At Tiddlers Day Nursery we know that the environments we create provide our children with their surroundings and base for every minute of their nursery life so they must be superb. We never stop putting effort into maintaining them at an outstanding level, so that the children experience is the very best foundation that it can possibly be.
Our open plan, age-specific rooms are all on ground floor level, giving our Practitioners and children easy access to our amazing outdoor space as often as possible. We are passionate about nature and the natural world, and regard them as the best environments of all, so we seek to get our children out and experiencing them as an integral part of their days. We extend their engagement with nature indoors too – with as many of our resources as possible being fully natural, our colour schemes being neutral and gentle in a soft palette associated with the outdoors and with our furniture all being made from a solid beechwood.
As you would expect (based on our passion for creating a nature-centred nursery), our outdoor environments at Tiddlers are the result of a great deal of thought and care. We have incorporated a wealth of features and resources into them to give our children some phenomenal natural experiences during their time with us. Our views of the Amber Valley provide a stunning landscape and backdrop for our outside activities and we build on this by ensuring our own grounds are always beautifully maintained. We have two all-weather play areas which are vital in making sure we never have to let weather stop our outdoor fun. Our Sensory Garden and Outdoor Classroom, which is set in its own Enchanted Garden are other standout features of the space.
Spending time in nature is truly wonderful in what it offers children, but actually interacting with and learning to work in harmony with nature offers them experiences on an even higher level. This is why we have developed a large vegetable garden and our aviary. In our vegetable garden our children learn how to grow an array of herbs, vegetables and flowers through the seasons. Our aviary enables children to explore caring for animals. They love getting involved with the care of the birds and we teach them how to understand the needs of these lovely creatures. One of the children’s favourite activities here at our Alfreton nursery is going to visit the birds.