Outdoors Play

At Squirrels we have a large outdoor area that children are free to access.  There are a range of activities on offer including our mud kitchen, water wall, music wall, slides, summer house and play house.  We also have a variety of bikes, trikes and scooters on offer.  During the warmer months we have an area dedicated to growing fruit and veg; allowing the children to explore the growing process and then harvest and eat the finished product at snack time. 

Indoors Play

At Squirrels we have a large indoor space that we divide up into smaller sections.  These can change depending on planned activities or children inspired play ideas.  For example, our role play area was turned into an undercover campsite, complete with pretend campfire as the request of some of the children!  Children have access to a range of toys and equipment, including arts and crafts materials, junk modelling, painting, role play, maths area, technology area, reading corner and dressing up trolley, as well as a range of construction toys, small world toys and a special '2 year old zone' for our younger children. 

Our Wall Displays

Our wall displays change on a regular basis.  We try and display a diverse range of the children's work.  Children are encouraged to engage in that which interests them most.  So, whilst we are there to guide and encourage, we try and allow the children to express themselves and display what they want as opposed to telling them what to do!  This gives us some very interesting artwork on our walls.  Our latest addition is a range of drawings that the children have done with accompanying stories that they made up.

Seasonal Play

In the run up to Christmas our play house was transformed into a magical Christmas grotto.  This inspired a wide range of different play ideas, including sleigh rides to various places, the cutting up of toy magazines to create Christmas wish lists, and the acting out of various Christmas role playing, as well as Christmas cards and other festive play.

Themed Weeks

Sometimes our pre-school children are so enthused by an idea that we theme a whole week on it.  Themes have included dinosaurs, super heroes, Frozen, vehicles and pirates.  These initial ideas can spark a myriad of themed activities such as arts and crafts projects, science experiments, game or role play ideas, snack suggestions and new song ideas.

Pirate Week

Mini Beast Week

Space Week

Home-school zone

Children will learn and develop best where a positive partnership exists between their home and school environment.  We encourage parents to be as involved as possible and have a range of home-play sacks that parents can borrow and play at home with their children.  There are a range of sacks available, including the emotion stones pictured below.

Sammy!

Sammy is our resident pet snail!  He is a giant African land snail!  The children often like to observe what Sammy is doing and love it when he comes out to play!