The shape and arrangement of the outdoor environment at a preschool has a critical
impact on the possibilities to practice different pedagogic activities (Grahn et al.1997). At the preschool at Edwin Ahlqvists road, the employees are inspired by Reggio Emilia in their way of thinking, and they consider their outdoor environment is not suitable for the pedagogic activities they use. Reggio Emilia is a city in the north of Italy (Wallin 2001). The preschools there are famous for their pedagogy, their creativity and their democratic way of working (Dahlbech & Johansson 1986). The Reggio Emilia pedagogy is constantly renewed and developed, but with the children’s needs in focus and simultaneously with the quick changes of the modern society. This makes it a pedagogy you can not simply copy. There are no solutions ready to use. The idea is to be inspired by the thoughts and philosophy and develop them into one’s own context and after one’s own prerequisites. (Reggio Emilia institutet, Wallin 2001) In Reggio Emilia the environment’s shape and arrangement is considered important. They think that the mutual relation between
children, adults and the environment is essential in their preschools. The environment and
the architecture must reflect the means the adults intend to use to approach the children.
The environment is seen as a pedagogue who is to stimulate and inspire the children. It
should challenge their minds and encourage them to gain knowledge. (Wallin 2001) Outdoor environments shaped like nature has often proven to be the best for children’s development and health (Boldemann et al. 2005, Grahn et al.1997). These environments does also comport with the environments aimed at when using a Reggio Emilia inspired way of working. Unfortunately, most preschools are not located in a natural environment, which mean that active planning to achieve an environment with the same positive effects is needed. The purpose with this thesis is to provide guidelines for how to think when planning a preschool outdoor environment where a Reggio Emilia inspired way of thinking is used.
The methods used are an activity map and group interviews. The activity map gave an
understanding for how the outdoor environment is used today. The interviews were made
to understand the employee’s thoughts about what is needed and how they would like to
work with the Reggio Emilia pedagogy in the outdoor environment.
The result shows that there is a need for more rooms in the outdoor environment that can
stimulate children into many different activities and explore new things. There is also a
need for smaller rooms where a child can go when it want to be alone. The outdoor and
indoor environment should complem...
