This is an ideal hands-on resource for children to use while exploring the outdoors and discovering the natural world around them.
Replica tools include a child-size watering can, trowel, shovel, hand fork, rake, spade and two sets of gardening gloves, plus a wheel- barrow and broom to encourage children to tidy up once they have finished planting, digging or sowing seeds.
Little Beaver Day Nursery in Glossop, Derbyshire, introduced the children to the gardening tools while it was re-designing its nursery garden. 'This was the ideal time to allow the children to help out and the children loved this,' comments owner and manager Patricia Paton. 'I particularly liked the fact that the equipment was all at a child's level and was very sturdy and well built and the children could easily use it. We used the gardening equipment for individual as well as group activities,' she says.
The tools enable children to learn while they play in the garden, helping them to explore a wide range of real-life experiences in a safe environment.
Katie Donnelly from Canon Johnson Church of England Primary School in Ashton-under-Lyne, Tameside, says, 'The gardening equipment is both active and interactive, to help children improve their skills of co-ordination, control, manipulation and movement and is ideal for the physical development area of the EYFS. This is a great product for not only discovering the outdoors but also for developing an understanding of science and nature. The equipment is perfectly sized for small hands and really durable.'
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Green Doll's House, Galt Educational
This product is made from recycled organic rubberwood trees that are too old to produce latex. As well as being an environmentally friendly product, it promotes a green message - with the house incorporating a wind turbine, solar panel, rain barrel, electric inverter for generating electricity and a blind that adjusts the amount of sunlight and air circulation.
FINALISTS
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CRITERION
Open to early years resources and equipment that support children's learning, development and enjoyment in the EYFS.
