At Stepping Stones, we have four, well-presented, separate, secure and enclosed children’s outdoor play areas. Each play area has been specifically designed with the children’s needs in mind and three of the four play areas are directly accessible from the children’s play rooms.
Yellow and Red Room
This area which has an absorbent safety surface has age-appropriate equipment for the children in both the Yellow Room and Red Room. The babies and toddlers especially enjoy playing with the seesaw, slide, home corner, sand/water trays, mega blocks, trucks, trikes etc. We also have planters attached to the walls for the children to grow their very own plants.
Green Room 1 and Green Room 2
This play area again has a variety of resources and equipment on an absorbent safety surface, they are carefully selected to make sure they are age-appropriate for the children’s age range, these include items such as a climbing frame and slide, wooden blocks, bikes, balls, sand/water trays and a playhouse. We also again have planters in this area so children can be involved in growing their own fruit/veg.
All of our rooms
This large playground was purposely designed and developed by Playforce, one of the leading educational designers/suppliers that are registered with ROSPA. All of the play equipment and safer surfacing conform to the British and European safety Standards.
They designed our very own play cabin, a sliding lid sand pit, a water play basis, a rollover bridge, musical instrument panels and wall wall-mounted chalkboards and magnetic whiteboards.
There is also a planter box in this area so your children can watch, learn and grow their very own plants and herbs.
All of our Rooms – Especially Pre-School.
The large garden which is over 100m2 was again purposefully designed and developed by Playforce.
The garden has a natural woodland corner, with logs, rocks and soil for the children to bury, dig, explore and investigate for bugs etc. There is also a worm world discovery place, and planter boxes for herbs, vegetables and plants which the children can be involved with.
There are seating and storytelling areas, and a timber trail for balancing with a suspension bridge. We have our very own play tower, playhouse and lots of musical panels similar to the ones we have in Play Area 3. We also have den-making posts magnetic whiteboards and chalkboards to continue our creativity outside.
This Play Area has an absorbent play surface and approximately a third of the area is grassed, the way it was designed and laid out enables the areas to be used all year round.
At Stepping Stones we believe outdoor play has a positive impact on children’s sense of well-being and helps all aspects of children’s development allowing them to develop in all six of the key areas of learning, it allows activities of a much larger scale than indoor play allowing more interaction and much more fun!
Both Play Area 3 and 4 are designed for all of our age groups to use with the range of play equipment provided. The children can be as physical, imaginative or creative as they like. The six areas of learning are promoted in many ways for example our timber trail, play tower and track area are great for developing children’s gross and fine motor skills and their core development, helping to provide an active and healthy lifestyle. Meanwhile, the forest log posts, play cabin and musical panels allow the children to express their creativity and encourage role-play/social play and interaction.
Did you know about the importance of play in the early years? Find out about our fees and see if you’re eligible for free childcare at our day nursery in Nottingham
In all of our outdoor areas, we encourage an indoor-outdoor experience, meaning that for the children any toys/equipment/resources used indoors can also be taken outdoors.
We believe that outdoor environments offer children the freedom to explore, using their senses and allowing them to be physically active and exuberant is key to their learning and development. A rich and varied environment supports this and also gives them the confidence to explore and learn in a secure and safe yet challenging outdoor area.
Our outdoor equipment is checked daily and all results are documented before any children use the outdoor areas. We are always striving to maintain and if possible improve on our high standards, we regularly update our equipment to allow our children to have as much fun as possible, giving them the opportunities they seek daily.
