Today our little explorers visited the Children’s Garden at Kew. The garden is designed around the four things plants need to grow: air, water, sun and earth. It gave our little explorers the chance to explore these ideas directly and in ways that were immediate and meaningful.
At Little Explorers we believe the best start in life comes from real experiences. Our maths and science curriculum is rooted in the White Rose approach, which provides a carefully sequenced foundation across primary education. With guidance from our qualified teacher advisor, we adapt this framework to the Early Years Foundation Stage. This means taking the big ideas from the curriculum and bringing them down to an EYFS level, where our little explorers can experience them through play, talk and hands-on exploration.
The visit to Kew also echoed much of early years theory. Montessori’s prepared environment was echoed in the way the garden encouraged self-directed exploration. Froebel’s vision of gardens as classrooms came alive as our little explorers investigated soil and rocks. Reggio Emilia’s idea of the “third teacher” was clear in how the environment itself guided learning. Piaget’s view of children as active constructors of knowledge was seen in their hands-on discoveries. Vygotsky’s emphasis on social interaction was visible in the way our little explorers shared ideas, took turns, and built their understanding through conversation.
Exploring the different areas of the garden…
Air: Movement and Space
In this area, our intent was for our little explorers to explore air as both movement and space. Watching the tall windmills turn in the breeze made air visible, showing how something unseen can move objects. We supported them with words such as moving, turning, fast and slow.
The impact was clear. Our little explorers began using descriptive vocabulary to explain what they saw, linking naturally to early White Rose Science on weather and forces, and to White Rose Maths through positional language.
Water: Flow and Change
In this area, our intent was to help our little explorers notice how water moves. They watched streams flowing through channels, saw pools forming, and balanced carefully across stepping stones. These moments encouraged new vocabulary about direction, movement and balance, while also supporting turn-taking.
The impact was an early understanding that water can travel, change speed and alter direction. Our little explorers began using words like faster and slower, showing a growing grasp of cause and effect. This links directly to White Rose Science, where children explore plants and materials through water’s role in growth and change.
Later in the café, the hand washing station gave an extra chance to extend this learning. Transparent tubes showed water rising and falling, and taps gave a clear example of control. Though incidental, this reinforced their developing science vocabulary.
Sun: Light and Shade
In this area, our intent was to help our little explorers notice differences in light and shade. In the sun tunnel they saw how coloured panels cast bright light and darker patches. Out on the lawns and beneath the trees they compared warm and cool areas, with language such as light, shade, warm and cool carefully modelled.
The impact was that our little explorers began to connect sunlight with changes in temperature and visibility. These sensory discoveries form the earliest steps into White Rose Science on Seasonal Change and Plant Growth.
Earth: Textures and Surfaces
In this area, our intent was to give our little explorers sensory encounters with soil, rocks and logs. They noticed textures and compared how different surfaces felt. We added language such as rough, soft and firm to strengthen their understanding.
The impact was that our little explorers made the connection between earth and plant growth, laying the groundwork for White Rose Science units on habitats, materials and ecosystems.
Why this learning matters
Beyond the immediate observations, today’s visit to Kew Gardens holds significant meaning for our curriculum and our approach to early years education. The intent was to bring the essentials for plant growth to life through direct experience. Implementation came through the carefully designed garden and our role in extending language and linking back to prior learning. The impact was seen in the confidence of our little explorers: the vocabulary they used, the comparisons they made, and the way they connected this new knowledge with what they had already learned at Little Explorers.
Experiences like this show how the EYFS curriculum can be enriched through real-world encounters. Every one of our little explorers is seen as an individual, and every learning moment contributes to a wider journey. This is how children gain the knowledge and skills they need not only for school, but for the world beyond it.
Thoughts for Practitioners
This visit reminded us that curriculum in the early years is about more than activities; it is about intent, implementation and impact. Having a clear intent helps you articulate what children are meant to learn in any experience, even a walk through a garden. Implementation is not just the activity itself but the way adults notice, question and extend children’s thinking in the moment. Impact can be seen in the new vocabulary children use, the connections they make, or the curiosity that is sparked for another day.
It is worth remembering that the EYFS curriculum does not need to run separately from wider subject frameworks. Approaches like White Rose give a sequenced journey in maths and science, but in the early years our role is to bring those ideas down to an EYFS level. We do this by turning them into hands-on exploration, playful encounters, and language-rich experiences.
For practitioners reflecting on their own work, consider how you explain this journey to others. Could you say, in simple terms, what the intent of an activity was, how you implemented it, and what impact it had on children’s learning? Could you explain how today’s experiences lay the groundwork for knowledge and skills that will be revisited in future years? This way of thinking not only strengthens practice but also ensures that, when asked, we can talk confidently about our curriculum.
What a wonderful opportunity for the children to gain cultural capital. The hands-on experience will give children an advantage when they start school and allow them to build on these foundations as they progress through school.