Designing the garden as an educational area for children in a nursery
By Dagmar Lips, Graduate in Social Pedagogy and head of the Luftikus Nursery
Children’s experiences in the first years of their lives are considered extremely important and help define their future development. All children learn through observing their surroundings, experimenting with them and playing in them. During this learning process the nursery teacher is tasked with creating an appropriate, varied environment for the individual child and to accompany him/her in the areas that he/she chooses to visit, to offer provide him/her with security, to observe his/her interests, activities and abilities, to mirror them and enhance the selection accordingly.
The Luftikus Nursery Parents’ Initiative Association, which was founded in 1994, had already set up its outdoor area as a close-to-nature garden. It offered many opportunities for the 3 to 6-year-old children at that time to relax and exercise; for them to explore and discover.
When the nursery school moved to a new building and expanded to four groups with 34 children aged over three and 26 children between four months and three years old, it quickly became clear that it was not only the inner rooms that required a room concept. The planning and design of the outer area for the purpose of communal play and learning for the young and older children alike represented a new challenge.
The board and management decided during the construction phase to plan the external grounds to be created along with parents, children and teachers. This meant that they gained a competent partner through a workshop of ideas.
The initial ideas came about: The garden was to be constructed in such a way that the area could be adapted to accommodate younger children with their increasing motor development. As a result, the design of the areas including sand, stones and with different sizes, water, chopped straw, grass, shrubs and trees should provide all children experiences with different materials.
The spatial design using heights which promote climbing, areas of retreat, group gardens and a snack garden with berries was to offer children of all age groups varied experiences and opportunities within the realms of perception, movement and experiences with nature.
Parallel to this, on the children’s areas a “garden of wishes” was developed which was modelled in the sand and its design drawn. They expressed the wish for a large sand area and a place for climbing, but also equipment such as swings, chutes and a knight’s castle were important to them.
Subsequently, the different ideas were discussed and put down in writing at a parents’ evening. The children and the teachers of Luftikus Nursery have been living in the new premises for nine months, where the garden is seen as a common group area. The interaction in the garden was created for the social interconnection of all age groups. Full of curiosity, the young children conquer the ever-growing areas of the garden with increasing motor development. It is apparent to teachers how enthusiastically the crawling children try to climb up the branches and rocks, and that children who are already walking are starting to cope with and cross uneven paths confidently. They enjoy using vehicles in order to move forward on the pavement or to go along the Bobby-Car track, and enjoy the bird’s nest swing. The target-group-oriented playground was realised by the company Playparc. During their activities, they need the proximity and attention of their key teacher. When out walking, holding the teacher’s hand, they always discover new and exciting things, flowers, insects, earth and lots more.
Many planning ideas were able to be implemented previously, but the process is not yet complete. A garden as living space for children will be further modified in order to suit the interests of children and their urges to move around.
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