Whilst in Japan in 2012, I had the opportunity to visit a nursery. As usual, I thought it might be interesting to share a few photos of the outdoor space. This nursery is situated in a village. It was a stunning location. The nursery was going to be moved to another site, so this blog post captures a moment in time.
The entrance to any education establishment is important. It gives a clear message about the values and ethos of a setting. I rather liked this very child friendly gate. If you look closely you can see a treble clef and music notes.
Immediately inside the gate, the Skogsmulle flag is flying. This gives another indication of the activities taking place here. In Japan there are lots of nurseries who provide Skogsmulle session for their 5 year old children.
Two things which were immediately apparent were the pastel colours of the structures. For some reason this seems to brighten an outdoor space without is becoming too gaudy. Plastic toy statues seem quite common in all sorts of places in Japan so it didn’t surprise me to see Disney characters and a panda in the garden!
The nursery was amalgamated with two other nearby nurseries in 2014, so naturally this will affect investment in the current building and estate.
The area is very large and this is partly due to the structures being situated around the open space.
There was a separate area for the under twos.
Swings and other traditional playground installations were present throughout all areas.
You can see that wheeled toys were much loved. A permanent shelter was available. The range of vehicles was extensive and included hand held items.
As with many early years settings, the sandpit was a much loved area. Wheeled toys for transporting sand can also be seen in and around the put.
The outdoor washing station was brilliant – you can see plenty of space both at the station and all around.
You can see that behind the taps to the left is a space for washing off boots. Slippers were the norm for wearing inside the setting. There were shelves for children’s own slippers too. Also check the long covered space and choice of surfacing. All of this is designed to ease the transition between moving outside and inside.
No disposable towels were used – children each had their own. In the UK, we’d need to ensure these were more spaced out to avoid the towels touching each other.
I hope this gives you a glimpse of a normal Japanese nursery. This blog post was originally published in February 2013.
