Had a great day in a setting today looking at provision in Nursery, Reception and Year One. Thanks to Cally, Leanne and Sam for making me so welcome – again!
Saw some really inspiring practice and a setting where the environment alone was well on the way to painting an accurate and rich picture of the ethos, engagement and assessment that was regularly taking place.
There were loads of ideas that were worth pinching (with permission) but one that I hadn't seen before ( I am sure loads of people are probably doing it!) was the use of plastic fencing to 'zone' your outdoor space.
The beauty of it is that it is moveable and the children working in it or behind it are very visible whilst feeling secluded.
You could den make with it, weave through it…it has loads of potential. Ideally you would probably have something a bit more natural like willow but this is less expensive and far more flexible.
Cally had bright orange in her Nursery – great for a builder/roadwork theme. I did a Google search for ' plastic mesh fence ' and found loads in orange and also green.
It retails at about £20 a role and then you need to buy the posts to hold it in place and they are about £3 each for ones that are 1.5m tall. You just weave the post through the holes and then knock it into the ground. It is very easy!
Effective zoning in your outdoor space can really help to focus children on a task and also help to cut down on inappropriate running through your focused activities. At this sort of price it is definitely worth having a go.
Fairy Update
Have had a couple of updates from Waterloo about their newest visitors. The fairies have indeed visited. The children knew this because they came in to find tiny bare footprints all over the tables and up the walls. The school sent me a video clip of the children discovering said footprints and it is brilliant. You can feel the excitement through the screen!
I also got this photograph of me talking to the children about the fact that I thought that there were fairies in their outdoor area.
I ran it through my special fairy detector machine and then sent it back to the children because as you will see from the photograph (top left) we clearly had some visitors during our entire conversation. Proof if proof were needed!!
If you are still not convinced then have a look at this. I showed it to the children when I visited and it had them all agog!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqqDjonp88Y
Happy hunting!
Alistair
4 Comments on “Outdoor Play idea…”
Hi Alistair,
Have been totally inspired by your blog, it has given me so many ideas for how I can improve my practise. The fairies visited us! And the children have written letters, made fairy houses, ladders, beds, chairs, wands etc in response. Has really motivated them and had a great impact on their construction, creativity and writing for different purposes. I have taken tonnes of photos…and our next step is to bake fairy cakes (as chosen by the children, who think the fairies might like to hold a birthday party in the classroom!).
Many thanks
Hi
Thanks for asking the question for me, I shall look forward to the response as my class and I have planned out a number of fairy activities, and they are definately hoping that the fairies visit!
Hi Katherine
I have asked the question and am now just awaiting the answer!
They looked printed to me like they had been done in ink, but you could see toes and everything so it was unlikely to be a dolls foot as they are moulded plastic!
Will keep you informed…
Alistair
Do you know how they made the fairy footprints? I have a large group of girls totally enamoured by fairies at the moment, and they would love this. Were they painted on? Cut out of paper? I am intrigued!