It may look like the year one children are having a just great time in the sunshine (and they are) but they are also improving their skills in many different ways. The year one outside learning environment is a wonderful place which encourages child-led learning: allowing the children to explore new things and also consolidate learning that has taken place in the classroom. They are working on their gross motor skills by climbing, balancing, hula-hooping and making assault courses. Fine motor skills are utilised when constructing marble runs and gravity is explored as the marbles travel down. The children have recently been learning about capacity and volume and it was lovely to see them using the knowledge learnt when making 'cakes' and 'smoothies' in the sand area. This knowledge was also secured with water play. Problem solving and reasoning can be seen happening everywhere, as the children use their initiative and work collaboratively. These photos demonstrate that you definitely can have fun and learn at the same time!
