownership within their social world - in their own home and in their out-of-home care.
Long before they can put their thoughts into sentences, under-twos will show you that they understand where resources are stored in their familiar nursery or the home of their childminder. They know how to find their favourite books, but also the location of their wheelbarrow.
By the middle of their second year, secure toddlers have had enough experience to feel a strong sense of belonging within the boundaries to their own territory. Two- and three-year-olds can become self-assured in their actions and use of words when there is no uncertainty about what will happen next or who will be taking care of them today. They can direct their energy into making meaning from the world around them.
Very young children develop emotional well-being through familiar personal care routines. Through repeated short trips, an older baby or young toddler will come to recognise local landmarks and know, for example, that today's trip is going past the open-air market, which usually that means that they are off to buy bananas.
Environment
A clear advantage of forward-facing buggies is that toddlers and very young children can see the environment through which they are 'travelling' while on an outing. Of course, you need to be aware of when they have noticed an interesting sight. But you can then slow down, probably stop, bend down to child level and enjoy the sight with them.
From children's perspective, the side-by-side double buggy also beats the stacked version, which is easier for adults to get through narrow gaps, but does not provide much of a view if you are the child on the lower level!
Safe but welcoming indoor and outdoor environments give children the space and freedom to explore in their own time and to follow their current interests.
Ideas and interests
Early years practitioners need to be guided by the babies, toddlers and very young children over when, how and how often they repeat an activity around a theme of interest.
* Under-threes need your good ideas for what they could do. They cannot ask, or gesture, to do something interesting again, until they have enjoyed this experience at least once already. Then they delight in doing something enjoyable again and again.
* Under-threes (and over-threes too) do not operate a checklist system of once-only experiences. Something that fully engages their interest - maybe involving large cardboard boxes in the garden - needs to done again, possibly on the same day. Something intriguing, like spying on the woodlice under the plank, needs to be approached in a variety of fun and interesting ways.
* Having generous amounts of time outdoors, in the nursery garden as well as when you are out and about in the local neighbourhood, means that young children can simply relish being together with familiar adults. There should be no rush to complete a schedule of pre-planned activities. There must be time to stand and stare, to look closely, listen and touch.
* Adults do not have to do all the talking. Listen and look, then you will be a better judge of what to say in the moment. Today the children just want to enjoy the sparkle of dew on the spider's web. There will be other occasions when they want to ask a question or would welcome some information about spiders.
Making connections
Young children are already making connections between familiar experiences in order to work out what is a little bit different today. For example:
* The key person's face is the same, but her hairstyle has changed since last week. Young children want to look and touch.
* The walk home from the childminder's is along the same streets, but now it's the time of year when it is dark - even in a town or city it is still possible to see the moon and stars.
* The toddlers and two-year-olds know it is definitely lunchtime because they helped to lay out the plates and cutlery, but the dish now on the table does not look or smell like the usual.
Holistic development
You may have noticed that many of the Birth to Three Matters component cards are woven into this feature. I have deliberately not made direct references because I wanted to highlight a key message of the pack - that child development is holistic.
The component cards were never meant to be seen in isolation. Any of the cards are a good starting point to reflect on what you do within your practice.
Good practice
The Birth to Three Matters video also contains some excellent examples of good practice relating to children and their environment. Look again at the relaxed sequences of young children at ease in their surroundings - finding what they want within a familiar indoor environment, and just as many experiences outdoors.
Sometimes an adult is directly involved in the experience, but not always.
It sometimes makes sense to organise resources so that children can examine objects closely - for example, in the case of the mixed age group sequence towards the end of the video.
These under- and over-threes are thrilled with the snails and other little creatures. They have time to look, and comment if they wish. The practitioner looks as if she is enjoying the time just as much as the children, and she is careful not to dominate the conversation.
Look also at the video excerpt about feeding the guinea pigs, which can be viewed under 'A Healthy Child' on the CD-Rom. Again, the children are taking their time. They are busy preparing the food for the guinea pigs, chatting about it, and then are fully engaged in taking the food out into the garden and watching as the animals enjoy their meal. (If you have not yet found these examples, go to the Main Menu, choose Contents, then Index of Videos.)
Further resources
* Sure Start/DfES, 'Birth to Three Matters: A framework to support children in their earliest years'
www.surestart.gov.uk/resources/childcareworkers/birthtothreematters
* Lindon, Jennie, Kelman, Kevin and Sharp, Alice (2006) Play and Learning for the Under-Threes (Nursery World Books)
