A world of nursery rhymes in your playground

Did you know that if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they are four years old they are usually amongst the best readers and spellers in their class by the time they are eight years old?

It’s World Nursery Rhyme Week this week and 16th to 21st of November is the time to get outside and into the world of nursery rhymes!

A few years ago The Guardian published a list of the ten most popular nursery rhymes, as voted for by BookTrust supporters. We thought it would be fun to share some playground equipment ideas for each of them.

Hickory Dickory Dock - Ok, so this first one isn’t exactly the same sort of clock as in the nursery rhyme but we think our Solar Powered Stop Clock is a pretty fun thing to use… particularly if you include running ‘up’ and ‘down’ to it. Using solar power, the stop-clock encourages children to time themselves, supporting reasoning and numeracy. The clock is also available with a chalkboard, so you can even work with them to teach basic times and reading a clock.

 

Little Miss Muffet - Our Spider Nest is a spider inspired climber with 8 timber posts and steel core rope webs. It’s perfect for all ages to learn about physical literacy, as well as providing a fantastic place for children to sit and learn about nursery rhymes.

Round and Round the Garden - What better way for children to learn about the outdoor world than through growing their own plants. Our Fun Grow Seating Planters are perfect for little children to sit and dig and learn all about gardening.

Incey Wincey Spider - As well as climbing about like a spider, the playground is a fantastic place for children to learn all about mini beasts. Our Mini Beast Exploration Table includes three magnifying lenses to ensure lots of children can gather around. The rotating table top underneath the lenses can hold six di?erent samples, so there can be lots of learning about different mini beasts.

Baa Baa Black Sheep - If you have really little children then there is nothing quite as fun as a springer… and our Sheep Springer is perfect for singing along to this popular nursery rhyme.

Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill - Did you know that we produce many of our most popular products in both a primary and EYFS size? The Hump Back Hill adds a useful but naturally inspired focal point to your EYFS setting. You will be able to see and hear your children use positional language and storytelling observations, when using this item, such as “in”, “on” and “around”.

The Grand Old Duke of York - We love our Woodland Village range and, in particular, the Boardwalk Labyrinth - perfect for all ages and abilities… as well as a lot of marching! Raised timber boardwalks and bridges can be used to create a complete woodland feel to your scheme. The interlinking, undulating platforms can be combined with square, triangular and curved platforms as well as bridges. We can work with you to create your own bespoke boardwalk or bridge, fitting it into your whole scheme.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - Outdoor space isn’t all about running and climbing. It’s important to include quieter areas as well as seating. We particularly love this Star Seat. These high quality, robust timber seating configurations each seat between 10 and 45 children and are an interesting way to provide seating outdoors.

Humpty Dumpty - While we wouldn’t advocate falling off walls, it can be good to include more places to sit outside, particularly if you want to take learning and story time outside. Our Perch Benches are a great way to do this and work within all sorts of spaces.

If You’re Happy and You Know It - We couldn’t have a list of nursery rhyme playground products without a mention of our musical range… and we think this particular nursery rhyme is a great one for singing along to banging bongos and bat pipes, tinkling chimes or even working your way along one of our musical trails.