Den Building

Here at little explorers the school holiday children have been enjoying making dens both indoors and outdoors. Building dens, blanket forts, playing in boxes or even de-constructed role play - whatever name you choose to give it is a truly magical learning experience for children. In fact I spent a lot of my own childhood making 'tents' with friends.

Den building helps to support childrens personal, social and emotional development as they are able to follow their own interests, be involved in making their own plans and concentrate to execute them. Children are able to try things out for themselves, discover what works and what doesn't, children can demonstrate great perseverance when den building.

Due to the opportunity for large scale construction when building dens, in comparison to other activities. Children will be learning how to work together to negotiate (we had lots of wonderful negotiations and compromises this morning) and finally collaborate to build something truly unique. Our dens today were "German war bunkers"

The children furnished this morning dens with blankets, soft rugs, pillows and teddies. These soft places with a feeling of enclosure are particularly beneficial to children's emotional wellbeing as they provide a place for children to feel secure and where they can regulate interaction with the outside world.

Den building is also great for physical development. Children are doing plenty of lifting carrying, stretching, bending, pushing, pulling and holding - these are gross motor movments which develop muscles in the entire body. Children are also developing their spacial awareness, motor planning and control know as praxis. Fine motor skills also come into play when children they use their fingers to join up different parts of the den. This morning the children choose pegs to do this. They developed their dexterity and hand eye coordination.

Den building helps children to develop an understanding of the world including simple mathematical and scientific principles. When constructing they can gain first hand experience of cause and effect "If I do this- then this happens." They learn all about gravity, weight, length, height and friction. The children spent a great deal of time yesterday working out which stick was best length, width, strength and weight for balancing between two trees. Children are learning how to put different materials together and are able to develop theories about how things work, test their theories and then consolidate these ideas when new information is gathered. One stick was the right length, width and strength but it was too heavy for the children to lift above their heads. They had to adapt their plans.

When building both on their own or as part of a group den building provides lots of opportunity for language development, with the introduction of new vocabulary - such as bricks, wall, inside, outside, stable, wobbly, fall down, strong and so on.

Group den building is especially good for language development as it is a time for sustained group thinking and group talking, children are articulating the ideas in their heads to share with other children, so that they can understand it, and work together to negotiate a plan for their den.