Creating a sensory garden for early years learners: Participatory designing for student wellbeing

Early childhood educators recognise the value of outdoor environments to support students’ learning and social wellbeing. However, in schools outdoor time is often limited to lunch time play and health and physical education, with more attention tends to be paid to the arrangement of indoor classrooms than to outdoor environments that support more informal learning. This chapter presents an approach to designing outdoor spaces that support play-based pedagogy and create opportunities for young learners to engage with the natural environment. It describes a project that incorporated a charrette (collaborative designing process) to create a sensory garden with a group of Prep students (aged 4 to 6 years) and other members of the school community. This experience illustrates the potential of a participatory designing approach for transforming an underutilised garden into a vibrant space that positively influences teaching practice and student well-being.