2.3 Explain the importance of natural outdoor environments for young children’s physical activity and movement skills

This guide will help you answer 2.3 Explain the importance of natural outdoor environments for young children’s physical activity and movement skills.

Natural outdoor environments are spaces such as woodlands, parks, gardens, beaches and grassy areas that are not heavily built or artificial. They offer open areas, varied terrain, and features found in nature. In childcare settings this can mean playgrounds with grass, gardens with trees, or trips to local parks.

Young children benefit greatly from spending time in these spaces. Their bodies and minds respond to the different textures, shapes and challenges nature provides. Physical activity and movement skills are closely linked with such spaces, giving children an opportunity to explore, move and improve their abilities.

Benefits for Physical Development

Natural outdoor environments offer children more space to move freely. They can run, jump, climb, crawl, and explore without the restrictions of indoor walls or furniture.

Key benefits for physical development include:

• Large open spaces encourage running and chasing games
• Varied surfaces such as grass, sand, and uneven ground challenge balance
• Natural obstacles like logs and rocks help develop coordination
• Opportunities for climbing trees or slopes improve strength
• Exposure to different weather conditions helps build resilience

These activities strengthen muscles, improve posture, and support healthy growth. Children learn to control their bodies better when they encounter unpredictable surfaces and distances.

Developing Movement Skills

Movement skills are abilities needed to control body actions with purpose. They include gross motor skills and fine motor skills.

Gross motor skills involve large muscle movements. Examples are running, jumping, throwing and climbing. Fine motor skills involve smaller movements that control hands and fingers, such as picking up sticks or leaves.

Natural outdoor environments encourage both types of skill through play. For example:

• Throwing a ball or pine cone to a target strengthens gross motor control
• Picking flowers or arranging leaves builds fine motor precision
• Balancing on a log promotes both gross and fine motor coordination
• Walking on uneven ground develops spatial awareness and balance

These skills are important for later activities in life, such as sports, writing, and self-care tasks.

Sensory Experiences and Movement

Young children rely on their senses to guide movement. Natural outdoor environments stimulate sight, hearing, touch and even smell in ways that indoor spaces cannot.

Children may:

• Watch birds flying and adjust posture when looking upward
• Listen to leaves rustling and move toward the sound
• Touch the texture of bark and develop hand strength
• Smell flowers and turn toward their source

Sensory feedback improves reaction time. It helps children learn how their bodies respond to the world. This leads to smoother and more confident movements.

Freedom to Move in All Directions

Indoors children are often limited to front-facing movements or small spaces. Outdoors they can move in every direction without restriction. This freedom helps them understand their body’s range and capabilities.

Natural spaces allow children to:

• Sprint forward
• Move sideways during games
• Turn and twist while chasing friends
• Bend low under branches
• Jump over puddles

These movements challenge muscles and joints in a healthy way. They also improve motor planning, which is the brain’s ability to organise and carry out physical actions.

Risk and Challenge

Natural outdoor environments offer safe but stimulating risk. Climbing a slope or balancing on a log is different from moving on flat indoor floors.

In these situations children:

• Learn to assess their abilities
• Build confidence in their movements
• Gain problem-solving skills when finding safe routes

Risk in play encourages resilience. It helps children adapt their movements when faced with unusual situations. They become more skilled at keeping balance and moving safely.

Social Interaction Through Movement

Physical activity in outdoor environments often happens in groups. Children play together in games like chasing, hide and seek, or building with natural materials.

They:

• Copy each other’s movements
• Learn new actions by observing peers
• Work together to move large objects
• Help friends climb or balance

This builds teamwork and communication skills while reinforcing movement abilities. Group activities also encourage children to try movements they may not attempt alone.

Variety and Change in the Environment

Natural environments change with seasons and weather. This variation influences the way children move.

In autumn, leaves on the ground may make running more challenging. In winter, frost or snow changes the feel of surfaces. In spring, growing plants may create new areas to explore.

Children adjust their actions based on these changes. They learn to adapt their balance, stride, and strength to suit conditions.

Connection Between Outdoor Play and Health

Physical activity in natural outdoor environments contributes to overall health. Movement stimulates circulation, strengthens bones, and supports muscle growth. Being outdoors increases exposure to sunlight, which supports vitamin D production.

Children who spend time moving outside often:

• Have strong immune systems
• Sleep better after active days
• Show improved mood and reduced stress

The freshness of natural spaces encourages children to stay active longer compared to indoor play.

Encouraging Creativity in Movement

Natural spaces inspire creative play. They may pretend a tree is a mountain to climb or a pile of leaves is a treasure. This creative thinking leads to varied movement patterns.

For example:

• Acting out stories encourages new body positions
• Building play structures from branches uses lifting and carrying
• Pretending to be animals leads to crawling, hopping or flying-like actions

Creative movement is not confined to repetitive indoor activities. It expands imagination and physical skill at the same time.

Role of Practitioners in Supporting Movement Skills Outdoors

Childcare workers play a key role in making outdoor activity successful. They can guide children toward natural features that inspire safe but challenging movements.

A practitioner may:

• Plan group activities like treasure hunts
• Introduce movement games using sticks or stones
• Encourage climbing and balancing where safe
• Provide simple rules to keep play safe

Active involvement from practitioners helps children explore new movements. It also reassures them when trying something unfamiliar.

Working with Families to Promote Outdoor Play

Families influence how often children engage with natural outdoor environments. Workers can explain the benefits and suggest ways to involve parents and carers.

They may:

• Share local park locations
• Suggest weekend outdoor games
• Demonstrate simple nature-based activities during family events

Engaging families increases opportunities for children to continue developing movement skills beyond the childcare setting.

Supporting Children with Additional Needs

Children with physical or learning differences may need extra support outdoors. Practitioners can adapt environments and activities to suit each child.

Adjustments can include:

• Choosing safe and easy terrain for walking or rolling
• Providing sensory tools like textured balls
• Staying nearby during activities needing higher balance
• Encouraging repetitive movements that build confidence

This allows all children to benefit from movement experiences in nature.

Preparing Safe Natural Environments

Safety is important when using natural spaces. Practitioners should assess areas before play. Hazards like sharp sticks, unsafe water, or unstable surfaces need careful attention.

Preparation actions include:

• Removing obvious dangers
• Setting clear boundaries
• Supervising at all times
• Teaching children basic safety rules

Safe preparation lets children challenge themselves without unnecessary risk.

Linking Outdoor Play to the Curriculum

Outdoor movement supports learning areas such as physical development, personal and social skills, and understanding of the world. Practitioners can connect activities to curriculum goals.

For example:

• Counting steps across a field supports maths skills
• Describing the texture of leaves develops language
• Running relay races supports teamwork

Movement outdoors often combines learning with physical activity.

Encouraging Daily Outdoor Time

Children benefit from daily access to natural environments where possible. Regular exposure develops both skill and confidence.

Ideas for daily outdoor time:

• Short walks before lunch
• Garden play during morning sessions
• Nature-based challenges as group activities
• Outdoor story times combining movement and imagination

Daily practice builds stronger movement patterns than occasional outdoor access.

Observing and Recording Progress

Practitioners can use observation to track how children’s movement skills improve in natural environments. Recording progress helps plan suitable future activities.

Observation points include:

• Number of times a child chooses active play
• Balance improvement over time
• Use of both fine and gross motor skills
• Confidence when trying new movements

Clear records inform support strategies for each child.

Creating Variety in Outdoor Experiences

Children respond well to different natural settings. Practitioners can plan visits to varied environments to test new skills.

Variety ideas:

• Woodland walks with uneven terrain
• Beach visits with sand and water movement
• Meadow play with open running space
• Garden planting combining fine motor actions

Changing environments keeps physical activity interesting and challenging.

Final Thoughts

Natural outdoor environments are valuable in shaping young children’s physical abilities. They offer space, variety, and sensory experiences that cannot be matched indoors. Movement in these spaces strengthens muscles, develops coordination, and encourages creative actions. Children gain confidence as they explore, adapt, and take on safe challenges.

Childcare practitioners can guide children, prepare environments, and work with families to increase outdoor opportunities. Over time, these activities foster healthy growth and lifelong positive attitudes toward physical movement. This creates strong foundations for fitness, skill, and wellbeing.