Our children are divided between three rooms according to their age and stage of development. These are named Bumblebees for our Babies, Ladybirds for our Toddler Room and Butterflies for our eldest children in Pre School.
Bumblebees
Upstairs is dedicated to our youngest children from 3 months to 2 years old. The rooms are large and bright where our children have access to a range of toys, sensory equipment and soft play giving them lots of exploring, learning and socialising opportunities.
There are bunk cots, black-out blinds, mobiles and sensory lights to aid the little ones to a restful sleep.
For fresh air, babies will get the use of the garden as well as going for daily morning walks in pushchairs provided by the nursery.
Ladybirds
When ready the children will move downstairs into the Ladybirds room. This consists of two large rooms housing a range of different toys and learning opportunities. From construction to role play, from the book corner to messy play the children learn from their play opportunities, the interaction from their peers and the support from their carers. The children in this room also benefit from free-flow access to the outside and free-flow between the two rooms.
At sleep time, the blinds are shut, a story is read by a carer and those who sleep will be laid on a mat with a laundered sheet and gently soothed, patted or sung to as they fall asleep. Children who do not wish to sleep or are being collected can play in the other room without disturbing their friends.
Butterflies
Our final room is our Pre-School room, children in this area have access to child-sized toilets and sinks to promote independence. The Butterfly room is divided into areas in which children can explore different resources. There are areas for role-play, construction, reading, small-world play and adult initiated activities as well as free-flow access to the large outside area.
Butterflies have circle-times where they listen to stories, sing-songs, play games and share their thoughts. The children also have free-flow access to our creative/messy room known as the ‘Pebble Room’ because of its outside-inside look. Here they can create pictures using a range of mark making materials or get really messy using a range of media. This room is also used communally by the whole nursery for certain food times as well as special occasions such as parties.
Garden
The children have the use of a safe, enclosed garden throughout the day. The ‘grass’ is artificial meaning that it will never get muddy and unusable and the safety surface ensures that bumps and scrapes are kept to a minimum. A decked area allows the children to explore sand, water or do some digging and the shade created by the building, the tree and a fitted canopy means that the children are protected from the sunshine in the summer.
For our more adventurous explorers we have child-sized hand and feet shaped climbing apparatus fixed around the tree and a hill with a giant pencil top to run up and down. Being outside is a very important part of the day and we take full advantage of the Alban Way that runs directly next to the nursery for some lovely walks as well as exploring our other surroundings such as the local park and conservation area.
Monkey Puzzle is open from 7.30am – 6.30pm.
Touchscreen technology allows children to learn through genuinely interacting with the applications by using the most natural way of showing or indicating; by pointing and using their fingers! Whether it is creating a picture, making decisions within a story, learning about shapes and colour… the options are endless.
The Digital Nursery C-Point is a robust and attractive touchscreen table which children, practitioners and parents love to use.
We have found that the children at Monkey Puzzle have loved learning and discovering the stories, music, photos, educational games and so much more that this table offers. Please feel free to ask a member of staff to show you the table in operation.
