Using Tires Outdoors: Early Years Outdoors Learning

Early Years Outdoors is

one of the subscription

services from Learning

through Landscapes,

the UK’s national school

grounds and early years

outdoor play charity.

For more information

about subscriptions,

call 01962 845811.

The Early Years

Outdoors Advice

Line is open Monday to

Friday all year round.

Contact our specialist

team for advice on

using, designing or

managing your space:

Tel:

01962 845811

Email:

[email protected]

Web:

www.ltl.org.uk

LTL accepts no

responsibility for the

quality of goods or

services provided by

any companies listed.

This Advice Sheet offers

a selection of contacts

to try – always try your

local Yellow Pages or

Thomson Directory, and

an internet search

engine such as

www.google.com as

well.

JM: 09-10

Early Years Outdoors Advice Sheet

Using tyres outdoors

Do you want to develop your

outdoor provision, but have

limited funds for doing so?

Settings across the UK are

making great use of tyres as

a highly useful and versatile

resource, and they’re free!

It takes over 400 years for a tyre

to break down in landfill and vast

numbers are scrapped every year,

so tyre centres, contract hauliers,

farmers and agricultural en-

gineers (for large and very large

tyres) are usually very pleased to

supply nurseries and pre-schools

who ask them. In fact when a

nursery in West Sussex put a

request in their local newspaper,

they were inundated with offers.

When they recently held a

network meeting everyone who

came took away their own supply!

Below are some of the ideas

Learning through Landscapes has

seen in many settings across the

country. Not only do tyres have a

very wide range of uses and make

popular resources for children’s

outdoor play, you will be helping

to reduce man’s impact upon the

environment and giving young

children relevant experience of

sustainable development – not

bad for something that costs

nothing!

Tyres for growing

Tyres make a growing container

with a difference – they also

become islands around which the

bike play can flow, seats that are

at just the right height for

children and adults and firm walls

for walking around. Simply line

the prepared tyre with landscape

fabric so that the edges go up

inside the tyre rims – as you fill

with soil the fabric will be held in

place. The fabric will allow

drainage and the tyre can be

moved if it needs relocating.

Children will be fascinated to sow

grass seeds, watching the daily

change as the seedlings emerge

and then grow into grass. When

it’s long, encourage children to

cut the grass with scissors! The

grass will provide an ever-

changing landscape for small

world play, perhaps for farm or

wild animals.

Tyres are also great for growing

herbs and small vegetables such

as lettuce, and Nasturtiums look

especially good in them. Stack

tyres for deeper roots and don’t

forget the importance of watering

and feeding this small volume of

soil in the summer: children are

enthusiastic waterers however,

and are unlikely to forget if there

is a good supply of watering cans

and water!

To grow potatoes, place one seed

potato under the soil and add

more soil every few days to keep

the growing shoot covered,

stacking another tyre on top when

required. A stacking system can

also be used to make a

composting bin using composting

worms – make a lid to keep out

pests.




through Landscapes,






call 01962 845811.

The Early Years

Outdoors Advice




team for advice on

using, designing or


Tel:

01962 845811

Email:

[email protected]

Web:

www.ltl.org.uk

LTL accepts no


quality of goods or








an internet search

engine such as

www.google.com as

well.

JM: 09-10



Tyres for playing

Some of the best cross-curricular

learning we have seen has been

through the provision of several

small tyres (try to get mini tyres)

as loose resources for play,

especially for physical

development and for supporting

children’s explorations of rotation

and circular schemas. The more

tyres you can provide, the more

inventive and complex will be the

play that emerges – let children

work together to arrange them

and devise their own activities as

well as making suggestions to

them. They will roll them and

stack them, worm their way

through them, hide in them,

climb in and out, jump between

and off or balance on planks laid

between two tyres.

Much imaginative play will be

prompted or supported because

of the small spaces they create

and their connection to vehicles:

provide hollow blocks, wooden

planks, blankets and steering

wheels to support this. Tyres also

take chalk well and children have

been observed sitting inside a

large tyre, deeply involved in

chalking on the sides. Loose

tyres can also be used to hold

down a net or tarpaulin cover for

a sand area when not in use.

Tyres in sand play

In an outdoor space with very

limited space or opportunity for a

large sand area, the largest tyres

can make a suitable sand pit.

However, do make sure all your

children can easily climb in and

out: babies can sit inside but

toddlers will find this too difficult;

do all your children have

sufficient mobility to access the

sand fully?

Cover with a round plywood lid to

keep cats out (a rope handle

make this easier to manipulate)

and ensure drainage by lining

with landscape fabric before

filling – plastic will not drain well.

The sand can be cleaned regularly

by washing through with

disinfectant, turning over all the




through Landscapes,






call 01962 845811.

The Early Years

Outdoors Advice




team for advice on

using, designing or


Tel:

01962 845811

Email:

[email protected]

Web:

www.ltl.org.uk

LTL accepts no


quality of goods or








an internet search

engine such as

www.google.com as

well.

JM: 09-10



sand, and sieving occasionally;

replace all the sand annually.

Tyres can also be filled with top

soil, purchased from a gardening

supplier, to provide an

opportunity for simply digging.

Big tyres will enable children to

climb into the soil and use their

whole body to dig with long-

handled tools, rather than

reaching in with hand tools.

Allow children to add lots of water

to sand and soil to meet their

investigative interests and explore

different textures: it will drain

away overnight.

Tyres create spaces, and places

Tyres will help you to manage

your outdoor space in several

ways. A row of upright tyres can

be sunk into the ground to create

a boundary between the active

and quiet zones of your space–

children will sit on or lie across

these.

In a fully hard-surfaced area, use

several planters of one, two or

three tyres height and clustered

together to make a soft, planted

area. Children will be able to sit

on the container edges and move

amongst the meandering

pathways and spaces between

them. Tall grasses and bamboos

can create an atmosphere to

spark off imaginative play;

colourful, fragrant or tactile

planting will create a relaxing

sensory area.

Tyres can be used as containers

for resources such as shells, pine

cones, cobbles, pebbles and other

aggregates. There are many

lovely stones and interesting

forms of gravel available from

garden centres that make

excellent materials for outdoor

play and great landscapes for

small world play, such as with

dinosaurs. Many settings have

filled tyres of various sizes,

stacking smaller ones to vary

height too, with gravel or other

interesting stones and pieces of

wood. A tyre filled with just soil

will also provide such a landscape

– provide diggers, other vehicles

and appropriate props such as

twigs and play people.

Tyres placed in good spots will

help you to manage where bikes

can and can’t go. Use them as

planted islands to influence the

direction of flow of wheeled

vehicles, repositioning every so

often to refresh the play. They

can also provide crash barriers for

when wheeled vehicles come

close to fences and walls. Car,

truck and tractor tyres are the

perfect height when laid flat for

children to sit on, walk round and

use as jumping off points: young

children need raised surfaces for

this important developmental

activity. It is also very important

to provide children with small,

nurturing spaces in your outdoor

area and the biggest tyres are just

the right size for two or three

children to sit inside together, or

for one child to play quietly in

their own private space, away

from the boisterous play.




through Landscapes,






call 01962 845811.

The Early Years

Outdoors Advice




team for advice on

using, designing or


Tel:

01962 845811

Email:

[email protected]

Web:

www.ltl.org.uk

LTL accepts no


quality of goods or








an internet search

engine such as

www.google.com as

well.

JM: 09-10



Tyres for challenge

If you can make a collection of

different sized tyres, why not

consider using them as an

alternative climbing frame, as

Acorns Montessori Nursery has

done?

Tyres from huge JCB to small car

size have been set vertically in a

line, well buried into the ground,

so that they provide a wonderful

range of spaces and textures for

the children to explore and

master. Simple painting suggests

a friendly dragon and small

children can actually ‘hide’ in the

rim of the largest tyre, or walk

straight through it. A bicycle tyre

in the sequence can provide

additional interest!

Other settings have used tyres to

make stepping stones and humps

in the ground so that children

have challenging surfaces to

negotiate. They can also be used

as swings: ensure full adult

supervision during use and

children will find this activity

thrilling. Whenever tyres are used

for physical activity, ensure

children develop the appropriate

skills and awareness to use them

safely.

Be safe, and have fun!

Have we convinced you to try

using tyres in your outdoor

provision? Preparation of the

tyres is important but straight

forward. Choose only those that

are intact and check for exposed

wires, strips and nails on both

inner and outer surfaces, wearing

gloves until you are sure all

surfaces are sound: the tyres are

then safe to use. Clean them

thoroughly (a pressure washer as

used for cars is helpful) and when

dry use a handkerchief to test

that the surface will not mark

clothing too much.

Gloss paint onto clean and dry

surfaces will last for 2-3 years and

helps prevent the rubber from

marking clothes.




through Landscapes,






call 01962 845811.

The Early Years

Outdoors Advice




team for advice on

using, designing or


Tel:

01962 845811

Email:

[email protected]

Web:

www.ltl.org.uk

LTL accepts no


quality of goods or








an internet search

engine such as

www.google.com as

well.

JM: 09-10



Caring for tyres

They are easily stored by stacking

and covering with a tarpaulin; run

a long chain through them if you

suffer from out-of-hours visitors.

Prevent rainwater from collecting

inside the rim by storing them

horizontally and covered or drill

holes for drainage. Wash them

down with a hosepipe if they are

dirt-splashed after rain.

As with all equipment, check your

tyres regularly for wear and

damage and replace any that have

developed damage or serious

wear.

Remember, the purpose of risk

assessment is to enable children

to have rich and appropriately

challenging opportunities, not to

prevent them from doing things

so be pragmatic and realistic

when assessing how you might

use tyres in your setting.

Self Improvement

Using Tires Outdoors: Early Years Outdoors Learning