Playing outdoors in early years settings – a toolkit

Author: Play Wales
Date: January 2025

This toolkit is aimed at practitioners and agencies working in early years settings, and organisations that seek to engage families. It was developed in collaboration with researchers from the University of Exeter and University of Stirling – Professor Helen Dodd, Dr. Lily FitzGibbon and Gill Hearnshaw. Play Wales received funding from Cardiff and Vale Local Public Health Team, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board to pilot and publish this toolkit.

The toolkit highlights the importance of play for children of all ages and of creating a rich play environment. The toolkit is designed to:

• provide clear and concise information for early years settings and practitioners to increase opportunities for children in their care to play and spend time outdoors more
• provide practical, step-by-step tools and templates to support the facilitation of outdoor play
• provide a framework for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for practitioners.