Staff at House of Eden Nursery at Aycliffe Primary School were concerned about the open aspect of their nursery's book area.
Acting manager Sharon Foster says, 'We wanted the children to have a calm, private space where they could retreat from the hustle and bustle of the nursery to relax and enjoy books, either alone or with adults and special friends.'
Planned learning intentions
To select and use activities and resources independently
To enjoy an increasing range of books
To respond to what they see, hear, smell, touch and feel
Resources
- Thin net
- door curtains
- coasters
- place mats
- wind mobiles
- baskets
- picnic hampers
- textured fabric and cushions, all in neutral colours
- strings of fairy lights
- a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction books
- soft toys
- puppets
- wall mirrors with safety surfaces
Step by step
To create the area, we:
- chose a suitable space and hung net curtains the ceiling to floor to enclose the area, leaving a small gap for children to enter
- hung mobiles and string lights around the top of the drapes
- spread fabric on the floor and arranged cushions on top
- hung safety mirrors, coasters and place mats on the wall at child height
- filled the baskets and hampers with resources such as books, puppets and story props
- sat the soft toys on cushions
- talked to the children about what the area was for and explained that it is a special place where they can rest or look at books
- modelled the use of resources in the baskets by reading a story with props
- asked the children to suggest ideas for additional resources they would like in their special space.
Sharon Foster is acting manager at House of Eden Nursery, Aycliffe Village Primary School, Co Durham. She spoke to Jean Evans.
