Early years practitioners from every part of the sector flocked to London's Business Design Centre for the Nursery World Show 2010, and had a great day out at the exhibition and seminars.
Nearly 3,000 visitors came to the show eager to purchase new resources and glean information and advice from more than 80 stands. Many exhibitors launched new products at the show. They included Hope Education with programmable robot Dizzy Tron, and Smart Start Toys with a cardboard rocket.
The Shanticot/Dragonswood stand proved a big draw, with Shanticot's space-saving nursery cots selling well. Dragonswood's new Sensory Pod was a definite hit, as visitors retreated inside to the serenity and calm of the pod and its twinkling lights and cushioned seating. Dragonswood's wooden range made from sustainable materials, such as the Sprite Den, also attracted attention.
Blue Butterfly's minibeasts and seabeasts mats also captured the imaginations of many visitors who snapped up its innovative range of flooring designed to 'bring the outside in'.
The crowds were enticed with free chocolate brownies from the Yum Yum Food stand, a nursery food company that specialises in supplying fresh, healthy vegetarian meals for schools and early years settings.
Stands also offered visitors the chance to talk to training companies, nursery groups, associations, trade unions, software suppliers, and Government health and education representatives.
Young children were catered for in person at the creche run by the Pre-School Learning Alliance and Eibe Play, supplying fun with a great range of resources and supervised by experienced childcarers.
Many of the seminars, meanwhile, were completely sold out. Delegates took away advice from leading speakers, including Joanne Vallis on creating enabling environments, Nasso Christou on children's learning journeys, and Helen Tovey on risk and challenge in young children's learning. Other top presenters were Jennie Lindon, Penny Tassoni, Maria Robinson, Julian Grenier, Bernadette Duffy, Mary Dickins, Tricia Carroll, Anne O'Connor, Wendy Rowlett, Helen Moylett and Liz Cross.
There was more to see and hear at the live theatre stage, putting on demonstrations from leading early years consultancies and educational resource companies throughout the two days.
Crowds gathered for Nursery World's Trainer of the Year, Sue Gascoyne from Play to Z. Her hands-on demonstration showed what children and practitioners can gain from handling sensory rich resources.
Jones and Bartlett Learning ran an interactive workshop to promote its Paediatric First Aid for Carers and Teachers course, and there was a presentation on a holistic approach to the EYFS by Future Creative.
New to this year's event was the Enabling Environments space, which saw educational consultancies Elizabeth Jarman and Mindstretchers giving brief and informative sessions on how the environment supports and extends children's development and learning. Elizabeth Jarman demonstrated her hugely popular Communication Friendly Spaces, while Mindstretchers showed off its motivational naturalistic spaces with educational products in nature gardens.
A range of interactive sessions also took place on the exhibition floor, designed to engage practitioners and bring to life the variety of play equipment and resources on offer. Step by Step (SBS) recreated a mini market square role-play, with a post office, supermarket and kitchen. First2Learn brought the outdoors in with its new nature-themed environment.
The union room was another new feature, where representatives from Aspect and Voice delivered informative sessions.
We would like to thank all of our visitors, exhibitors, seminar leaders and sponsors for their contribution to making it all such a successful event. We can't wait for Nursery World Show 2011!
