eibe play wows National Childrens Centre and Extended Schools Exhibition in London

This was the largest ever, indoor and outdoor nursery show case space in Europe. The message was clear, and the visitors to the show, over 1500 of them,  from Children’s Centres and Nursery Chains from all over the country were buzzing from the ideas and solutions offered by the working children’s centre provided by the eibe play team.

eibe play were commissioned to design and create a fully working children’s centre complete with indoor furniture and a working example of an outdoor play area. The NCCESS Childrens Centre covered over 1200 square feet.  The idea was to highlight to  centre managers and head teachers the importance of integrating good quality play provision from the outset and not as an afterthought.

The area also included a sensory room which was provided by “The Westminster Children’s Society” The Managing Director of eibe Play, Paul Redden said “I was approached  in February this year with this idea and asked if we would like to become involved.” The organisers believed that with the eibe experience in designing Indoor and Outdoor Play space, as well as having the best quality range of Nursery Furniture and Play equipment in Europe, our eibe team would definitely be the perfect partners and be capable of providing their vision and  exactly what the sponsors of the show wished to achieve.

The sponsors of the show were all major organisations dedicated to shaping and influencing national policy as well as delivering a wide range of innovative childrens services throughout the country. The main sponsers were together4 children, 4Children, Play England, DfES, Department of Health, National Children’s Bureau and many more large organisations dedicated to children’s welfare.

The opening of the Childrens Cente was by Beverly Hughes, Minister for Children, young people and families. Beverly Hughes and Charlotte Goddard, editor of Children Now then toured the Childrens Centre, the main focus being on the layouts of the role play zones and sensory area inside also the well laid out and designed outdoor play area. Beverly Hughes was very complimentary about the variety and types of Play inside and outside of the Childrens Centre, particularly the sound and natural environments created using the landscape.

The outside play area consisted of several zones with fixed equipment such as a water play area, sand construction site, small climber for toddlers, wicker huts, sound play equipment, a sensory path leading to a scented and herb garden and also a variety of textile surfaces.  The indoor area of the centre had several zones for role play, painting, reading, sleeping, eating, hanging coats and boots and plenty of storage. There was also the sensory room and next to that a drop-in centre with a youth room and information points.

eibe Play offered two prizes to any one wishing to participate in the competition with consultation questions which were designed to find out what equipment or spaces the visitors would like to have in their own nursery.  The questionnaire was focused on the indoor and the outdoor spaces and over 200 entries were received. The results were fantastic and many of the participants said they had learnt a lot from the event and received valuable information from visiting the show. The majority said they loved the sound garden area inside as well as the role play car. The outside area had thumbs up with the water play area, construction sand site and sensory path with herb garden.

The winners of the competition were All Saints Children’s Centre from Chatham in Kent, and Stroud Green Children’s Centre, Stroud Green, London.

Paul Redden eibe plays Managing Director said “ Our team here at eibe play received nothing but praise for the quality and good practice example of the working childrens centre we created at the Royal Horticultural Centre in London, we learnt a lot during these two excellent days. The main message I think is Centre Managers are still learning about how far they can really push boundaries and they are looking for creative and practical ideas when it comes to providing play, risk and learning. We must all try harder to be sure the children get every opportunity to develop as many basic and natural skills as possible in the first stage of their lives and as professionals and providers of child and youth facilities, we need to keep the momentum going for the sake of future generations.”

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