Back to the Garden Childcare

N A T U R A L • N U R S E R Y 🌱 Looking for childcare for September?

At Back to the Garden Childcare, we provide nurturing environments where children can learn, grow and thrive through meaningful play, outdoor exploration and authentic experiences.

✨ Funded places available
✨ Beautiful indoor and outdoor learning environments
✨ Intergenerational experiences
✨ Passionate and experienced practitioners
✨ A child-centred approach to learning

Whether you're returning to work, exploring your childcare options or planning ahead for September, we'd love to show you around.

Get in touch to arrange a visit and discover what makes Back to the Garden so special.

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O R I E N T A T I O N • 🔄 Schemas Series

Have you ever noticed your child hanging upside down, spinning around, climbing, rolling, or looking at things from unusual angles?

This is often known as an orientation schema, a repeated pattern of behaviour where children are exploring different viewpoints, body positions and how their bodies move through space.

Schemas help us to better understand the way children learn through play. What may look like endless climbing, hanging or spinning to adults is often children developing body awareness, balance, coordination and an understanding of how they relate to the world around them.

Children exploring an orientation schema may enjoy hanging upside down, looking through their legs, climbing to different heights, rolling down slopes, spinning, swinging, balancing, or viewing objects and environments from different perspectives.

At Back to the Garden Childcare, we love observing these interests and creating opportunities for children to explore them safely through active play. Whether that's climbing structures, balancing equipment, obstacle courses, outdoor adventures or simply allowing children the freedom to move their bodies in different ways, these experiences help build confidence, physical development and spatial awareness.

✨ Does your child love being upside down?
✨ Have you spotted an orientation schema at home?

Share your examples below ⬇

And if you've enjoyed this post, take a look at the other posts in our Schemas Series 🌱

P O S I T I O N I N G • 📍 Schemas Series

Have you ever noticed your child lining up toys, arranging objects in patterns, carefully sorting items, or becoming very particular about where things belong?

This is often known as a positioning schema, a repeated pattern of behaviour where children are exploring order, sequence, arrangement and spatial awareness.

Schemas help us to better understand the way children learn through play. What may look repetitive to adults is often children developing mathematical thinking, problem-solving skills and making sense of the relationships between objects and space.

Children exploring a positioning schema may line up vehicles, arrange loose parts into patterns, sort by colour or shape, create symmetrical designs, organise collections or carefully place objects in specific positions.

At Back to the Garden Childcare, we love observing these interests and creating opportunities for children to explore them through open-ended play, whether that's building with blocks, arranging natural materials, organising collections, matching shapes or creating patterns and sequences.

✨ Does your child love lining things up?
✨ Have you spotted a positioning schema at home?

Share your examples below ⬇

And if you've enjoyed this post, take a look at the other posts in our Schemas Series 🌱

L O C A L • F R I E N D S • 🐴 The babies at our Lymm nursery recently enjoyed a very special visit from some four-legged friends!

There were curious and gentle interactions as the children met Peanut the pony. It was a wonderful experience for them as the children learnt how to approach with care and kindness.

Experiences like these help children build confidence, develop empathy and deepen their understanding of the world around them. For many, it was their very first opportunity to get up close to a pony and it certainly made a lasting impression!

Thank you .ponies
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C O N N E C T I N G • 🔗 Schemas Series

Have you ever noticed your child constantly joining things together, building tracks, connecting blocks, attaching objects or creating links between different materials?

This is often known as a connecting schema, a repeated pattern of behaviour where children are exploring how things join, fit, attach and become connected.

Schemas help us to better understand the way children learn through play. What may look repetitive or simply "building" is often children investigating relationships between objects, testing ideas and developing problem-solving skills.

Children exploring a connecting schema may enjoy linking construction pieces together, creating structures, joining train tracks, threading beads, building with magnetic tiles or finding ways to attach one object to another.

Schemas often overlap too, with connecting linking closely with positioning, enclosure and transformation behaviours.

At Back to the Garden Childcare, we love observing these interests and creating environments that allow children to explore them freely through open-ended play, whether that's connecting loose parts, constructing large-scale structures, threading materials or experimenting with different ways objects fit together.

✨ Does your child love building and joining things together?
✨ What have they been connecting recently?

Share your examples below ⬇

And if you've enjoyed this post, take a look at the other posts in our Schemas Series 🌱

N O • F O A M • O • 🎉 Because everyone joins in on birthdays!

The Babies at Alty enjoyed a birthday-themed sensory tuff tray filled with soft, fluffy blue foam, colourful cups, cake cases and sprinkles.

The children loved scooping, squeezing, squashing and exploring the different textures, developing their fine motor skills and sensory awareness through hands-on play.

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T R A N S F O R M A T I O N • ✨🧪🌸 Schemas Series

Have you ever noticed your child mixing ingredients together, making potions, turning mud into cakes, combining colours, melting ice or becoming completely absorbed in sensory play?

This is often known as a transformation schema, a repeated pattern of behaviour where children are exploring how materials, objects and substances can change.

Schemas help us to better understand the way children learn through play. What may look messy, repetitive or experimental is often children investigating cause and effect, testing theories and discovering how they can influence the world around them.

Children exploring transformation are fascinated by change. They might mix, mash, stir, melt, dissolve, combine, create or experiment with different materials to see what happens next.

Schemas often overlap too, with transformation linking closely with containing, transporting, positioning and connecting behaviours.

At Back to the Garden Childcare, we love observing these interests and creating environments that allow children to explore them freely through open-ended play, whether that's baking, potion making, sensory investigations, science experiments, mud kitchen creations or exploring natural materials.

Does your child love mixing things together?
Have you ever noticed them turning one thing into another through play?

Share your examples below ⬇

And if you've enjoyed this post, take a look at the other posts in our Schemas Series 🌱

B I S C U I T • D A Y • 🍪

Last month, the children celebrated Biscuit Day by making their own healthier biscuits with Erszi, using chocolate (the real kind!) and chia seeds.

Along the way they explored measuring, mixing, rolling and cutting, developing hand-eye coordination, mathematical thinking, sensory awareness and turn-taking skills.

The best part? Enjoying a delicious homemade biscuit together afterwards.

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