The outdoor construction area in EYFS is a popular area of provision, and for good reason! Children love to learn through exploration. The EYFS construction area offers plenty of hands-on opportunities to develop a whole host of skills.
Keeping continuous provision fresh and exciting is a mighty task. Join us as we share 7 ideas you can use to enhance your EYFS outdoor construction area.
7 outdoor construction area EYFS ideas
Outdoor construction areas are loved by all. For children, it’s a chance to get messy and creative alongside groups, pairs or individually.
For teaching staff, it’s an area with limitless possibilities to ignite imagination and hit all 7 areas of learning! A well-planned EYFS outdoor construction area can take time, so here’s some creative ideas to speed up the process of organising your construction area EYFS.
Idea 1: Time for tea?
Facilitating a mud kitchen within your EYFS outdoor construction area is a must for promoting communication and language development. Whether children concoct mud pies or mix magical potions, Mud Kitchens naturally promotes social interaction and child-initiated play.
Mud kitchens are often the perfect way of developing the language skills of little learners with no entry-level skill requirement. To take it a step further, incorporate chef hats, natural ingredients, and recipe cards that children can follow independently or with adult support.
To create the perfect mud pie, you will need:
- Acorns
- Conkers
- Leaves
- Shells
Idea 2: Dino dig and delve
A sandpit is often a staple within an EYFS construction area, but have you ever considered transforming it into an excavation site? Pop on your hard hats and encourage your young explorers to dig for clues! Perhaps there are textured prints around the edge of the digging area, or objects of interest just below the surface?
Hidden clues don’t just provide an engaging experience for children but can help to build physical development too. Specially selected tools can also support the strengthening of hand and wrist muscles.
Rakes are a great way to encourage children to gently excavate the surface, whilst trowels and sieves can be used to find smaller pieces of evidence.
Top tip: our design experts recommend a sandpit with sliding lids to hide your secret clues from eager eyes!
Idea 3: Water wonderland
What better way of introducing children to the Great British weather than a water station within your EYFS construction area? 
As Brits, we are used to getting wet, but how much rainfall do we really have? Water stations can be a great way of encouraging children to explore rainfall and introduce mathematical concepts such as measurement, capacity and comparison.
Adding a weights and scales station encourages children to work together and add small amounts of water to balance the water weight. Hands-on water activities such as these are a great way of introducing the beginnings of estimation and the concept of equal to.
Idea 4: Flow and float
The water station can quickly become crowded, so why not move your little ones downstream? An easy way of enabling children to explore the flow of water is by introducing piping and funnels to your EYFS outdoor construction area.
For a more controlled splash zone, a Magnetic water channel is a great way of encouraging children to create their own rivers and streams. The magnetic water channel can be moved and repositioned so your youngsters can begin to develop an understanding of water transportation. 
Idea 5: Construction corner
What’s a construction area in EYFS without a construction corner? Setting a weekly mission is a great way of encouraging children to explore different materials.
Week 1
Build a bug hotel:
Children can help create a safe space for minibeasts to shelter and hide from predators. Having lots of natural materials handy, such as crunchy leaves and twigs can help construct a cosy space for bugs to hide.
Week 2
Design and create a new playground:
Children can get creative and construct their dream playground using natural materials. Having printed pictures of exciting equipment for inspiration can encourage them to look carefully at designs and replicate them using their own materials.
Including a Material Mover allows children to experiment with how soft or heavy-handed they need to be to transport materials for their mission. It also encourages them to develop an understanding of prepositional language.
Cordon off the area with:
- Striped barrier tape
- Marked bays for trucks and lorries
- Road signs for vehicles
This will all help add to its sense of importance!
Idea 6: Imagination station
Children’s imaginations are one of their greatest assets. An area which prioritises imagination within the outdoor construction area is always well-loved.
Giving the imagination station a seasonal theme is a great way of enabling children to express their understanding of the world and immersing them in seasonal change. 
- A wall mounted paint board encourages children to mix, mark-make and explore the shapes and shades of spring flowers
- Celebrate the summer months by creating coloured collages of seaside scenes
- Take inspiration from the warm, earthy tones and abundance of pumpkins during Autumn and create some pumpkin seed art
- A strategically placed performance stage naturally lends itself to Nativity practise during the winter months
Idea 7: The hideout…
Ever wondered how to provide both a sense of calm and excitement all in one? Having a hideout is probably one of the most versatile additions to your construction area EYFS.
A teepee is a great place to meet the needs of little ones who prefer to sit back and observe the world around them. By providing a sheltered area from the elements, the hideout is a great place for story time all year round.
But who says the fun has to stop at the end of the story? A free-standing, child-sized space is an excellent way of encouraging imaginative play and a great place for characters from a story to come to life!
Tips to keep your outdoor construction area EYFS-ready
Keeping the EYFS outdoor construction area clean and clutter-free may seem like a never-ending task, but here’s the cheat code to spotless zones:
- Keep your sandpit covered with a sliding lid to prevent unwanted leaves from entering the excavation site
- Canopies over free-standing equipment provide both protection from the sun’s rays and shelter from rain
- Wall-mounted pallets create a great place for storing piping and funnels for the water area
More blogs you’ll like:
What are the benefits of EYFS outdoor play?
