Enabling Environments: Studio tour - Behind the scenes

One of our popular morning rituals is to discuss the day's weather during circle time. The children like to talk about whether it is warm or cold, wet or dry, and if the sun is out or if it is cloudy. We select weather symbols to put on a board for the day.

Many of the children see weather forecasts on breakfast TV before they come into nursery in the mornings and they refer to that when we discuss what the weather is like. This got us talking about how it would be nice to see a proper weatherboard and find out how a weather forecast is produced.

Our nursery is just a couple of roads away from the BBC Broadcasting House in Bristol and a few of the children's parents work there, so I spoke to them to see what we could rearrange. The studios offer a set tour, but it is not suitable for young children. So we were thrilled when a parent arranged for ten of the children to go on a free tour designed especially for us. They even arranged for us to meet local weatherman Richard Angwin, who presents the weather on the Points West regional news programme.

The children were really excited at the prospect of seeing behind the scenes. In preparation for the visit, we looked up Richard Angwin on YouTube and discussed the role of a weather forecaster and how knowing what weather to expect can help us during the day, such as planning what clothes to wear.

The children decided that they'd like to take a gift to the studios, so we did some baking for Richard Angwin and prepared a basket of cakes for him.

We walked to Broadcasting House and it was great to be allowed inside a big building that we often go past. Staff gave us a tour of a television studio and explained to us how different programmes are produced, from writing a script to actually putting it on the screen. The children asked lots of questions.

The studios were a lot smaller than we expected and there were a lot of people around. The children were intrigued when looking at the cameras and lights, and asked if they come from a technology box like we have at the nursery! It was good that they were able to link what they were seeing with their experiences of ICT in the nursery.

We were all most interested by the 'green screens' used during weather forecast broadcasts. The children are used to seeing the presenter stand in front of a large map on television, but did not realise that in the studio they are really standing in front of a green background and the different weather maps are then superimposed - so the presenter is actually pointing at a blank screen. When the technology was explained to us, it was likened to Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, which really caught the children's imaginations. Anything green is replaced by the image, so if the children put a green sheet up in front of them they could watch themselves disappear on the TV monitors.

There is a countdown clock on a screen that the presenter has to watch so they know when to start talking, and then it was explained to the children that they had to say everything in a set time before the programme moves on to another subject.

Richard Angwin was lovely. He was very impressed by the children's cakes and even ate one straight away! One of the girls looked up and said, 'I am good at being a weather forecaster because I know that it will always be cloudy in Bristol!'

We were also shown the newsdesk and the children sat on our knees as we were counted in and filmed reading a script from the autocue. It was really quite daunting! The children found this experience very funny, especially when it was played back to us. Even though many of the children are used to being filmed for family videos, they were surprised to see themselves on TV so quickly.

Since the visit the children have excitedly come into the nursery and reported seeing Richard Angwin on television. Their parents say that they are now hooked on weather forecasts and are expert in explaining how they are filmed.

We took lots of photos during our visit and have made them into a book for the children to read in the book corner and have also produced a big display. The children have painted pictures of what they saw in the studio and pictures of Richard Angwin.

Our role-play area is now a makeshift television studio. The children use their imaginations, and what was once a shop front is now a television. They take it in turns to 'broadcast' programmes and pretend that they are starring on the television.

Amelia Jebelli spoke to Annette Rawstrone