Mysterious pawprints and explorations with a wildlife camera became the launchpad for a much deeper understanding of nature. By Annette Rawstrone

Finding animal prints in the earth alongside the brook at Watermead Day Nursery in Loughborough, Leicestershire, led to children wondering what animals may be exploring their nursery grounds when they are not there. Their fascination inspired the nursery to invest in a wildlife camera so that they could record nocturnal happenings.

INITIAL EXPLORATIONS

‘We have Forest School sessions on site at nursery and the children also go to the local woods,’ says nursery manager Kyla Fory. ‘The children are very inquisitive when they are surrounded by wildlife and are good at noticing lots of things around them, such as the animal footprints which we took a cast of using plaster of Paris to see if we could match them up to an animal.’

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