For Beautiful Beginnings Day Nursery, set in the 50 acres of parks and gardens of Scarisbrick Hall School in West Lancashire, the natural environment has always been an important feature of day-to-day life. Now, a new outdoor development has increased opportunities for play and learning - with a particular focus on supporting the children's understanding of, and respect for, the world around them.
Over the past seven months, the setting has been working on an outdoor exploration area, made up of dense woodland and a 'Jungle Forest' clearing. It caters to all ages, from birth upwards.
Perhaps surprisingly, the idea for the development was sparked by the discovery of a caterpillar in the grounds. Early years manager Liz Fortune-Price explains, 'A child found a caterpillar and we started developing a mind map around it - how we would look after it, what it was going to eat and where it was going to sleep.
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