Chairbears Day Nursery
Inspiring Imagination's, through child led play
Outdoor Play
'Children who learn best outside have numerous opportunities to follow their interests.' - Chairbears Day Nursery OFSTED Report 2017
Local sisters, Margaret and Rachel, influencers of childhood education for over 100 years believed in the importance of active learning. They were some of the main pioneers in nursery education who emphasised the importance of nutrition and physical and emotional wellbeing.
Our children regularly enjoy visiting the Margarent McMillan park, enjoying physical play and the sense of freedom and well being it brings.
Our indoor/outdoor garden offers a multisensory environment and is an ideal place to support children's imaginative and creative play. We regularly offer free flow play, enabling children to freely move between the indoors and out where they choose; This allows for play without rigid stop start routines and enables children to develop their ideas without unnecessary interruptions.
Helping children to be creative is as much about encouraging attitudes of curiosity and questioning as about skills or techniques. Children notice everything and closely observe the most ordinary things that adults often take for granted. Building on children’s interests can lead to them creating amazing inventions or making marks on paper that represent for them an experience or something they have seen. Encouraging children to choose and use materials and resources in an open-ended way helps them to make choices and to have confidence in their own ideas. Retaining childhood confidence in their ideas and skills can easily be lost if others ‘take over’ and try to suggest what the child is making, thinking or doing. Just expressing an interest in the process a child has gone through is often enough or asking open questions such as ‘Can you tell me about it – that looks interesting’ may be all that is required to help a child hold on to their remarkable creativity.
Our garden studio allows children to explore art as well as nature, providing opportunities for potting, gardening and caring for the plants, watering them and watching them grow. The beauty and most wonderful thing about our Garden Studio is that it is not a base room, which means children can explore and create with out needing to pack anything away when the routine takes over. So that fabulous sculpture or creation can be left in situ whilst the children scatter back to their rooms for lunch, remaining perfectly untouched and waiting patiently for their learning to continue as soon as they return.
Our Garden Studio
