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8 ways to plan the perfect learning environment in early years

How you lay out and resource your classrooms will have a huge impact on how well children learn, says Matthew Sayer…

Matthew Sayer
by Matthew Sayer
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Your learning environments should be developed to promote children’s independence.

It can be daunting to be faced with setting up or changing the environment in your setting. But how you approach it matters – not just in terms of aesthetics but also because the environment is an essential element in ensuring that children are able to learn effectively.

Your learning environments should be developed to promote children’s independence and their ability to make decisions.

Children should have the opportunity to decide how, where and with whom they learn. Consistent organisation, resourcing and routines that give children a real sense of control over their day and their learning support the development of autonomous and self-regulating learners.

Well-planned, high-quality environments both indoors and out, informed by how young children learn, what they like and what they need, underpin the development of the dispositions that empower children with the sense that they can progress and achieve.

1 | Starting points

High-quality, open-ended resourcing where an environment responds to young children’s needs, natural desires and interests, is key to effective learning. Children’s interests generally fall into four broad categories: themselves, the natural environment, the local environment and the world of fantasy and make-believe. These categories should form the basis of your indoor environment, creating a physical space in which children can explore, discover and learn.

Carefully planned spaces that promote high engagement and quality learning opportunities consist of a number of clearly defined areas that complement each other with a clear sense of flow around the room. It is widely acknowledged that particular areas of provision when resourced and organised effectively are the best way to enable children to follow their interests and explore the things that matter to them.

2 | Defined spaces

A clearly defined area is a space whose purpose is known and where children can be encouraged to focus, with minimal distraction from other areas of the room. Achieving this is often as simple as ensuring each area has a clear divide or corner.

You can then plan for a number of key areas of provision to maximise children’s learning potential by building upon the desires that drive them.

At the early stages of planning it’s best practice to consider floor coverings – spaces that work best often have vinyl or laminate throughout, upon which softer carpeted surfaces can be dropped in.

The maintenance of the carpeted spaces is then much easier, as they can be cleaned, moved or replaced when required, and the space can be used flexibly if needs be.

When positioning furniture units, make good use of the centre of spaces or rooms to create areas, as well as corners – these can be created anywhere and ensure best use of the space available.

Three units together, arranged in a Y shape, is most effective and can be used in the middle of rooms or off a wall. Angling furniture also helps create larger spaces and creates usable provision areas towards the middle of rooms.

3 | Continuous provision

Continuous provision refers to resources that are there all the time, and is often informed by what children would naturally do with a particular resource, eg sand and water.

Children come to rely on the resources, and over time develop mastery behaviour as they return to them. They apply skills and knowledge taught at surface level and make sense and internalise these in a meaningful context at a deeper level of learning.

It’s helpful to think in terms of wet and dry provision areas, almost splitting a space in two. Wet provision areas might include sand, water, paint, play-dough and a workshop (offering fixing, fastening, 2D collage-type work and 3D modelling opportunities); whilst dry areas might include books and puppets, writing/mark making, mathematics, block play, small construction (eg construction kits), small world and role-play, IT, and discovery/investigation and gathering.

If space allows, many settings provide snack as a rolling offer, so somewhere to provide this might also be a consideration.

4 | Places to gather

It may be appropriate at certain times of the day to congregate in larger groups, and a number of gathering points can be planned to facilitate this. Consider spaces in which up to 13 children could comfortably sit alongside an adult. If interactive whiteboards or smart TVs are part of the plan, these can be planned as an additional focal point.

Be sure to use these spaces for other areas of provision at other times. Small construction often works well in gathering points, as the space can be quickly cleared and children’s work can be carefully displayed on shelving or nearby low tables for their creators to return to later.

5 | Complementary storage

Each area of provision requires at least one shelving unit plus storage to contain and display resources, but it’s also worth considering which areas particularly complement each other.

As mentioned, gathering points and small construction planned together is an excellent use of space. Role play areas in close proximity to writing/mark making also works well, as children can often be seen popping out from roleplay areas with a real reason to write before popping back in.

Block play is complemented very well by small world resourcing, as children will often create structures and/or scenarios that can be enriched by small world pieces close to hand.

Workshop resources and paint can be used very effectively by children if in close proximity, as media can be mixed and used to finish creations off or add greater detail.

6 | Materials and resources

There is much that is predictable about young children’s interests, so resources that reflect these interests should be made available to them. Resources need to earn their place in our environments; aim for open-ended resources of the highest possible quality.

A good mix of natural and man-made and, where possible, ‘real’ resources add to the breadth and depth of experiences. For example, when children are playing in water, filling, emptying and pouring are likely to occur so a variety of tubes, buckets, jugs and graded pots would be provided.

Provision can be fine-tuned so that a variety of containers offer a range of possibilities and opportunities: a tall, narrow graded tube; a short, broad graded tub; a bucket with a rim; a container with a spout; and both clear and opaque containers.

Providing children with a broad range of resourcing, but not too much of the same, encourages many of the social skills we want to promote – patience, sharing, negotiating, cooperating and problem-solving.

7 | Accessible organisation

Well-presented resources that are enticing, intriguing and engaging help practitioners demonstrate to children that their choices are valued, and thoughtful organisation supports them as they play. Young children need to be able to see what’s on offer to them, and open shelving, a wide range of trays, shallow boxes and pots facilitate this.

Where appropriate labelling can be used to promote children’s independence and development as autonomous learners. Labels might take the form of photos, words or photos and words; in some instances, often in sand and water areas, shadowing can be used (this is where the footprint of a resource is attached to the shelving unit to support the consistent organisation and return of resources).

Careful labelling helps to ensure resources are always on display in the same place, well maintained and presented. Colour-coding can also help here – red storage containers and resourcing for wet sand, for example.

8 | The adult’s role

Once furniture, storage and resources are in place for children to use the classroom environment effectively, adults must actively teach them how to use the resources very carefully.

This is vital, requires great skill and must be accomplished incrementally. From the start, set high expectations of the children, and as time goes by continue to teach them additional skills and knowledge to enable them to access the resources with increased mastery and know-how. In this way the resources will continue to challenge the children for months to come.

Through our work at Early Excellence supporting EYFS practitioners in setting up and developing their environments, we have seen the impact that these principles have on ensuring that the physical aspects of settings – their furniture and resources – become a key part of supporting children’s learning and development.


Matthew Sayer is a curriculum consultant at Early Excellence. For more information, visit earlyexcellence.com.

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