Spending time in the great outdoors is an integral part of the ethos of Birmingham Day Nurseries.

Both the Elms and the Oaks are lucky to have green open spaces – and your child gets to make the most of them. In all weathers, we use Forest School and outdoor play equipment to help little ones develop motor skills and take exercise. Outdoor activities also foster communication skills, as children develop their own games and are led to explore their environment.

Getting fresh air is important, of course. But it’s just as important to develop an understanding of the world around us, and to learn about our relationship with it.

At the Elms, the Polli:nation Project has allowed just that, along with an extraordinary amount of hands-on learning. This UK-wide, cross-curricular primary and secondary school project has allowed our Pre-School children to learn alongside older children from the nearby primary school. At the start of the project, the children helped carry out a survey of pollinating insects to discover what improvements could be made to the environment. Using what they learned, the children worked to create welcoming habitats and to grow pollinator food on the nursery grounds.

The project is now complete, and after two years the difference is remarkable. Through their hard work, the children have created a friendly space for many bugs and insects to live and prosper.

In doing so, the children have learned a huge amount about insects, birds, plants and trees. They understand how pollination works, and how important this process is for our environment.

They’ve also helped to develop the outdoor areas as beautiful spaces, giving them a sense of investment and achievement in the place where they too are learning and growing.

And they’ve worked alongside bigger children from another school, co-operating and communicating with new people and forming new relationships.

Thank you to Learning through Landscapes who provided the funding to make it all possible, and to all the staff members and volunteers who helped to make it a success.