Teach Early Years - Issue 14.2

H ere’s a question for you: does your setting have, as part of its outdoor learning provision, a selection of bikes and trikes? If the answer is yes, then here’s another: why is that? In the 1980s and 1990s, with the boom in the educational resources sector and the introduction of many an equipment catalogue, came a perceived “checklist” of what was considered best practice for outdoor learning provision. As a result, hardly a Reception class, nursery or preschool lacked a shed full of shiny two- and three-wheelers. Fast forward to today, and I would say that both our understanding of early child development and respect for the benefits of outdoor learning have changed the landscape of early years beyond recognition. Indoor provision now embraces neutral and natural resources and loose parts. Gone are the days of worksheets and laminated plastic play pieces in favour of the authentic and the everyday to reflect a home-from-home experience. So why has this passion for play and our refocusing on the real and relevant not extended as far as many outdoor environments? The physical development requirements in the EYFS highlight the many skills expected of our young children in their time with us. Surely it’s these we should be focusing on? What physical skills exactly do bikes and trikes offer that cannot also be accessed in many different ways in a well-planned outdoor provision? Do they offer children an opportunity to practise going up and down steps? Do they really build balance or scaffold the strength, coordination and control in muscles needed for later writing and self-care skills? Or do they predominantly enable a limited few to increase their heart rate for a few moments? “Children learn to share and to take turns,” I hear you chorus. But actually, don’t these high-status items Whizzing round on two or three wheels might be an early years staple, but it’s an activity that should be consigned to history, says the Secret Practitioner … Say bye to your bikes! THE SECRET PRACTITIONER IS AN EY TRAINING CONSULTANT WITH NEARLY 20 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE just trigger frustration in children too young to be expected to wait for their turn? I get that if you laminate a numeral and fix it to the front of a bike, you can say you are offering maths. But surely adding pinecones, sticks, shells, and wood slices to your mud kitchen and sand play will provide more opportunities to develop maths skills outdoors? Certainly, introducing a range of teapots, jugs and spoons in a variety of sizes and materials will lend maths and science learning potential to environments beyond exploring the shape of the bikes’ wheels. You may argue that some children never get the chance to ride a bike elsewhere because of where they live or their families’ finances. But isn’t it more important for these children to have access to green spaces and to learn to love all things natural than it is to whizz around on tarmac for five My argument is that bikes and trikes are a relic of a time long gone in early years and, by their very use, limit the learning potential of our outdoor areas. There are better ways to make use of our limited space. So, I suggest considering rehoming these red perils of the playground and freeing up essential, sought-after storage space – you might even raise some much- needed funds to spend on resources that complement the rest of your child-led learning environments. After all, are bikes and trikes really the rich learning experience their price tag suggests, or do they just encourage conflict and remind you, the practitioner, why we don’t wear open-toed sandals to work? I’ll let you decide. Bikes and trikes limit the learning potential of our outdoor areas minutes if they are lucky? With more and more children showing signs of “biophobia” (a fear of all things biological), the focus for outdoor play and learning must be on building spaces that invite nature in and allow children to interact with the living world. Ask yourself whether bikes have the language potential offered by an amazing fairy garden or a reference book to identify a bug found under a log. Where is the writing potential of a trike in comparison to a potion station or a sandpit full of pirate treasure? 66 Teachearlyyears.com