Guest Posted May 31, 2005 Posted May 31, 2005 I've been given a job by my head to try and sort out our outdoor area. At the moment it is rarely used - tarmaced area (that unfortunately has had glass smashed into it and its not easy to sweep it all up!) with a grass slope that is quite severe. I have started doing more things out there - maths game with numbers hanging from the bushes etc. and the children loved it so really want to make a lot more use of this space. The area that I work in means that we cannot leave any thing outside on an evening because it will get stolen and damged or used for not very nice things!?!?!?!? We have just invested in some light weight plastic climibing equipment that can be joined together in a variety of ways from Nexus. Is anyone in the same situation and how do you get aournd this? or does anyone have any good ideas that could be adapted to fit my outdoor area. Thanks for your ideas Sarah
basilbrush Posted May 31, 2005 Posted May 31, 2005 i am in a similar position in that as our outdoor area is part of the playground we cannot leave anything out and it is quite hard to develop it.... Would there be enough money to stretch to a shed, that might at least provide some easy storage? What about resource boxes that can be stored inside, and taken outside when needed, there is a good topic about resource boxes on here, but i don't know how to link to it.....
apple Posted May 31, 2005 Posted May 31, 2005 I agree with Basil Brush one of the best ways round this problem is to invest in a shed which is what we did last year... and it is an investment. If money is tight can you get the school involved in a sponsored something or other to raise the funds needed? Having a secure storage area really does help to minimise all the hassel of carting things in and out through the day and maximises the time spent having fun. Hope you find a solution.
Guest Posted May 31, 2005 Posted May 31, 2005 I agree with Basil Brush one of the best ways round this problem is to invest in a shed which is what we did last year... and it is an investment. If money is tight can you get the school involved in a sponsored something or other to raise the funds needed? Having a secure storage area really does help to minimise all the hassel of carting things in and out through the day and maximises the time spent having fun. Hope you find a solution. 32979[/snapback]
Guest Posted May 31, 2005 Posted May 31, 2005 oops don't know how i managed that - i had typed a message but it seems to be off in cyber space somewhere - i suppose that what's u get when u r tapping into someones wireless connection sitting in the sun!!!! Well i'll try again! We are hoping to have some building work done at school so that the nursery can come and join us on the main site and we can have a foundation stage unit. (we have fingers tightly crossed that all the departments get it together and we don't lose the money that is there!?!?!?!?) so in the mean time we are grabbing space to put stuff where ever we can - not that we have much stuff!! Aparently on the last ofsted the outdoor area was a cause for concern but it has never really been addressed and we are predicitng an ofsted in the next year!!!!! so i really need to have some plans and be seen to put somethings into place. Any help ideas would be wonderful!!! Thanks Sarah
Guest Posted May 31, 2005 Posted May 31, 2005 Also in addition to the above, can you fix any thing to a wall - we have a white board and a black board out side and both are well used. You could chain a number of bikes together to stop them wandering off until you get a shed. We have a garden trolly we take out it has pens, paper, duplo, camera/ binoculars, investigation box including colour paddles, magnifying glass, insect colecting pots - can't remember their names.
Guest Posted May 31, 2005 Posted May 31, 2005 picnic sets- useful for sorting when putting things away.
Guest Posted May 31, 2005 Posted May 31, 2005 I don't want to dampen the enthusiasm but shed's aren't perfect either. Ours has been broken into twice over the last three years. Fortunately the contents haven't been vandalised just liberally distributed across our outdoor area and the school field, but it is frustrating! Angela
apple Posted June 2, 2005 Posted June 2, 2005 I agree about the sheds not being too safe. We 've also had a kind of garage installed with concrete type sides and a metal over the head door, in our main playground. When I go back to school I shall try and find out how much it was and the company that produce them if it's any help.
Guest Posted June 2, 2005 Posted June 2, 2005 B & Q do grants for schools - maybe they could supply you with a shed? (We have just received 6 benches and various other bits and pieces from them).
Guest Posted June 2, 2005 Posted June 2, 2005 Hi Sarah 'Developing the outside area' is something that our SMT wants to see me do but I feel totally daunted by the whole thing. What should it contain? How much is it going to cost? etc etc. I have just joined 'Learning through Landscapes' which cost £55 (hope to recoup that from school) because I think it is going to be well worth it.
Guest Posted June 3, 2005 Posted June 3, 2005 Hi Sarah'Developing the outside area' is something that our SMT wants to see me do but I feel totally daunted by the whole thing. What should it contain? How much is it going to cost? etc etc. 33155[/snapback] Costs will obviously depend on what you do, but it will be expensive! We have been developing our outdoor area over the past three years and it's looking pretty good. We have the following: hard surface - covered and uncovered grass with trim trail, boat, and large permanent sand pit (with cover) flower bed large storage shed wall mounted black board wall mounted white board art gallery (trellis on wall, backed with strong banner plastic on which we display childr3en's art work) play house water tray sand tray work bench tables and chairs art easel mirrors height chart shapes, numbers and alphabet displays at child height (permananet) hooks for art aprons, water aprons, towels, children's coats and washing lines (for numbers/ music/ beads etc) stage blocks resource trolley We are getting a rain butt and we want to replace our hard surface with a more child friendly one. We don't have any painted floor markings as yet but the children create their own with chalks.
Magenta Posted June 3, 2005 Posted June 3, 2005 ASPK, sounds wonderful,! Love the idea of the 'art gallery', could you tell me a little bit more about it?
Guest Posted June 3, 2005 Posted June 3, 2005 There's nothing much more to tell really - we secured our trellis on a covered wall and then backed it so we can display the children's paintings. The backing we use is a strong, brightly coloured plastic that we get free as off-cuts from a banner-making company out of the yellow pages (saying that, I do give choccies in exchange )
Guest Posted June 3, 2005 Posted June 3, 2005 A couple of thoughts to add to the mele! We have a large board which has some of the 'orange safety fencing' fixed in it within a frame - this hangs onto slots on our walls - we too are unable to leave anything outside - we acquired the safety fencing and a local joiner made the board up for us along with a range of different sized chalk boards - the children use ribbons, strips from carrier bags, fabic and other items ( pipecleaners, stringetc) to weave and create large patterns and simple pictures e.g. a rainbow. Very good for maniupulative skills. Another idea from our geography coordinator is to have a 'home brewing beer barrel' full of water - children access this when writing and drawing using paint brushes and pots - it teaches them about water conservation. When its gone its gone !!!!! We arrange all our outdoor sets in ' cleaning baskets' - the ones with 2 spaces and a handle - each has a label with pictures of the equipment on. Some kits are in specific containers e.g. gardening kit is in a large flower pot - window cleaner kit in a bucket, washing kit in a wash bowl etc. Hope this helps you with your ideas - if your SMT are behind the outdoor area does this mean you have funding - lucky you !
Guest Posted June 4, 2005 Posted June 4, 2005 can anyone give me any more information about the grants from B&Q - how do you go about trying to get one - sounds interesting!
Guest Posted June 4, 2005 Posted June 4, 2005 PS If you are a member of Learning through Landscapes they have an extensive list of places that give money - it takes quite a bit of hunting out, but I promise it's there!
Guest Posted June 5, 2005 Posted June 5, 2005 There's a couple of grants available in their Community Awareness campaigns. The "You Can Do It" award has closed for this year but as far as I can tell from the website the "Better Neighbour Grants" are still available. Try this link B & Q Social Responsibility
Guest Posted June 7, 2005 Posted June 7, 2005 Hi! I thought I'd muscle in on this one too, as my outside space is pretty limited. Hope you don't mind. If anyone has ideas for how best to use space outside which is both susceptible to vandalism AND small I could use the help. We have a tarmaced strip, which is mostly used for bikes, but also the easel and chalking on the ground. We also have a smallish fenced area which has a play surface down (so cannot use bikes/chalks etc. on it), which houses a large heavy-duty shed, which is already pretty full, with things like strimmers (apparently they can't go anywhere else) as well as nursery resources. How do I best use this space without carting vast quantities of 'stuff' in and out every day? Despite my own problems, I do have a couple of ideas. I only arrived in nursery this term, but have also been given the task of developing outdoor play. With this in mind I have planned to have an exploration area (part of a raised bed) with old bits of wood, stones, grass etc. and some magnifying glasses and magnified pots (are they called pooters, or am I talking rubbish?) the children can then look at nature, whilst learning how to respect it ("No, we don't squash the beetles with the rocks.") I'm planning a bird feeder in time for Winter. I've also asked the boss if we can get numbers painted professionally on the tarmac as stepping stones or footprints. We also have wind-chimes, wind twirly things etc. hung up, but they do need to come in at the end of each day. The children enjoy running through long ribbons hanging down. Depending on your space, could you get some hooks or pegs attached to the building or fencing, which could be used for draping fabrics and making dens?
Sue R Posted June 7, 2005 Posted June 7, 2005 And a big hello from me, too! Having worked in a setting with similar constraints, I can see you're well on top of things! Sue
Beau Posted June 8, 2005 Posted June 8, 2005 Hi and thankyou for such a wonderful first post. Hope you share more of your ideas with us - as for me, I don't even have an outdoor area.
Magenta Posted June 8, 2005 Posted June 8, 2005 Welcome chocolate girl. p.s. pooters have a tube attached so that you can suck up the bugs!
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