Learning environments in the earliest years

This chapter reviews the effect of environments upon learning from the pre-birth context of the womb, to indoor nursery settings, and natural green spaces outdoors. An implementation gap can arise between a structurally stimulating environment and a child’s ability and capacity to access knowledge, and to increase his or her executive functioning. This chapter accesses research, and practice examples, to review learning from the external perspective of an educational arena to internal processes which contribute to the child’s agency. The significance of emotional and physical transitions between environments, and attachment figures, is explored in a context of residential care. Attention restoration theory is used to promote understanding of the positive effects from outdoor experiences upon children who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and the majority of young children who experience short-term attention-fatigue.