Learning and play at the nursery
At Lyndhurst, we know how important it is to give children the very best opportunities there are, which is why we continually invest in:
The gardens are tailor-made to suit each individual and utilise all kinds of natural materials, providing children with an excellent platform for early years education and discovery. Whether it's planting and harvesting in our Forest School or growing areas, reading stories in a cosy tipi practicing role play and developing personal emotional social skills on our fantastic zoned areas, overlooking surroundings from a nature observatory, or enjoying the exciting road tracks and all weather surfacing when running and playing, each garden has a variety of special features to support and inspire children. Why not come and see our amazing facilities for yourself at your local Lyndhurst Day Nursery & Preschool?
Nursery toys and play equipment
Our well designed children’s nursery environments and resources help our children to develop in all areas of learning.
The examples below are just some of our carefully chosen play equipment that has been found to stimulate a child’s natural curiosity, exploration, play and imagination. Treasure baskets: developing natural curiosity, awe and wonder
Treasure basket play allows babies to investigate and explore a variety of everyday objects. These can include items such as wooden spoons, natural sponges, fabrics, stainless steel and scented items such as lavender bags. Treasure baskets are found in all of our baby and toddler units.
Physical play: increasing mobility and confidence
In many of our toddler and nursery rooms, children enjoy the experience of a range of physical activities from movement and dance to yoga. These activities allows children, to move freely in a variety of different ways to challenge their increasing mobility and confidence. Children not only develop their physical skills, but to discover what they can achieve by themselves, thus increasing their self awareness and self esteem. The key Person uses a range of creative thinking to create a different spaces for children to explore and encourages a child's creativity and imagination and problem solving skills.
Role play: understanding the world
Role play areas provide children with activities and opportunities that reflect their personal experiences, both past and present. Examples might include a post office or hairdressers. They are developed and extended to reflect a child’s changing interests. Through role play children explore their developing understanding of the world such as cooking at home or posting a letter. Children have the opportunity to engage with others, developing their knowledge through play and interaction with other children and adults. It also builds self-esteem, confidence, co-operation skills and gives them the opportunity to re-enact their past experiences.
Mark-making: developing early writing skills and creativity
Mark-making activities are available to babies and children, both indoors and outdoors and might include making pictures in sand, cornflour or playdough to experimenting with paper or card and with pencils, chalk or felt pens. Mark-making is an excellent way to develop a child’s fine motor and early writing skills. Older children are able to play games that relate to the real world and this helps to encourage these skills. For instance, they will be encouraged to write restaurant menus and shopping lists in the role play area, take the register or simply to use notebooks.
Blocks: developing imagination, creativity, mathematical and physical skills
All babies and children have access to construction activities which include mini-blocks for tiny hands and larger blocks for our 2-5 year olds. Block play helps children experiment with concepts such as design, balance and building. It can also be used to story-telling and role play, develop mathematical skills and allow children to act out their ideas. Our block areas also include farm and wild animals, people, vehicles etc. to help extend play experiences. Outdoors, block play may consist of crates, planks, tyres etc. that allow children to build and construct on a much larger scale to create a range of different sculptures.