Outdoor Play Area Ideas For Nurseries and Schools

Playing outside is brilliant for children. As well as the important fresh air it can also help children practise and improve their physical abilities. For example things like running and jumping strengthen their little muscles, while other activities can help with gross motor skills, fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Playing outside will also improve children’s health and well-being while helping them become more sociable and create new friendships.

In this blog post we have put together some outdoor play area ideas for nurseries and schools. Some of them you may have in your own playground, while others you may not even have considered. If you’d like help creating any of these outdoor play area ideas at your school or nursery then give us a call;

Active Play

Children love having space to move about and run around. Having a range of things that encourage children to be and stay physically active will always be enjoyed. Why not consider low balance beams to walk on, things they can crawl under, jump over and run round? Re-purposed items can be really popular among children too, especially when brightly coloured. For example tractor tyres to crawl through or car tires to balance across?

Messy and Sensory Play

Add a space for sand or mud play. Children love touching things and getting involved. However, sensory and messy play will also support brain development which will activate the five senses. We recently created a mud kitchen for a local nursery and this has been extremely popular with the children. You could have a permanent area where sand can be played in, or smaller permanent vessels that can be played with if your outdoor space is smaller.

Creative Play

As all parents and teachers know, kids love making noise. Why not install a music wall in your outdoor play area? This can have a selection of pots, pans, tubes, bottles and cups that can be tapped with sticks to make different noises. The children will enjoy creating music and hearing the different noises that the items on the music wall make.

Imaginative Play

Children don’t need a lot of help to get their imagination going but there are some really simple things you can create to support imaginative play. For example you could have a magical gnome garden, a wild animal safari or a pirate ship. We can look at your space with you and recommend the best option for your space, budget, children and needs.

Natural Elements

As a family run business we know how important the natural elements are and love helping children learn about them. You could have a rain collector in the play area to see how much rain has fallen, an insect hotel where they can learn about mini-beasts or a vegetable garden so children can see and learn how food grows.

If you’re looking for outdoor play ideas for your nursery or school, or just want to improve the outdoor playing space you have then why not give us a call. We can work around you, even during weekends, half terms and school holidays to create the ultimate surprise for your children.