What is an enabling environment in early childhood education?
1. What is an enabling environment? An enabling environment is one which provides a rich, varied and safe space in a setting in which children can play, explore and learn. This can contribute greatly to children’s learning and development in the early years. The environment should be child-centered.
How can I ensure my environment is enabling?
To help ensure your environment is enabling, follow this checklist: Create an environment that is warm, welcoming and nurturing and facilitates a sense of belonging Offer a range of resources, which are familiar to the children and babies, as well as activities that are new to them
How does the environment affect child development and learning?
The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning. Enabling environments encourage babies and young children to play because they feel relaxed, comfortable and ‘at home’ in them.
What does an enabling environment look like?
First of all, an enabling environment should look/feel safe, warm, welcoming and interesting. A child getting into such an environment should be able to feel a sense of belonging right away, as well as feel comfortable and at ease. The next things to consider are the resources and activities available.
What is the role of a practitioner in providing an enabling environment?
What does "enable" mean in early years?
Is the environment the third teacher?
What are the 3 enabling environment for a child?
One of these principles is Enabling Environments. My space offers support and inspiration to help practitioners put this principle into practice. This booklet considers the environment under 3 separate headings: The Emotional Environment The Indoor Environment The Outdoor Environment.
What are the three enabling environments that impact on a child's learning and development?
The three areas that enabling environments are split into are the emotional environment, indoor environment and outdoor environment.
What does EYFS say about enabling environment?
Enabling environments within the EYFS respond to individual children's interests, schemas and needs. This is best achieved through the sensitive observation (and evaluation) of children as they naturally (and independently) access the provision available to them and as they engage with their peers.
Why is an enabling environment important in the EYFS?
Enabling environments encourage babies and young children to play because they feel relaxed, comfortable and 'at home' in them. When children feel emotionally safe and secure they are able to explore and find out about the place they are in and the things they can see, touch, manoeuvre or manipulate.
What is an enabling environment examples?
An enabling environment is a rich and varied space where risks are minimised and well managed, and children are protected from harm and abuse. To help ensure your environment is enabling, follow this checklist: Create an environment that is warm, welcoming and nurturing and facilitates a sense of belonging.
How can you provide an enabling environment?
Creative ideasImaginative play. ... Child-led play and adult-led play. ... Outdoor play. ... School and out of home activities. ... Play, Active Learning. ... Telling Stories. ... Child Observations and Learning Journeys. ... Planning for learning.More items...
How do you create a welcoming environment in childcare?
Tips for Creating Inviting Environments for ChildrenConsider accessibility and stability when choosing furniture. ... Display photos at eye level. ... Place mirrors around the environment. ... Repurpose, reuse and recycle materials. ... Design your space for imaginative play. ... Create a designated literacy space.More items...•
How do you create a safe environment in childcare?
Physical safetyclear or widen walkways.remove any injury or tripping hazards (make sure equipment is packed away when not needed)consider how you will supervise children who may be at risk of running away – think about your entry and exit points and how your area is enclosed.More items...•
What are 5 components of a good early learning environment?
This document identifies and articulates the characteristics of five Key Elements that are fundamental to achieving high-quality experiences and strong outcomes for preschool children: the learning environment, daily routine, adult-child relationships, teaching practices, and family engagement.
What are the three types of environment?
The three types of environment are: Internal environment. External macro environment. External micro environment.
How do you work collaboratively to provide enabling environments in early years settings?
Be resourced with interesting open-ended toys and resources to look at, touch and explore. Support and enhance the play opportunities of all children, boys as well as girls. Have resources stored at a height where children can see and access them. Make good use of mirrors to create interesting environments to explore.
What does the EYFS say about environment?
We know that a rich and varied environment supports children's learning and development. It gives them the confidence to explore and learn in secure and safe, yet challenging, indoor and outdoor spaces. An appropriate physical environment is one in which children feel safe, happy, cared for and relaxed.
What are the three types of environment?
The three types of environment are: Internal environment. External macro environment. External micro environment.
What are the environmental factors that influence child development?
Child growth and development are affected by 4 major types of environmental factors: biological, physical, psychosocial, and familial.
What are some environmental factors that influence development?
Environmental Influences on Child Development These include the social, emotional, economic, and physical environment. The physical environment is the space and location in which the child grows, affecting their health, learning, and behavior.
How can the environment affect a child's development?
The problems that disadvantaged or unsuitable home environments create on children's development include poorer language development by age three, later behavior problems, deficits in school readiness or academics, aggression, anxiety or depression, and impaired cognitive development at the three years of age.
Enabling Environments in the Early Years
2 Early Childhood Essentials series: Enabling Environments in the Early Years Why is the environment important in supporting children‘s learning? This book is for all early years practitioners and aims to support managers and staff to develop the learning environment for the
Creating an enabling environment: Three to five-years-olds
The environment: Over threes © Optimus Education EYFS Framework Guide
What is an enabling environment?
An enabling environment is a rich and varied space where risks are minimised and well managed, and children are protected from harm and abuse. To help ensure your environment is enabling, follow this checklist: Create an environment that is warm, welcoming and nurturing and facilitates a sense of belonging. Offer a range of resources, which are ...
How to create a sense of belonging?
Create an environment that is warm, welcoming and nurturing and facilitates a sense of belonging. Offer a range of resources, which are familiar to the children and babies, as well as activities that are new to them. Ensure that the activities and environment offer room for outdoor and indoor play, sufficient space for children to move ...
How to make your child feel welcomed?
Some ideas include fostering close collaboration with parents by including family photos on display boards, singing songs sung in the family home, and providing a comfortable welcoming area with places for a parent to sit with staff and their child
How to help children with noise?
Allow children the time and space to focus and reduce noise distractions. Involve children in making the setting’s ground rules for behaviour, and creating the behavioural codes of practice, involving them as much as possible. Engage children in activities to build their emotional resilience and social skills.
What are some activities that serve different purposes?
Provide a range of activities which serve different purposes: inspire imagination and role play, exploration of personal relationships and feelings, problem solving, quiet time and reflection. Consider having a construction area, home corner, various toys and books, storytelling times, music and art
Why is enabling environment important for children?
An enabling environment ensures that children grow and develop to be ‘resilient, capable, confident and self-assured’.
What is an enabling environment?
An enabling environment is one which provides a rich, varied and safe space in a setting in which children can play, explore and learn. This can contribute greatly to children’s learning and development in the early years.
Why is it important to have a child centered environment?
The environment should be child-centered. It is important that practitioner s value and encourage independence and that they understand how individual children learn best. Enabling environments can be split into three important factors: The Emotional Environment – the atmosphere of a setting and how it feels.
What are the factors that affect the environment?
Enabling environments can be split into three important factors: 1 The Emotional Environment – the atmosphere of a setting and how it feels. 2 The Indoor Environment – the resources available in the indoor space, how they are accessed and how activities are led. 3 The Outdoor Environment – the resources available in the outdoor space, how they are accessed and how activities are led.
Why is it important to have an environment?
Enabling Environments. The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning. Enabling environments encourage babies and young children to play because they feel relaxed, comfortable and ‘at home’ in them. When children feel emotionally safe and secure they are able to explore and find out about ...
What are the three aspects of the environment?
In the EYFS the environment is described in terms of three aspects: The emotional environment, the outdoor environment, the indoor environment . These three aspects of the environment together make up the environment for play and learning in the EYFS.
What is an enabling environment?
What an enabling environment looks like. First of all, an enabling environment should look/feel safe, warm, welcoming and interesting. A child getting into such an environment should be able to feel a sense of belonging right away, as well as feel comfortable and at ease. The next things to consider are the resources and activities available.
What is enabling in a child's life?
Any environment in which a child’s individuality is respected and encouraged, and the teachers or caregivers understand the necessity of building warm and supportive relationships with the child, can also be said to be enabling.
What is enabling kindergarten?
In an enabling kindergarten environment, all staff understand, not just how best children learn, but also the value of purposeful play in conjunction with academic activities.
What is the importance of knowing what each child is interested in?
Knowing what each child is interested in, paying close attention to their needs, allowing them to make choices and respecting those choices, being observant and recognising when they are motivated to learn or when they would rather play or rest, are all to be expected of caregivers in an enabling environment.
Why are rich experiences important for children?
Since children’s experiences influence their motivation and approaches to learning, rich experiences in enabling environments help them to develop desirable scholarly qualities, including persistence, flexibility and initiative.
Why is play important in preschool?
Play as a feature of an enabling preschool environment could also help to enhance the children’s cultural awareness because it gives them the freedom to practice familiar cultural roles while trying out new ones. It also allows them explore the expectations of race, gender, and class, while testing and resisting these cultural conventions by setting up and breaking down boundaries within their play groups.
Why is play important for children?
This is because play is known to promote abstract thought by separating meaning from an object. An example of this is when a child turns building blocks into a “car,” “house,” or some other object.
Why is it important to encourage exploration in child care?
Encouraging safe exploration is an important job for child care providers. Children are natural explorers and risk takers. They move quickly, put things in their mouths, drop or throw things, and love to climb and hide. Keeping children safe is crucial.
How to help children with misbehaving in child care?
If children in your child care program are misbehaving, check to see whether the environment is contributing to the problem. Take a close look at your space, indoors and outdoors.
How to keep kids safe in a home?
Store dangerous chemicals and medicines out of children’s reach. Cover electrical outlets, and store dangerous or breakable objects up high. Fix, lock up, or discard anything that might be a danger to children. Be sure all outdoor play areas are fenced in to keep children safe.
How to organize a child care room?
If a space is too open, you may find children running wildly. Pay attention to where behavior problems occur. Set up shelves and other furniture to divide the room into separate learning and play areas.
How to keep kids interested in learning?
Think about what you need for children of different ages and interests. Plenty of paper to draw on; materials to sort, collect, trade, and share; dress-up clothes and props; puzzles and games; and well-maintained equipment to climb or ride on will keep children busy and interested.
How to discourage running in a classroom?
Long, narrow spaces — including open hallways and long aisles in the classroom — encourage running. Break up those long, narrow spaces by rearranging furniture, or add barriers to discourage runners. Try staggering tables so you don’t have long, open aisles.
What is the role of a practitioner in providing an enabling environment?
The role of the practitioner in providing an enabling environment: • Organise the environment to enable children to grow and develop. • Ensure a happy, secure and calm atmosphere. • Plan, observe, asses and reflect. • Support, guide and develop children’s learning. • Provide a variety of materials and resources.
What does "enable" mean in early years?
In terms of Early Years, this would mean providing opportunities for children to lead their own learning; to explore and discover; to feel safe and valued;
Is the environment the third teacher?
The environment is the third teacher in every setting. Parents/carers are the first, practitioners are the second. Therefore, it is imperative that your environment is organised to support its role. Now think about your setting and how you enable children to play and learn.
