Overflowing crates, stuffed shelves and piles of toys, equipment and random stuff were banished last year as nurseries risk-assessed their resources and drew up even more rigorous cleaning rotas in an attempt to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
Government guidelines on reopening settings during the pandemic led to lots of clutter that had accumulated in some nurseries being cleared away, and actually highlighted the problem of providing too much at any one time. Rather than resulting in boredom, practitioners found that children were more engaged and stimulated when they were faced with less.
Ofsted reported that, ‘Some providers told us that the restrictions have had some positive consequences. They said that, because they could not provide all the usual activities and experiences, they were thinking carefully about what they wanted the children to learn. Some people told us that the limited offer of toys was resulting in children getting more out of each activity.’
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