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earlyyears.teachwire.net
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OUTDOOR
OVERHAUL
KIDDI CARU BASINGSTOKE
TOTAL PROJECT SPEND: £40,000
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Basingstoke has a large garden and recently a professional company
redesigned one third of its space. The nursery’s staff focused on
features that will provide the children with an inviting and learning-rich
environment, while offering plenty of opportunities to have fun – for
example, a construction area and dens.
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The new garden includes both natural and synthetic turf as it is
important that the children experience both types of surface. However,
the artificial grass gives the children the chance to maximise the use of the
garden all year round and is very easy to maintain.
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As part of the garden makeover, a new camp-making area has been
added – complete with a raised den observatory, sleeping den and den-
making equipment – as well as a multi-textured small world play area and a
water play area, featuring a cobble waterfall, cobble puddle play surface and
interactive water play channels.
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Nursery staff worked with their handyman to make improvements
elsewhere, too, such as creating a free flow from the baby room into
a bespoke baby garden. Artificial grass was laid and plant containers filled
with sensory objects at the right height for little ones to help themselves.
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And that wasn’t all – a musical area was created and affixed to the
fence. This was constructed by recycling metal objects such as wheel
hubs and kitchen utensils.
What else do you
need to consider?
“It’s not just children who benefit from
spending time outside; many of our staff
comment that they really enjoy outdoor
play, too. But it’s important to remember
that to make the most of your garden
you’ll need to give your practitioners the
tools to do their job. For this reason we
are investing in providing a coat as a
standard part of our uniform for all staff
across our nurseries – so not only do
our children have the right clothing to
enjoy the outdoors, our practitioners and
managers do too.
“Make sure that your outdoor learning
spaces are as well resourced and looked
after as those indoors – it’s great to get
the children involved in helping to pack
items away at the end of the day. Make it
fun and it becomes part of the routine. You
may need to consider investing in outside
storage to protect items from the elements.
“If you do not have the benefit of a
large outdoor space, ensure that you
invest in a Kiddy Bus so that the staff can
get out and about with the children.”
Will a well-resourced
garden attract new
customers?
“A garden filled with lots of opportunities
to play and learn is always an attraction
to parents; but even small outdoor areas
can be packed full of valuable learning
opportunities if the space is used wisely.
A simple fence, for example, can be used
to hang a chalk board, or ‘painted’ with
water using big brushes in hot weather for
children to see what happens, or
equipped with pieces for guttering to
support planting.
“Some settings do not have a lot of
space, and their outdoor spaces can lack
that wow factor as a result, but there are
always opportunities to go beyond the
nursery, into the community, on nature
walks or to the local park, or even further –
to the train station, for example – to explore
children’s interests. Evidenced in the form
of a photo album, this would still attract
new families to a setting.”
A snapshot of Kiddi Caru
Basingstoke’s new outdoor area.
