One of the constants and universals of childhood and children's lives which have been identified by historians, anthropologists and sociologists is the importance of play to children and in many instances this is understood as play outdoors. For hundreds of years, pioneers of early childhood education such Comenius (1592-1670), Locke (1632- 1704), Rousseau (1712-1778), Owen (1771-1858), Wilderspin (1792-1866) Froebel (1782-1852), Mc Millan ( 1860-1931) and Montessori (1870-1952) have recognised both the centrality of play outdoors in children's lives and the importance of play and activity outdoors in young children's learning and development. Consequently, there has been a long history and tradition of providing for outdoor play and children's experiential learning outdoors within early childhood education in Europe. It has been suggested that in the field of education, tradition lingers long; ideas from the past intermingle with newer insights (Weber, 1981). This paper is part of a larger multi-disciplinary PhD study titled "Children's experiences of outdoor play in early childhood settings in urban environments" which is being funded by a National Children's Strategy Research Scholarship, National Children's Office, Ireland. One of the aims of the study is to identify which historical understandings and pedagogical practices regarding the outdoors have persisted and remain embedded in early childhood education provision in urban areas today.The aim of the present paper is to identify key areas of continuity and change in understandings of the role of the outdoors within early childhood education over time. Within this context, a particular point of interest is to analyse how the ideas and pedagogical practices emanating from an industrialised and urbanised Europe were interpreted and reinvented in early childhood education settings in Ireland's capital city, Dublin, during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. The methodological approach taken is wide-ranging and multi- dimensional. It focuses on a small number of diverse pioneering early childhood education settings which were established in Dublin between 1830s and 1950s. It includes an analysis of documentary evidence such as plans, drawings, and photographs. The voice of officialdom is represented through references to the outdoor environment in annual reports, minute books, and inspector's reports. Retired early childhood educators who were able to provide first-hand accounts of the outdoor experience in the early childhood settings established in the twentieth century were also interviewed. Key questions posed include: Who and what were the agents of change?, What were their theories about the role of the outdoor environment in young children's lives, and How were these theories interpreted in practice?