What Is Literacy EYFS Outdoors?

Literacy EYFS Outdoors means giving babies and young children meaningful opportunities to develop their early reading, writing, storytelling, phonological awareness and love of books through the outdoor environment.

Outdoor literacy does not mean taking an indoor worksheet outside.

It means using outdoor play, movement, nature, imagination and real-life experiences to give children genuine reasons to:

• talk
• listen
• tell stories
• sing rhymes
• notice sounds
• recognise print
• make marks
• write
• read
• explore books
• communicate ideas

A child might write a sign for a den.

Create a shopping list for the mud kitchen.

Follow clues around the playground.

Retell a story beneath a tree.

Write a message to an imaginary dragon.

Spot environmental print during a walk.

Make enormous letter shapes with sticks.

Or simply sit somewhere peaceful and enjoy a favourite story.

These are all valuable literacy experiences.

The outdoors can make literacy physical, purposeful and memorable.

For a more comprehensive guide, read this handbook: The Complete Guide to Early Years Outdoors. 

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Literacy in the EYFS

Literacy is one of the four specific areas of learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage.

The EYFS describes reading as involving two dimensions:

language comprehension and word reading.

Language comprehension begins from birth and develops through adults talking with children about the world around them, sharing books, stories, non-fiction, rhymes, poems and songs.

Writing involves both transcription — spelling and handwriting — and composition, where children develop and structure ideas before recording them.

This is important when thinking about outdoor literacy.

Literacy development does not begin when a child sits down with a pencil.

It starts much earlier through:

talk → listening → songs → rhymes → stories → vocabulary → play → mark making → reading → writing.

The outdoor environment can support every part of this journey.

Why Take Literacy Outdoors?

Some children love sitting at a table writing.

Others don’t.

That does not mean they are not interested in literacy.

Sometimes we need to change the environment rather than assume the child lacks interest.

Outdoors gives literacy:

• a purpose
• movement
• excitement
• imagination
• scale
• sensory experiences
• real-life contexts

Instead of asking:

“Can you write a sentence?”

we might create a situation where the child decides:

“We need a sign so nobody comes into our dinosaur enclosure.”

The writing now has meaning.

And meaningful literacy is often much more motivating.

Literacy Outdoors Is More Than Writing

A common mistake is thinking outdoor literacy means placing clipboards around the playground.

Clipboards can be useful.

But literacy is much broader.

Excellent EYFS literacy outdoors should include opportunities for:

Communication

Talking, questioning, describing, explaining and discussing.

Storytelling

Retelling familiar stories and creating new ones.

Reading

Books, environmental print, signs, labels, messages and simple instructions.

Phonological awareness

Rhymes, syllables, sounds and listening games.

Phonics

Practising taught sounds and blending through playful, active experiences.

Mark making

Making meaningful marks using different tools, materials and surfaces.

Writing

Writing names, labels, lists, signs, messages and increasingly sentences.

Outdoor literacy works best when all these elements connect.

8 Early Years Big Write Ideas Outdoors

Outdoor Literacy Starts With Communication

Strong literacy development begins with strong communication and language.

Development Matters states that children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development and highlights the importance of quality back-and-forth conversations between children and adults.

Outside provides endless reasons to talk.

Children can discuss:

• what they notice
• what they hear
• what they are building
• where they are going
• what happened
• what they predict
• their imaginative play
• problems they encounter
• changes in the weather
• animals and insects
• stories they are inventing

As practitioners, one of our most powerful tools is conversation.

Reading Outdoors in EYFS

Reading outdoors should feel normal.

Books do not belong exclusively inside classrooms.

Create opportunities for children to encounter books throughout the outdoor environment.

Try:

• story baskets
• weatherproof book boxes
• blankets beneath trees
• books linked to children’s play
• non-fiction books beside nature areas
• books near construction
• recipe books in mud kitchens
• maps near bikes
• picture books within dens
• poems displayed outdoors
• rhyme cards
• story sacks
• puppets alongside familiar books

But avoid turning the outdoor environment into an overcrowded classroom.

You don’t need laminated words attached to every fence.

Choose resources because they add value to children’s play.

Create an Outdoor Reading Area

An outdoor reading space does not need an expensive wooden hut.

It could simply include:

• a mat
• cushions stored somewhere dry
• a crate of books
• a canopy
• a blanket
• logs
• a quiet corner
• a den

Most importantly, provide good books.

Include:

• fiction
• non-fiction
• poetry
• rhyme
• familiar favourites
• culturally diverse books
• books connected to children’s interests
• books linked to the natural environment

Reading outdoors should be something children genuinely choose to do.

Storytelling Outdoors

The outdoors provides an incredible stage for storytelling.

Instead of always reading a book and then asking children questions about it, allow children to enter the story.

For example:

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

Move through:

• grass
• mud
• water
• leaves
• tunnels
• wooded spaces

Then encourage children to invent their own journey.

The Three Little Pigs

Build houses using:

• sticks
• blocks
• cardboard
• fabric
• loose parts

Then retell the story.

The Gruffalo

Create a trail and imagine which characters might be hiding along the way.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Build an enormous beanstalk using ropes, fabric or loose parts.

These experiences help children understand story structure through their bodies.

Create Story Trails

Story trails are a simple way to combine literacy and physical activity.

Place elements of a story around your outdoor area.

Children might:

1. find a character
2. complete an action
3. discover the next part of the story
4. predict what happens
5. continue moving
6. retell the story afterwards

Story trails can be based on familiar books or children’s own stories.

Eventually, allow children to design trails for each other.

Retelling Stories Outdoors

Provide open-ended props rather than recreating every detail for children.

Useful resources include:

• sticks
• stones
• crates
• boxes
• fabric
• puppets
• small-world figures
• ropes
• chalk

A crate could become Grandma’s bed.

A stick could become a magic wand.

A cardboard box could become a boat.

The child provides the imagination.

Oral Storytelling Before Writing

Writing begins with ideas.

Children need opportunities to create sentences and stories orally before being expected to write them.

Development Matters recommends helping children articulate and rehearse what they want to write before recording it.

Outdoors, try:

• creating stories around a fire-circle-style seating area
• collaborative storytelling
• story walks
• puppet shows
• role play
• small-world play
• storytelling with natural objects
• inventing stories about things children discover

Ask:

“What happened next?”

“Who lives here?”

“Where are they going?”

“What’s the problem?”

“How could the story end?”

These conversations are preparing children to become writers.

Mark Making Outdoors

Outdoor mark making is incredibly valuable because children can work on a much larger scale.

Try:

• playground chalk
• water and decorating brushes
• mud and sticks
• paintbrushes
• charcoal
• sand
• soil
• clay
• giant paper
• cardboard boxes
• whiteboards
• clipboards
• washable window crayons where appropriate

Large-scale mark making allows children to develop shoulder and arm strength alongside control.

Development Matters specifically recommends motivating children to write in a wide range of ways and gives examples including clipboards outdoors and chalk on paving stones.

Pre-Writing Skills Outdoors

Before children can control a pencil effectively, their bodies need to be ready.

Outdoor physical play can support the foundations for handwriting.

Encourage:

• climbing
• crawling
• digging
• sweeping
• pulling ropes
• pushing wheelbarrows
• throwing
• carrying
• hanging
• painting large surfaces
• squeezing spray bottles
• using tweezers
• threading
• using pegs
• manipulating clay

Development Matters highlights the importance of whole-body, arm, hand and finger coordination and specifically recommends developing these physical skills both indoors and outdoors before expecting increasingly controlled letter formation.

Literacy and physical development are deeply connected.

Purposeful Writing Outdoors

One of the best ways to encourage reluctant writers is to give writing a reason.

Instead of:

“Everybody write three sentences about the playground.”

create situations where writing solves a problem.

Children might write:

• signs
• labels
• lists
• invitations
• tickets
• maps
• menus
• recipes
• instructions
• messages
• warnings
• names
• appointments
• scores
• clues

When writing matters to the play, children are often much more willing to attempt it.

Writing in the Mud Kitchen

The mud kitchen is an excellent literacy environment.

Add opportunities to create:

• menus
• recipes
• order pads
• shopping lists
• signs
• restaurant names
• opening times
• customer orders

Children might write:

Mud Soup

3 leaves

2 stones

1 flower

Now literacy, mathematics, imaginative play and communication are working together naturally.

Writing in Construction Play

Children building outdoors may need:

• plans
• labels
• warning signs
• building names
• maps
• instructions

Try asking:

“How will everyone know what you’ve built?”

rather than:

“Would you like to do some writing?”

The question gives writing a genuine purpose.

Writing During Bike Play

Bikes can become:

• taxis
• buses
• ambulances
• delivery vehicles
• postal vans
• racing cars

Add:

• delivery notes
• road signs
• numbers
• addresses
• maps
• tickets
• driving licences
• parcels
• messages

Children can transport literacy around the entire outdoor space.

Den Writing

A den creates endless opportunities for literacy.

Children might make:

• a name for the den
• a “KEEP OUT” sign
• rules
• membership cards
• invitations
• maps
• secret codes
• messages

The important thing is that writing grows from children’s play.

Outdoor Post Office

Create a simple outdoor postal system.

Provide:

• envelopes
• postcards
• pencils
• bags
• boxes
• simple address labels

Children can:

• write messages
• post letters
• collect them
• sort them
• deliver them around the playground

You could even give different areas of the outdoor provision their own addresses.

Outdoor Treasure Hunts

Treasure hunts combine reading, writing and movement.

Children can:

• follow picture clues
• follow symbols
• read simple words
• follow short sentences
• create maps
• write clues for friends

As children’s reading develops, clues can become more sophisticated.

Maps and Literacy Outdoors

Maps provide meaningful opportunities for reading and writing.

Children could:

• draw maps of the playground
• map a bike route
• create treasure maps
• label important locations
• follow a simple map
• invent imaginary worlds

Maps help children understand that marks and symbols communicate meaning.

Environmental Print Outdoors

Print is everywhere.

Go on a print walk around the setting or local community.

Look for:

• road signs
• shop names
• numbers
• logos
• warning signs
• labels
• bus stops
• street names
• packaging

Development Matters recommends drawing children’s attention to print with different real-world functions, such as signs, menus and familiar logos.

This helps children understand one of the fundamental concepts of literacy:

print carries meaning.

Phonics Outdoors in EYFS

Phonics can absolutely be practised outdoors.

But moving phonics outside does not mean hiding laminated letters around the playground every day.

Outdoor phonics should reinforce the systematic phonics teaching children are already receiving.

In Reception, Development Matters describes children learning to:

• recognise letters and say their sounds
• blend sounds into words
• recognise taught letter groups
• read words containing familiar letter-sound correspondences
• read simple phrases and sentences

Phonics practice should remain consistent with the school’s chosen phonics programme.

Active Phonics Outdoors

Try:

Sound hunts

Find objects beginning with a particular sound.

Giant graphemes

Use chalk to create enormous graphemes children can walk, jump or drive along.

Sound sorting

Collect objects and sort them by initial sound.

Phonics treasure hunts

Children find objects or pictures containing taught sounds.

Jump and blend

Place graphemes or words along the ground and physically move through the blending process.

Sound stations

Move between stations practising previously taught sounds.

Chalk words

Write decodable words on the playground using known graphemes.

Phonics obstacle courses

Children complete physical challenges before reading or identifying a taught sound.

The physical activity should support the learning rather than distract from it.

Phonological Awareness Outdoors

Before formal phonics, young children need rich experiences of listening to and playing with sound.

For 3- and 4-year-olds, Development Matters highlights skills including:

• recognising rhyme
• noticing syllables
• recognising words beginning with the same sound

The outdoors is perfect for this.

Outdoor Rhyme Games

Try:

Find something that rhymes with…

Or use action rhymes outdoors where children can move freely.

Children might:

• jump when they hear a rhyme
• create silly rhyming strings
• find rhyming picture cards
• finish familiar rhyming phrases
• create rhymes during bike or ball games

Keep rhyme playful.

Syllables Outdoors

Use children’s names or outdoor objects.

Clap:

but-ter-fly

flow-er

wa-ter-ing-can

Then try:

• stamping syllables
• jumping syllables
• throwing a beanbag once for each syllable
• drumming syllables on logs
• stepping them out

Children experience the rhythm of language through their bodies.

Listening Walks for Early Literacy

Listening is fundamental to literacy.

Go on a sound walk.

Ask children to notice:

• birds
• wind
• vehicles
• footsteps
• water
• leaves
• people
• machinery
• animals

Later ask:

Can you remember three sounds?

Can you recreate one?

Can you describe it?

What sound did you hear first?

These activities develop attention, listening and vocabulary.

Vocabulary Outdoors

The outdoor environment introduces vocabulary children may not encounter as naturally indoors.

Think about words such as:

• enormous
• tiny
• slippery
• rough
• smooth
• damp
• soggy
• enormous
• beneath
• beside
• between
• above
• underneath
• twisted
• delicate
• transparent
• heavy
• fragile

Rather than creating vocabulary displays everywhere, use the words in conversation.

Children learn vocabulary through meaningful repeated encounters.

Poetry Outdoors

Poetry is brilliant outdoors.

Read poems about:

• seasons
• animals
• weather
• nature
• movement
• feelings
• sounds

Then create your own.

For example:

I can hear…

Children might contribute:

I can hear leaves crunching.

I can hear a bird singing.

I can hear the wind blowing.

Adults can scribe children’s ideas and turn the group’s words into a collaborative poem.

Songs and Rhymes Outdoors

Songs and rhymes support:

• vocabulary
• memory
• rhythm
• listening
• phonological awareness
• communication

Development Matters highlights songs and rhymes from babies’ earliest literacy experiences onwards.

Take familiar nursery rhymes outside and add movement.

Children can:

• march
• stamp
• jump
• clap
• dance
• use instruments
• act out rhymes

The additional movement can help children remember language.

Phase Two Phonics Planning (Outdoors)

Literacy Outdoors for Babies

Literacy begins from birth.

For babies outdoors, focus on:

• conversation
• songs
• rhymes
• shared attention
• board books
• sensory books
• naming objects
• responding to sounds
• repetition
• facial expressions
• gestures

Sit beneath a tree and share a book.

Sing while watching leaves move.

Name what babies are looking at.

Literacy at this age is deeply connected to relationships and communication.

Rainy Day Songs for Babies

Literacy Outdoors for Toddlers

Toddlers benefit from:

• familiar rhymes
• repetitive stories
• songs
• simple books
• mark making
• environmental print
• naming objects
• sound play
• sensory storytelling

Make books available where children actually play.

If toddlers are fascinated by diggers, bring a digger book to the construction area.

If they are watching birds, introduce a simple bird book.

Follow children’s curiosity.

Literacy Outdoors for 3- and 4-Year-Olds

Children can increasingly explore:

• rhymes
• syllables
• initial sounds
• story conversations
• new vocabulary
• meaningful marks
• name writing
• pretend writing
• signs
• lists
• environmental print

Development Matters also encourages practitioners to give children many reasons to write in different contexts rather than limiting writing to one dedicated area.

The outdoors provides these contexts naturally.

Literacy Outdoors in Reception

Reception children can increasingly use outdoor experiences to practise:

• taught phonemes
• blending
• decodable word reading
• common exception words already taught
• sentence composition
• spelling using known sound-letter correspondences
• letter formation
• sentence writing
• rereading their own writing

But literacy outdoors should complement — not replace — high-quality systematic teaching.

Children still need explicit instruction.

The outdoor environment then provides opportunities to apply what they know.

Books Linked to Outdoor Provision

Rather than keeping all books in one reading corner, think about where they could genuinely support children’s interests.

For example:

Gardening area

Books about plants, vegetables and insects.

Construction

Books about buildings, vehicles and bridges.

Mud kitchen

Recipe books and menus.

Water area

Books about oceans, rivers and weather.

Bug area

Simple identification books.

Role play

Maps, brochures, menus and magazines.

This helps children understand that reading is useful everywhere.

Outdoor Non-Fiction

Do not forget non-fiction.

The outdoors creates endless reasons to consult information.

Children might ask:

What bird is that?

What will this caterpillar become?

How do we plant this seed?

Why is there ice?

What kind of leaf is this?

Now introduce a book.

The child experiences reading as something that helps answer genuine questions.

Literacy Outdoors and SEND

Outdoor literacy can be particularly supportive for children who find traditional literacy environments challenging.

Consider:

• larger movements
• sensory materials
• visual prompts
• objects of reference
• reduced writing demands
• alternative communication
• puppets
• story props
• symbols
• predictable routines
• movement breaks
• highly motivating interests

A child does not have to demonstrate literacy in exactly the same way as everybody else.

One child may write.

Another may arrange symbols.

Another may retell a story verbally.

Another may communicate through gesture or AAC.

Start with communication and meaning.

Literacy Outdoors for Reluctant Writers

When children avoid writing, ask:

Why might writing feel difficult?

It could involve:

• physical difficulty
• lack of confidence
• fear of getting it wrong
• limited vocabulary
• not knowing what to write
• lack of motivation
• sensory needs
• previous negative experiences

Simply giving them a different pencil may not solve the problem.

Instead, build writing into something they already love.

If they love bikes:

write tickets.

If they love dinosaurs:

create warning signs.

If they love building:

draw plans.

If they love imaginative play:

write invitations.

If they love football:

record scores.

Start with purpose.

Literacy Outdoors and Physical Development

Outdoor literacy can build important physical foundations.

Large-scale mark making supports:

• shoulder stability
• core strength
• crossing the midline
• bilateral coordination
• wrist strength
• hand-eye coordination

Fine motor opportunities include:

• pegs
• chalk
• tweezers
• threading
• tying
• squeezing
• painting
• manipulating clay
• picking up natural objects

A strong body supports increasingly controlled writing.

Literacy Outdoors and Understanding the World

Reading and writing can emerge naturally from children’s exploration of the world.

Children might:

• label plants
• make weather observations
• record animal sightings
• create maps
• look at information books
• write questions
• make signs
• record changes

Literacy becomes a tool for enquiry rather than a separate subject.

Sustainable Outdoor Literacy

Outdoor literacy doesn’t require endless laminating.

Try using:

• chalkboards
• reusable whiteboards
• scrap paper
• cardboard
• old notebooks
• recycled envelopes
• donated postcards
• wooden signs
• washable chalk
• clipboards
• reusable loose letters

Ask whether a resource genuinely improves learning before printing and laminating it.

Simple resources often encourage richer play.

30 Outdoor Literacy Activities for EYFS

1. Giant chalk mark making
2. Outdoor story time
3. Story trails
4. Listening walks
5. Rhyme hunts
6. Syllable jumping
7. Initial sound hunts
8. Giant grapheme writing
9. Phonics obstacle courses
10. Outdoor treasure maps
11. Treasure hunt clues
12. Mud-kitchen menus
13. Outdoor shopping lists
14. Construction signs
15. Den rules
16. Bike delivery notes
17. Outdoor post office
18. Nature journals
19. Weather observations
20. Bug identification books
21. Story stones
22. Puppet storytelling
23. Small-world storytelling
24. Outdoor poetry
25. Environmental print walks
26. Giant story maps
27. Chalk sentence writing
28. Outdoor role-play writing
29. Message writing
30. Child-created story trails

Questions to Develop Literacy Outdoors

Rather than constantly testing children, use questions that encourage thinking and language.

Try:

• What did you notice?
• What happened?
• What do you think might happen next?
• How could we remember this?
• Shall we make a sign?
• How will somebody know where to go?
• What could we write?
• What does this word say?
• What sound can you hear?
• Can you think of a word that rhymes?
• Who could live here?
• What happened first?
• What happened next?
• How could your story end?

Conversation should feel natural rather than like an assessment interview.

What Should Practitioners Observe?

Look for children:

• enjoying stories
• choosing books
• retelling familiar narratives
• inventing stories
• recognising familiar print
• noticing rhyme
• listening to sounds
• experimenting with marks
• assigning meaning to marks
• attempting letters
• writing names
• using writing within play
• recognising taught graphemes
• blending sounds
• reading words
• communicating increasingly complex ideas

Observe what children do with literacy, not simply what they can produce on demand.

Should Every Outdoor Area Have Writing Resources?

No.

You do not need a clipboard attached to every activity.

Ask:

Would writing naturally happen here?

If the answer is yes, provide appropriate resources.

If not, leave the play alone.

A child building an enormous structure does not necessarily need an adult interrupting them with:

“Can you write about your tower?”

Sometimes the richest literacy comes afterwards through conversation and storytelling.

Should We Put Words and Labels Everywhere Outdoors?

Not necessarily.

An environment covered in laminated labels does not automatically become language-rich.

Choose meaningful environmental print.

Signs should have a purpose.

Books should connect to children’s interests.

Writing should communicate something.

Quality is more important than quantity.

Does Outdoor Literacy Replace Formal Phonics?

No.

Outdoor literacy should complement systematic phonics teaching.

Children need carefully sequenced instruction in letter-sound correspondences and blending.

Outdoor experiences can then provide enjoyable ways to practise and apply what has already been taught.

Development Matters specifically advises that children’s reading materials should align with the phonics knowledge they have acquired rather than requiring children to guess unfamiliar words using other strategies.

Does Every Child Need to Write Outdoors?

Children should have regular opportunities to write, but this does not mean forcing every child to complete an outdoor writing activity.

Create rich opportunities.

Provide reasons to write.

Model writing.

Celebrate children’s attempts.

Then gradually develop confidence, knowledge and skill.

How Can We Support Literacy Outdoors in a Small Space?

You can develop excellent outdoor literacy on even a tiny playground.

Try:

• chalk
• storytelling
• books
• signs
• role play
• story stones
• phonics games
• listening walks
• post boxes
• clipboards
• puppets
• maps
• large-scale writing

You do not need a woodland.

You need meaningful experiences.

How Often Should Literacy Happen Outdoors?

Literacy should form part of children’s everyday outdoor experience rather than appearing as an occasional “outdoor literacy lesson”.

That doesn’t mean every outdoor activity needs a literacy objective.

Instead, create a culture where:

books are normal outdoors.

stories are normal outdoors.

writing is useful outdoors.

talk is valued outdoors.

reading has a purpose outdoors.

The Role of the Adult in Outdoor Literacy

Adults make an enormous difference.

Practitioners can:

• model new vocabulary
• tell stories
• share books
• model writing
• notice children’s interests
• introduce useful print
• extend imaginative play
• demonstrate phonics
• encourage conversation
• scribe children’s ideas
• model curiosity
• value children’s marks

Sometimes the best thing an adult can do is say:

“Tell me about it.”

And listen.

The Muddy Puddle Teacher Approach to Literacy Outdoors

At The Muddy Puddle Teacher, we believe outdoor learning should be active, purposeful and achievable.

You do not need expensive equipment.

You do not need a forest.

And you certainly do not need to carry piles of worksheets outside.

Start with:

• children’s interests
• conversation
• stories
• purposeful play
• simple sustainable resources
• movement
• meaningful reasons to read and write

Then allow literacy to grow naturally around those experiences.

Outdoor literacy should not feel like indoor learning transported onto the playground.

It should take advantage of everything outdoors does best.

Space.

Movement.

Imagination.

Curiosity.

Real experiences.

And lots and lots of talk.

Final Thoughts: Literacy Belongs Outdoors

Some of our children’s richest literacy experiences may never happen at a table.

They happen when a child urgently writes:

KEEP OUT!

on the entrance to their den.

When children race across the playground following a treasure map.

When a group invents an elaborate story around three sticks and a cardboard box.

When somebody discovers a minibeast and races to find a book to identify it.

When a reluctant writer decides their delivery van desperately needs a list of addresses.

That’s literacy.

When children understand that reading and writing help them communicate, discover, imagine and play, literacy becomes meaningful.

So take the stories outside.

Take the chalk outside.

Take the books outside.

But most importantly:

give children something worth talking, reading and writing about.

Literacy EYFS Outdoors FAQs

What is outdoor literacy in EYFS?

Outdoor literacy means using the outdoor environment to support children’s communication, storytelling, reading, phonological awareness, phonics, mark making and writing through purposeful, playful experiences.

How can I teach literacy outdoors?

Use storytelling, environmental print, outdoor books, mark making, maps, signs, messages, treasure hunts, role play, phonics games and real-life writing opportunities.

What are some outdoor writing activities for EYFS?

Children can create signs, lists, maps, menus, invitations, tickets, delivery notes, recipes, messages, labels, clues and simple instructions connected to their play.

How can I encourage reluctant writers outdoors?

Start with the child’s interests and create a genuine reason to write. A child interested in bikes might make delivery notes, while a dinosaur enthusiast might create warning signs.

Can you teach phonics outdoors?

Yes. Outdoor phonics can reinforce sounds and blending already taught through your systematic phonics programme using movement, sound hunts, chalk, games and active practice.

How does outdoor play support handwriting?

Climbing, digging, carrying, sweeping, pulling, painting and manipulating loose materials can strengthen the muscles and coordination children later use for controlled handwriting.

How can nature support EYFS literacy?

Nature provides experiences worth discussing, researching and recording. Children can create nature journals, read information books, label discoveries, write questions, make maps and tell stories inspired by what they find.

Do I need an outdoor writing area?

No. Writing opportunities can appear naturally throughout outdoor provision. Purposeful writing within construction, role play, bikes, mud kitchens and imaginative play can be more meaningful than one permanent writing station.

Should books be available outside?

Yes. Books can support outdoor play and children’s interests. Include fiction, non-fiction, poetry and familiar stories and place relevant books near areas where children may genuinely use them.

Does outdoor literacy count as EYFS Literacy?

Yes. EYFS requirements describe the knowledge and development children need; they do not require literacy experiences to happen at a classroom table. Literacy is one of the four specific areas of learning in the EYFS.

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