ENABLING ENVIRONMENTS OUTDOORS

ENABLING ENVIRONM E N TS O U T D O O R S
Only natural
A woodland wonderland at a nursery in West Lancashire is helping children to develop
understanding and empathy for the world around them. Ruth Stokes investigates
F
or Beautiful Beginnings
Day Nursery, set in the 50
acres of parks and gardens
of Scarisbrick Hall School
in West Lancashire, the
natural environment has
always been an important feature of
day-to-day life. Now, a new outdoor
development has increased opportunities for play and learning – with a
particular focus on supporting the
children’s understanding of, and
respect for, the world around them.
Over the past seven months, the
setting has been working on an outdoor exploration area, made up of
dense woodland and a ‘Jungle Forest’ clearing. It caters to all ages, from
birth upwards.
Perhaps surprisingly, the idea for
the development was sparked by
the discovery of a caterpillar in the
grounds. Early years manager Liz
Fortune-Price explains, ‘A child found
a caterpillar and we started developing a mind map around it – how we
would look after it, what it was going
to eat and where it was going to sleep.
‘Suddenly, it dawned on us that a
big part of our role is to teach these
children the importance of stepping
over a caterpillar rather than stepping on it. Understanding nature
provides the children with empathy
on all levels – not just with caterpillars but with birds, foxes, badgers,
geese, other children, their friends,
their teachers and their wider family.’
PLAYTIME
The 180-place nursery previously
had extensive garden and woodland
areas for both the under-threes and
the over-threes, but the new development has been carefully planned
to offer a wider range of experiences
for all. To ensure its effectiveness, the
children were encouraged to help
shape the space.
‘It’s been lovely to take them out
at every stage and ask them what
they would like to see and do,’ says
Ms Fortune-Price. ‘A lot of the ideas
34 NURSERY WORLD 4-17 NOVEMBER 2013
came from there. We listened to what
they wanted and how they might use
the environment and we offer experiences that supplement that.’
This has resulted in a varied and
exciting outdoor area that feeds both
imaginative and physical learning.
Features include:
l Fairy glen Wind chimes, mossy
areas on rocks and natural
wooden fairies create a mythical
atmosphere. The children are
currently foraging in the outdoor
environment to find materials to
make fairy houses.
l Base camp A big square area is
lined with logs, and four other
logs inside this make a fire pit at
the heart of a campfire set-up.
Children have used it to make
their own dough and barbecue
marshmallows.
l Magical bridge Trolls live on the
bridge and won’t let the children
pass unless they have a magic
word. However, the narrative of
this area could change at any time
with the prompting of staff or
children. Fake grass underneath
A magical bridge,
a mud kitchen
and a fire pit offer
opportunities for
learning in a creative
and adaptable space
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INFORMATION
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beginningsday
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offers a space for babies to crawl.
l Mud kitchen Pots and pans, a hob,
an oven, a pestle and mortar and a
sink with running water give the
children everything they need for
role playing with mud pies.
The setting also has a pirate ship –
made from mounds of earth for the
hull and a tree for the flagpole –
plans for a treehouse, and is working
towards introducing a stream.
LEARNING FROM THE LAND
The nursery is part of Scarisbrick
Hall School, one of the leading independent schools in the region. ‘The
academic side is important to our
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guide some children who are normally quite restless to focus better on
particular tasks – something that Ms
Fortune-Price believes is due to the
lack of distractions, such as bright
colours and toys, that you might find
in the interior of a nursery.
pre-school children, so we make sure
there are opportunities to develop
numeracy and literacy skills,’ says
Ms Fortune-Price. ‘We can teach the
whole curriculum out there.’
However, the environment is flexible enough to be exactly what the
children want it to be. The basic
earth-and-tree structure of the pirate
ship is an example of this. The staff
will always begin with an objective,
but if the children go off on a tangent
then the adults will follow their lead
and offer support where it is needed.
Children have been enjoying getting on their knees and foraging for
items, and the mud pie kitchen has
proved to be particularly popular. The
younger children have been heading
off on Gruffalo hunts and searching for Jack and the beanstalk in
untouched woodland. A woodpecker
and a gaggle of geese have both been
visiting regularly, allowing the children to get an idea of their habits.
While there has inevitably been
much excitement, the setting has
also witnessed a more surprising
outcome. The environment seems to
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MAKING THE MOST OF IT
The value of taking time to absorb
the sights and sounds of the natural
world is something that has worked
its way into the training of staff. The
setting has been running weekend
training sessions to look at the health
and developmental benefits of the
area, offer fun ideas for activities, and
teach practitioners to consider the
natural environment as a blank canvas for play and learning.
‘Some people have said “we need
this and that”, but everything we need
is out there,’ says Ms Fortune-Price.
In addition, there are plans to
send a member of staff away to get
a Level 4 Forest School qualification,
so that they can then teach the rest of
the staff the Levels 1, 2 and 3 Forest
School qualifications.
The nursery has also lined up an
event for parents, to illustrate what is
being provided. That way, if children
go home with a nettle sting or a graze
on their knee, parents can understand
how this balances with the benefits to
education and well-being.
It is early days, but the nursery is
already confident that it has something special. From the way some
children have developed an ability to
focus to the wide array of animals on
the doorstep, there are opportunities
for growth here.
Nursery reports show that the children are already beginning to exhibit
greater amounts of empathy. Like the
setting, they are learning to take their
cues from nature. n
Ur-Tubes (from £39.99)
www.ur-tubes.co.uk
Ur-Tubes is a construction
set that could prove useful
for practitioners as well as
offering fun for older children
within the Foundation Stage.
Made from recyclable plastic, the narrow and
lightweight tubes come in a range of lengths with
simple connectors.
Children will enjoy making their own creations,
while practitioners could find the tubes useful for
building frames for dens or simple structures to
supplement role play, such as a car or boat.
The sets are available in three sizes (with 40, 44
or 50 tubes and priced £39.99, £49.99 or £59.99)
and come with a guide.
Handcrafted Wooden Letters
and Numbers (£22.99)
Cosy Direct, 01332 370152
These handcrafted sets of
numbers and letters from Cosy
Direct are both flexible and
tactile. Incorporate letter paths
in small-world play or use them for number hunts
outdoors. Each letter and number measures
approximately 4cm in diameter.
New Activity Rings
(from £12.95)
www.finesolutions.
co.uk
These artificial
rubber rings from Fine
Solutions could make
a simple and flexible addition to children’s outdoor
play resources. Brightly coloured and soft, children
can incorporate the rings (16.4cm in diameter and
1.2cm thick) into countless activities, from dancing
and spinning them on their arms, wrists or ankles to
balancing them on their head.
Discovery Pits with Staging
(from £349)
www.playforce.co.uk
This set of lidded discovery pits
is exclusive to Playforce. When
open, the lids can be used as
platforms for children to sit or
kneel on, and when covered the pits can double as
small stages. Each pit is self-assembly and made
from high-quality timber that is sustainably sourced
and pressure treated.
The hexagonal version (1.55m x 1.55m x 0.4m,
£499) has three triangular sections of varying
depths suitable for sand, pebbles or any other loose
play items. When covered, it can be used as a stage
or even a three-tier podium. There is also a square
model, with two sections (1.6m x 1.6m x 0.4m,
£349), and the largest of the three, the rectangular
pit, pictured (2.19m x 1.22m x 0.2m, £499).
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