Using Landscape Architecture to Help Shape the Lives of Young Children

We may not always realize it, but the outdoor spaces where we spend time daily help shape our lives and support our well-being. The spaces where we live, work, and play help to keep us active, safe, cool, healthy, and connected. From the gardens where we relax, to the parks where we play, even the greenways we walk or ride through each day, these spaces are a central part of everyday life. The field of landscape architecture stands at the intersection of art, environment, architecture, engineering, and sociology, bringing together best practices to design outdoor environments that benefit people, their communities, and the planet.

Just as architects help to design many of the buildings like our schools, offices, commercial spaces, and homes in which we spend our time, landscape architects help communities to shape the outdoor environments that knit these destinations together and create the fabric of our cities and towns.

By using elements of each of these disciplines, landscape architects plan and design public spaces that can help bring people together, keep communities safe from dangerous weather events, protect native plants and wildlife, encourage active and accessible movement, and support healthy child development.

At the Early Childhood Health Outdoors (ECHO) initiative, our expertise in landscape architecture is a vital lens that we apply as we seek to improve opportunities for nature play and outdoor learning for young children across the nation. ECHO’s landscape architects and designers apply core concepts of landscape architecture and early childhood education to craft spaces that help to shape the lives of young children through nature play and outdoor learning.

Unassuming landscape design components like stone paths for exploration, hidden nooks for relaxation, and flower gardens for sensory play are a central piece of designing fun, functional outdoor learning environments for young children to grow and thrive in. A high-quality outdoor learning environment (OLE) brings together these components into various activity settings, which support specific play and learning activities, like pathways, gathering places, or sensory gardens.

Each of these landscape design components and settings help to facilitate specific developmental outcomes that, when combined in a thoughtful way, support holistic development for young children. Learn more about the specific developmental outcomes that different activity settings and related landscape design components support below:

Pathways

Pathways are an essential component of any outdoor space. They facilitate connectivity and create a sense of direction and flow throughout a landscape.

A long looping primary pathway (like the one above) that encourages running, leaping, skipping, rolling, and other fun is a popular centerpiece for outdoor learning environments. These expansive, often paved primary pathways promote physical activity, play, and learning by providing children and their caregivers a way to traverse their outdoor space.

Unlike a straight path, curvy pathways motivate children to explore and circulate through an OLE to different activity areas. They also provide the perfect track for toy car, tricycle, and scooter races!

Secondary and tertiary pathways are narrow and stem off the primary pathway, leading to more intimate play and learning settings. These pathways, which are often made from flagstone, tree cookies, or crushed stone, are an important part of inspiring discovery and exploration in young children.

Gathering Spaces

Gathering spaces are another cornerstone of any outdoor learning environment, providing young children and their caregivers with designated places to sit, learn, relax, and play. Settings like patios, gazebos, picnic tables, log seating, and stone circles can be reimagined for a diversity of play and learning needs, including dramatic play, formal learning, and informal socializing.

Altering the configuration, placement, shade, or other design elements of a gathering setting can completely change the feeling and purpose of the space. Smaller, more secluded spaces away from high-traffic areas can create a sense of privacy that’s perfect for individual or small group activities like reading a picture book or sitting with the flowers. While larger, central gathering spaces with adequate benches, tables, and shade structures can serve as the ideal spot to host larger groups or full classes, perfect for an impromptu lesson about local flora and fauna.

Specific developmental benefits of gathering spaces vary, but overall, these spaces broaden opportunities for young children to play and interact with peers and adults. These opportunities for cooperative play helps young children practice social and emotional skills with other children, including problem-solving, turn-taking, encouragement, self-control, and safe risk-taking. 

Sensory Gardens

The feeling of crunchy leaves and soft petals, the sound of piercing windchimes and quiet rustling, the fragrance of spring flowers followed by the tang of a nearby citrus plant—these are just some of the many experiences made possible by a successful sensory garden. These whimsical gardens are full of color and texture, and give young children a chance to experience the outdoors through each of their five senses.

Sensory gardens are a great example of an activity setting that can have developmental benefits across different age groups. Infants, toddlers, and older children can be reached by a sensory garden design in different ways.

A landscape designer may make space for infants by including soft ground cover surrounded by plenty of low, eye-level colorful flowers for belly time, while adding stepping stones for exploration and games in the same setting could motivate older children to use the same space in a different way.

Beyond Nature Play

An OLE is more than just a space that inspires outdoor learning and nature play, it also paves the way for a multitude of secondary benefits for the health of our communities and our planet, including:

• Small adjustments in stormwater management help to conserve water and purify urban runoff
• Native, pollinator-friendly vegetation enhances wildlife habitat 
• Well-positioned trees and shrubs reduce sun exposure, urban heat island effects, and interior cooling costs for nearby buildings

Outdoor learning environments built using informed landscape architecture principles play an important role in inspiring climate action and nature connection in a community, encouraging environmental stewardship, and empowering climate optimism, even in our youngest learners.

How does landscape architecture shape your life? Tag @echo.nwf on Facebook or Instagram to let us know!