Over the summer holidays Little Crackers Nursery, at Crackley Hall School, has been transformed with a new natural look in its spacious rooms that includes new furniture, flooring, decoration and a completely new indoor/outdoor Garden Room with a decked area, a sunken sand pit, a glazed roof and retractable folding doors that open up to the woods behind.

In the morning the nursery’s Parent and Toddler group, Stay ‘n’ Play, explored the new look accommodation and took part in wildlife themed activities in the bright rooms.  Outside they went into the school’s woods and joined in wildlife themed activities run by the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. The children really enjoyed searching for toy hedgehogs and making hedgehog homes.

In the afternoon the nursery children had their own party, with wildlife activities inside that included snail studies, bird watching and woodland craft before also joining Warwickshire Wildlife Trust outside for some wonderful Woodland Fairy Folk fun.

The summer makeover has also seen Improvements to the front nursery playground and the nursery children are now enjoying regular visits to the newly opened woodland at the back of the main school.  The ‘back to nature’ summer makeover means that the children now enjoy outdoor learning experiences in three very different settings.

To celebrate the new look Little Crackers has adopted new animal names to reflect the ‘back to nature’ theme, with the Terrific Twos becoming Dormice, the Thrilling Threes changing to Hedgehogs and the Fabulous Fours transforming into Badgers.

Comments Susan Glen-Roots, Assistant Head – Early Years and Key Stage 1, “This is an exciting project which will transform our children’s experiences in nursery.  A more natural environment inside creates a sense of calm whilst stimulating interest and providing the children with a blank canvas in which to learn and develop. This, coupled with more opportunities to take their learning outdoors and explore the wonders of the natural world will reap fantastic rewards in terms of self-confidence, imagination and physical development.”

The Warwickshire Wildlife Trust had lots of fun with the youngsters helping them explore the natural surroundings and encouraging their interest in wildlife.