Challenging New Playground Equipment for Burnwood Nursery

Pupils at a Staffordshire nursery school have a new miniature-sized outdoor playground to
challenge them physically and mentally.

The timber trail of complex obstacles was specially adapted by Wiltshire-based Playforce, one of the country's leading providers of playground equipment for schools, so it is the right size for the three to five-year-olds to use.

Head teacher of Burnwood Nursery School, Stoke-on-Trent, Juliet Levingstone, is a big believer in the value of outdoor play equipment activity. She is delighted with the playground equipment and so are the children and their parents.

Juliet said: "Outdoor activity is just as important to learning and achievement as indoor activity. We wanted something that was challenging, which is exactly what we have got, but the children have risen to that challenge. Each day we see their confidence and ability growing. It's fantastic and they all love it, they can't wait to get to school."

The adventure outside play equipment is a timber trail made up of a wobbly bridge, a wobble walkway, a rope traverse, a balance weaver, stepping posts, swinging logs and a rope walkway.

Playforce also installed coloured toadstool seats, a mini table and chairs, a hexagonal shelter that doubles as a outdoor classroom for outside learning or to provide a more peaceful, less strenuous area, and a soft play equipment area where the children use playground equipment like space hoppers to improve fine manipulative skills with the confidence of knowing if they fall over they won't hurt themselves.

Early Years Foundation Stage education should provide six areas of activity, and the children should free flow between inside and outside. Juliet is proud to say that she can now offer all six areas both inside and outside with the new children's play equipment.

Part of the thinking behind the design of adventure play equipment is that with new worlds to explore, children can easily be guided to learn. Flexible play systems like those at Burnwood allow educators to exploit a range of learning opportunities moving easily through the education objectives before them. The children are learning, playing and having fun all at the same time.

"I believe that Burnwood now has the best nursery outdoor play equipment and learning facility anywhere," said Mrs Levingstone. "With the growing problems of obesity and lack of exercise in older children, I also believe it is important to make physical activity fun and a part of a child's life as early as possible."