L is for Language and Communication Outdoors: The ABC of Nursery Management
This article is taken from our 2025 edition of the ABC of Nursery Management guide. You can explore more topics and expert insights by downloading your copy here.
L for language and communication outdoors
Outdoors is a very hot topic at the moment! There is so much information around the value of the outdoors for good mental health and wellbeing, and we want to embrace this even further. As educators, do we really understand the impact that outdoor spaces can have on communication and language development?
How much time is enough time outdoors for children to really engage and extend their ideas? At Thriving Language, we feel the more you are immersed in the natural world around you, the more experiences you will discover (this works for adults and children alike).
The natural world enables children to show us their communication through their play ideas. A stone, a stick or a feather can be anything the child desires; the thinking has not been done for the child. The impact of this on communication means we will engage in more natural, real-world conversations. We’re offering a richer vocabulary, which is more meaningful to the child as it connects to their patterns of play.
Top tips: for language and communication outside
- Outside needs to be accessible, and the time needs to be the children’s own. We don’t need to bring the inside out, we work with the season and the natural objects we find.
- Wait, watch, wonder. What we don’t need is to wade in. Give the child the autonomy and freedom to play the way they want to.
- Mindful communications. How we use our own language, including body language, outside is paramount to successful communication. Comment on a child’s play, don’t ask a question you already know the answer to (what colour is the leaf?). Expand and build upon new knowledge, ‘this holly is so prickly’.
- Value play and reduce the pressure on children to reply, play alongside and wait to be invited in.
Listen to children however they communicate; acknowledge and respond to non-verbal communication, as this shows the child we are interested in them and their play ideas. We genuinely do not know what the child is thinking, and we can listen to them through their play.
Key elements to build communication outdoors:
Digging, adding water, creating wet oozy mud, floating feathers, having a tap and a bucket to fill and empty, adding logs to move, push, pull, turn and stand on. Leaves that flutter and crunch. Hammocks to rock, swing and relax in. Rugs and books about nature to explore. Pallets that can be stacked and old saucepans, pots and spoons for children to create a mud potion area (we have stepped away from a ‘mud kitchen’ as the language implied here can limit play and communication).
Learning language is a dynamic and active process, and we believe that the outdoor environment facilitates this through the ever-changing opportunities that nature provides. Nature is a fantastic foundation for language and communication, and when you add in an awesome and tuned-in educator who listens and is responsive to children’s needs, the result is a ‘Thriving Language’ environment.
The ABC of Nursery Management 2025 | FREE Download
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About the Author
Becky has over 25 years of experience working with children and families as a qualified Early Years Lead and is the Director of Early Years and author for Thriving Language Community Interest Company. She has led and developed teams of successful early years educators within children’s centres and the private sector. Having owned her own nursery and preschool, she has developed free flow provision and language and communication-rich learning environments throughout the country. Becky specialises in play, communication and schema play. Rebecca qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist in 2001 and is the Director of Speech and Language Therapy and author for Thriving Language Community Interest Company. Alongside her work at Thriving Language, Rebecca works as a Speech and Language Therapist for the NHS, specialising in early years and cleft palate.