What makes an effective learning environment?

Your decisions about your learning environment should reflect how young children learn and what they need to learn. 

Child crawling along a log without supervision

An effective learning environment:

Examples of how you can achieve this:

provides safe and inviting opportunities for new experiences, challenges and risk-taking

  • Provide real tools to use with appropriate supervision (e.g. gardening tools, screwdrivers, hammers).
  • Include engaging resources that give a sense of instability (e.g. rocking toys, see-saws, low hammocks).

makes children feel comfortable and valued

  • Include furnishings and decoration that children are familiar with from home.
  • Provide somewhere for children to keep their own things.
  • Include resources that reflect children's interests.
  • Include resources that enable children to make their own choices.

engages and actively involves children in their learning

  • Create interactive displays (e.g. activities to try, books to look at, objects to touch).
  • Display children's work (e.g. on walls and tables, in class books or hanging from the ceiling).
  • Have interesting objects for children to investigate, including objects brought in by the children.

has outside and inside space

  • Let children choose whether they want to play or do an activity inside or outside.
  • Allow children to take inside resources outside. For example, allowing children to play with cars in sand or in the grass provides different learning experiences from using them on a smooth floor.
  • Provide similar continuous provision areas inside and outside. For example, writing/mark-making can be promoted outside by providing chalk, paint brushes and water that can be used on the walls or the ground.
  • Provide outside areas and resources that promote physical activity and develop gross-motor skills (e.g. running, climbing, swinging, riding).
  • Promote collaborative and co-operative physical games outside.

allows children to express their experiences and ideas in many different ways

  • Provide comfortable places where children can sit and talk.
  • Have a carpeted area for whole-class discussions.
  • Create a space where children can sing, make music and dance with minimal disturbance to others.
  • Have an area with washing facilities nearby where children can use wet art materials, such as paint and modelling clay.

provides opportunities for all types of play

  • Have spaces outside for gross-motor physical play.
  • Provide an art area with tools and materials for fine-motor physical play, and representing ideas through art and design.
  • Offer floor space for construction and other play with objects.
  • Supply role-play resources for pretend play.
  • Have board games for playing games with rules.

supports children's awareness and control of their own thinking, learning and emotions (self-regulation)

  • Provide time when children can choose what to do and when.
  • Organise resources so children can always access them.
  • Provide space and opportunities for a range of open-ended activities.

provides opportunities for social interactions with adults and peers.

  • Provide a range of comfortable spaces inside and outside where children and adults can sit and talk.
  • Create different-sized areas for individual, small-group and whole-class activities.
  • Have tables for creative activities which allow children to see and discuss each other's work.
  • Create table and floor spaces that allow children to work together around an activity.