We Went From Bright Colours To Calmness

I am the Area Manager for Daisy Chain Nursery and over the

last year the nursery owner has worked hard transforming the

nursery into a home from home approach. The company has 2

settings and I work to support both settings whilst managing

the Liverpool site. The nursery Owner works closely with

myself and the teams and has completed a lot of the

environment work and the research behind it, educating the

teams along the way.

When the initial decision was made to change the nursery

approach we started by adapting the furniture and muting the

colouring to provide a more natural approach. We immediately

noticed a change in the behaviour of the 2 year old children

and also the children who have special educational needs. more

comfortable. hey seemed a lot calmer and the environments in

general seemed to be calmed as the children were being

stimulated by the toys and the activities rather than being over

stimulated by the general environment.

We began the process in the baby room and started

by adapting the way work was displayed and

purchasing new rugs and new equipment to make it

look more natural. We added plants to the

environment and we used natural coloured materials

and warm white lighting to make the room have a

cosy feel when you walked in. We have used a lot of

soft furnishings and added a Tee-Pee filled with

wooden and natural lose parts for exploration.

We then moved onto the 2 year old provision, this was

the point where I began to have some doubts as I was

worried at how we would fit the relevant learning into

the home from home approach however I quickly

learned that the process is more around how you

display the items you have and the impact moving

away from ‘toys’ can have on the children. We built a

large sandpit and made it into a natural

communication friendly space and this has had a big

impact on the children as they have a safe space to go

and play where they are able to use their whole

bodies.

We added more natural resources to the pre-school

room and kept mostly the same furnishings however

we have recently began to adapt this since the

purchase of the second nursery. We are currently in

the process of adapting the furniture and resources to

make these areas cosy and warm.

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