The Playroom Marple

Yesterday we took a little trip out to test-drive Marple’s brand-new park 🛝🌳

Safe to say, it got the Playroom seal of approval! 😂🙌 Lots of climbing, balancing, sliding, exploring and, most importantly, very tired little legs on the walk back! 💛

We’re very lucky to have such a lovely new space right on our doorstep 🥰

What a bloomin gorgeous day at The Playroom Marple 🌻☀️

Today’s adventure took us sunflower picking at Libby’s Farm and just LOOK at it 😍🌻

We wandered through rows and rows of sunflowers, choosing our favourites, looking closely at all the different shapes and sizes, and of course stopping for a go on the giant swing!

Fresh air, sunshine, nature and happy little faces. Sometimes the simplest days really are the best. 💛

Childhood looking pretty lovely today. 🌻☀️

Sometimes it only takes a few little additions… 🐘🌻

We love how adding just a few new resources to our continuous provision has completely re-sparked the children’s interest in this area. Following our recent trip to Pets at Home, we introduced some new habitats and natural resources and suddenly this little space has come alive again!

The children have been returning to it independently, creating their own habitats, making up stories, arranging and rearranging the resources and bringing their own ideas into their play.

A lovely reminder that continuous provision doesn’t always need completely changing — sometimes a few carefully chosen additions are all it takes to inspire a whole new direction of play. 💛

LearningThroughPlay

🐚🎨 Shell painting in the sunshine!

So much concentration went into transforming our little collection of shells today. The children carefully selected their colours, experimented with mixing different shades and watched closely to see what happened when two colours came together.

We noticed the natural lines, shapes and patterns already hiding on the shells and used these as inspiration for our own designs — adding dots, stripes, swirls and splashes of colour. 🌈

A lovely open-ended activity that encouraged creativity, curiosity and plenty of conversation, while those careful brush strokes gave our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination a workout too.

No two shells quite the same… which was exactly the point. 🐚✨

🌸 A little floral sensory play in the sunshine…

Water, petals, flowers and plenty of pots, jugs and colanders to scoop, pour, fill, empty and strain. 💦

The children explored completely in their own way — watching the water trickle through the holes, transporting petals from one container to another, squeezing and swishing the flowers and, of course, repeating the pouring over and over again. 😂

Such a simple set-up, but so much happening: fine and gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, cause and effect, capacity and early mathematical thinking, alongside a gorgeous sensory experience.

Sometimes the simplest invitations keep little hands the busiest. 🌸💦☀️

LearningThroughPlay ChildLedPlay

😂 That concentration face though… serious artistic business happening here! 🎨🌼

Last week we swapped our usual paintbrushes for flowers! The children dipped, dabbed, swept and twirled them through the paint, discovering all the different marks, shapes and patterns they could create.

There was lots of experimenting with colour mixing, pressure and movement, as well as noticing the different textures of the petals and stems. 🌸

A lovely bit of process art using nature — and apparently one that required maximum levels of concentration! 😂🌿🎨

LearningThroughPlay

Sometimes the best learning happens when we don’t plan it… 💛

The children completely self-initiated their own obstacle course today — moving the equipment around, deciding how to make it more challenging and, of course, deciding that safety helmets were absolutely essential! 👷😂

They took turns, helped each other, encouraged their friends and challenged one another to balance, jump and navigate the course in different ways.

So much problem-solving, teamwork, communication, risk assessing and physical development happening naturally through their play.

We love standing back and watching their ideas unfold. 🥹💛

Don’t throw away those broken chalks… turn them into paint instead! 🎨✨

Today’s invitation to create was made using crushed chalk mixed with a little water, transforming leftover chalk pieces into vibrant, homemade chalk paint.

The children loved experimenting with colours, mixing, painting and creating their own beautiful outdoor masterpieces. Activities like this encourage creativity, strengthen fine motor skills, develop hand-eye coordination and introduce early scientific thinking as children observe how the chalk changes when mixed with water.

A simple, low-cost activity that gives new life to old resources while providing endless opportunities for exploration, imagination and messy fun. 🌈💚

LearningThroughPlay InvitationToPlay SustainablePlay MessyPlay

🌊🐚 A sensory seaside adventure awaits… ⚓

This week, our tuff tray has been transformed into a calming coastal scene, inviting the children to explore a variety of natural textures, colours and materials inspired by the seaside.

From scooping and pouring the different sensory bases to discovering shells, pebbles and hidden treasures, every element encourages curiosity, imaginative play and hands-on exploration.

Sensory experiences like these support children’s fine motor development, language, concentration and problem-solving, while providing a calm, open-ended environment where they can learn at their own pace.

Sometimes, all it takes is a few simple resources to spark the biggest adventures. 💙🌊

EYFS SmallWorldPlay EarlyYears Curiosity ChildLedLearning

🐠 You’ve got post! 📬🌊

This week, a very special delivery arrived at The Playroom… 💙

After writing to the aquarium asking them to send us a pet, we couldn’t wait to see what would arrive! 🐙🐠🐢

Inspired by the much-loved story Dear Zoo, the children have been creating their very own versions of “Dear Aquarium”, choosing sea creatures and describing them with their own wonderful adjectives before deciding whether to keep them or send them back.

Was the octopus too wiggly? 🐙
Was the stingray too spiky?
Was the dolphin too speedy? 🐬

Every story was different, encouraging imagination, storytelling, communication and language, while introducing new vocabulary in a fun and meaningful way.

We wonder… if you wrote to the aquarium, which sea creature would you ask them to send you? 🌊💌🐚