Introduction
The third Principle of the Early Years Foundation Stage is Enabling Environments.
‘The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.’
EYFS divides the Learning Environment into:
The emotional environment
The outdoor environment
The indoor environment
In the following web pages we will look at what this actually means for a Childminder and provide ideas on how you can develop your own environment to meet the needs of your minded children.
The Emotional Environment
It is vital that the Childminding environment promotes emotional well-
Go to BCMA’s page -
The Outdoor Environment
Research has shown that being outdoors has a very positive impact on children and helps with all 6 of the areas of learning. It provides them with the freedom to explore, using their senses and be far more physical than they can indoors.
Go to BCMA’s page -
The Indoor Environment
The Childminder’s indoor space is her home but also has to
provide minded children with a place to rest, sleep, eat and do a wide variety of
activities. This often requires careful planning and great flexibility.
Go to BCMA’s page-
Additional information can be found in the EYFS material:
Principles into Practice Card 3.3 The Learning Environment
Each of the Areas of Learning (Appendix 2) provides additional guidance under the heading ‘Enabling Environments’
ENABLING ENVIRONMENTS
