Enabling Environments: Sensory Gardens

The origins of the sensory garden lie in the physic, or herb, gardens, which first became popular more than 400 years ago. Their collections of aromatic plants and medicinal herbs boasted healing properties and presented the visitor with a fragrant and calming atmosphere, both pleasing to the eye and soothing to the spirit.

It is only in more recent times that the benefits of a much broader variety of sensory experiences for all, but particularly for the visually impaired and those with other special needs, have been realised. The modern sensory garden now combines carefully chosen plants with well-planned landscaping and seating, incorporating shapes, patterns and a variety of tactile features, often divided into separate zones, which work together to relax, educate, encourage exploration and stimulate all of the five senses.

A successful sensory garden for children allows them to watch, touch, sniff, hear, and even taste, their surroundings as they play and learn. And, with the help of wide and sloping pathways and low-level features to explore along the way, it can be made easily accessible to those in wheelchairs, too.

The Rosedale Nursery garden

When Alisa Gierloff, manager of the new Rosedale Nursery in Hayes, Middlesex, wanted to have the nursery's garden created, she relished the opportunity that working with a completely blank canvas provided.

While ensuring that the plans followed EYFS guidance requirements, she has been heavily influenced by the outdoor lifestyle she was accustomed to on the west coast of America, where she grew up. Her vision for the garden's development has been to create a place that would 'evoke a sense of wonder and exploration in young learners' minds, and be a natural and exciting play space'.

The newly completed garden, designed and constructed by Landscape London, is modern, spacious and imaginative, sweeping around the nursery building on three sides, with many of the once-ugly exterior walls now covered with black chalkboard paint to encourage outdoor art, and not a scrap of concrete in sight!

Outside the doors, a corrugated plastic transparent roof covers a decked all-weather platform and is perfect for hanging a changing range of objects from. It allows light through and produces wonderful beating noises when it rains.

Stepping farther outside, the garden's fencing and the mature trees beyond it reduce the impact of noise from passing traffic and students at the neighbouring college, and help to emphasise the feeling of an enclosed and secluded world which the children can explore and enjoy in safety.

The garden has a large circular lawn and a wide expanse of deep white sand in an irregular shape, edged with pebbles reminiscent of a beach or the surface of the moon.

The adjacent water-play area consists of a series of two-tier troughs, fed from the mains with child-friendly taps, the water lapping over the edge and down into the lower level, then draining away into the garden so none is wasted.

Plants feature prominently, and although not yet fully established, are already attracting a variety of butterflies and other insects. Pictures are attached to the fences to help to identify wildlife, with captions in a range of languages reflecting the diverse local community. The children will also be planting seeds and growing their own vegetables.

Any nursery garden should include plenty of play opportunities. At Rosedale, there is a line of small 'balancing' steps, a wooden sit-on sand digger, and a bright-green curved area for bike-riding, with much of the equipment and toys made from natural materials, and all designed to encourage movement and exploration. There is a large open-sided cabin that Ms Gierloff is reluctant to call a 'playhouse', as it has so many other role-play possibilities - anything from a shop to a theatre stage to a cafe - and there's a low-level spiral seating area, too, perfect for wheelchair access and shaded by a giant parasol, where children can chat or sit quietly with a book.

The separate baby garden has its own lawn and sandpit, a wooden sculptured snake to sit or balance on, a small cherry tree, raised beds planted with fennel and sage, which smell wonderful when touched, and a flat, bright-blue circular space where the under-twos can push their trikes or practise crawling and walking. It also has a host of wind-chimes and plastic windmills that make use of the movements made by the breeze.

Ms Gierloff's idea is that children should be free to access the garden at will, not just during organised sessions or at pre-set times, and in all weathers, too (rainwear and boots supplied). And, most of all, she wants them to be able to 'take charge of their own environment,' raking the sand, growing food, feeding the birds and squirrels, and even having a go at cutting the grass with scissors.

Making a garden

Making a new sensory garden or setting aside an area in an existing garden can be great fun and doesn't have to be difficult or expensive. You might like to try some of the following 'five-senses' ideas to help you make the most of the space you have and ensure that it provides a safe, accessible, robust and stimulating experience for all the children in your care.

- Sight: Choose plants with bright colours, interesting shapes and varied heights, and include some that will survive the winter and provide seasonal interest. Look out for flowers that will attract wildlife and others that can be dried and used for crafts. (See Recommended Plants, opposite). Incorporate circles, arches, squares, wavy lines and irregular shapes, mosaics and patterns when building flowerbeds, pathways, play equipment and walls. Create areas that use different aspects of light - one that catches the sun, one that provides shade, and another that uses water or mirrors.

- Sound: Plant tall rustling grasses or bamboo, stick a plastic 'windmill' in the ground, and hang wind-chimes or bells. Listen to the bees as they buzz from flower to flower. Use water, in a small fountain or bird-bath feature or just in a high-level water-play box, for a range of calming, trickling and splashing effects, but never introduce water deep or accessible enough to present a drowning hazard. Scatter some large seashells so children can pick them up and listen for the sounds of the sea.

- Touch: Use plants, play equipment, seating and landscaping features that help children to explore the differences between soft and hard, rough and smooth, cold and warm, and wet and dry. Try to include sand, grass, pebbles, water, a variety of textured leaves, and sculptures or structures made from different materials such as wood, metal, stone, toughened glass or even an old rubber tyre or small porcelain sink used as a holder for plants. Provide sturdy equipment to encourage throwing and catching, jumping, climbing, rocking, swinging and balancing. Make use of seasonal items such as autumn leaves or pine cones.

- Smell: There is a huge variety of easy-to-grow plants and herbs to choose from (see below), providing a mix of sweet, spicy and other fragrances. Some woods and bark can have a distinctive smell, too.

- Taste: It is worth trying to include some elements of taste in the sensory garden, but be aware of the dangers. A small patch for growing herbs, strawberries or vegetables will allow children to taste what they have grown, but be careful to avoid planting anything with poisonous leaves or flowers. Make sure pebbles, stones and shells are large enough to avoid choking if they find their way into curious mouths.

RECOMMENDED PLANTS

Sunflowers: easy and quick for children to grow from seed, providing bright yellow flowers on very tall stems.

Sweet peas: small bright and sweet-smelling flowers on long, climbing stems. Ideal for adding interest and colour to a plain wall or fence or growing over pergolas and trellises. Warning: the seeds can cause mild tummy upsets if swallowed.

Bamboo: pretty pale-coloured foliage that 'whispers' in the wind, the stems knocking together to make hollow sounds. Tall enough to provide shade. Several varieties of tall, feathery or quaking grasses, some with rattling seed-heads, offer similar effects.

Rosemary: a small herb with highly fragrant leaves, tasty and safe to eat. Other herbs with unique fragrances and tastes include chives, sage and mint.

Lavender: a sturdy bush with lilac spike-shaped flowers, silver-grey leaves, and a lovely relaxing smell, safe to taste. Dry the flowers to make perfumed lavender bags, perfect for Mother's Day.

Chameleon plant : has leathery leaves, splashed with green, red and yellow, that smell of lemons. Can grow in moist soil or shallow water.

Lemon-scented geranium: has crinkly, variegated leaves with a strong lemony smell when crushed between the fingers, and that change colour in winter.

Nasturtium: bright yellow, red or orange flowers, easy to grow from seed, and with a distinctive smell. Both leaves and flowers can be eaten in salads.

Curry plant: has leaves that smell of spicy curry, especially on a warm day. Flowers in autumn as well as summer. 'Everlasting' flowers can be produced when dried.

Heuchera 'Chocolate ruffles': has pretty pink flowers and unusual purple leaves with undersides that really do smell of chocolate. Grows well in shaded areas.

Lamb's ears (or bunnies' ears): a low-lying ground cover plant with woolly grey leaves that feel as soft as a real lamb's ears.

Allium: has narrow leaves that smell of onions when crushed. Tiny flowers are densely packed into bell shapes or spheres that turn into big, bold seed heads. Leave the planting to an adult as the bulbs can sometimes cause mild skin irritation or allergies.

Viv Hampshire is a library outreach worker at Barra Hall Children's Centre, Hayes.