Children from Just Learning Nursery in the new town of Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, had an exciting time visiting a building site. Nursery manager Pat Wright talks about their experiences.
'The visit to the building site was part of our monthly project. We had already talked about different buildings in different countries and had done some artwork and junk modelling. Many of the children at the nursery live in new houses and see new houses being built around them. So we decided it would be great to incorporate this into a learning experience.
One of the parents works for Bovis, the company that builds the houses, so she set up a visit for us. Seven children, aged two to four, accompanied by three adults visited the building site, where they were able to see houses that were only half-built.
They had to wear hard hats for safety, which they loved because they felt like Bob the Builder. They were not allowed to go inside because of health and safety regulations but this didn't diminish their excitement.
They were amazed by the size of the machinery, especially the wheels of the JCB when they saw them close-up. They also counted new bricks before they were cemented together and felt the sand and water before being shown how they were made into cement.
Visiting the building site was wonderful. We were able to examine in safety the equipment used by the builders and talk about how it was used to construct houses. The visit also gave the children a better understanding about how Cambourne has evolved and what is happening in the world around them. The whole experience was very worthwhile.'
FURTHER IDEAS
* For more activity ideas connected with construction and Bob the Builder, see Mini topic, Nursery World, 15 November 2001.
