We've explored…: a skatepark

A trip to the local skatepark – suggested by one of the children attending First Friends Nursery in Alton, Hampshire – led to a small group of children challenging themselves on their bikes and scooters as they traversed obstacles, pushed themselves up hills and glided down slopes.

the setting's ethos

‘Our approach is child-led across all of our five settings,’ says curriculum and quality manager Shanice Butt. ‘We aim to pull out their interests and make those interests linked to the individual learning. The children's interests are considered when setting next steps for them, and our environments are changed regularly, so we're really fluid.’

Children's Committee

First Friends Alton has created a Children's Committee where a rotating small group of pre-school children meet and discuss issues such as any trips they would like arranging or food they want on the menu.

They take the session's question home so they can discuss it with their parents or carers and prepare. This also helps to support parent partnership.

‘Children are proud to say that they have a meeting,’ says deputy manager Beth Graves. ‘They wear a lanyard saying that they're on the Children's Committee.’ A book records suggestions and has a write-up of the meeting.

‘We want to give the children a voice and make decisions in their nursery,’ explains Butt. ‘Children are the most important part of the nursery, so if we don't put them at the centre then we're not helping them to thrive as individuals. We want to support the children to flourish and be the best versions of themselves. Giving them the power to speak, share their views and be listened to will help them in later life and helps them to feel valued.’

what they did

A Children's Committee meeting around nursery outings led to a child asking to go to the skatepark that he had seen near to the nursery. Other children were also keen on the idea, so educators arranged for a small group of children to bring their bicycles, balance bikes and scooters into nursery.

While children are encouraged to play on wheeled toys in the setting's outdoor area, they were excited to have the opportunity to show off their own bikes and scooters to their friends and take them on a special outing away from the familiar nursery environment. They donned their helmets and high-visibility jackets and pedalled and scooted to the park.

‘Despite being excited, some of the children were sceptical when we first got to the skatepark because some of the ramps are quite big,’ says Graves. ‘There were some quite steep drops, but children's confidence soon grew, especially when they saw some of their friends getting involved.’

Educators supported children as they familiarised themselves with the tricky terrain – helping them to get their bikes and scooters up the ramps and encouraging them to manoeuvre around different obstacles. Nursery manager Jane Noble says, ‘A few children wanted us to hold their bikes and stay with them, but we are a very physically active nursery where children are used to assessing and taking risks, so soon they were saying that they didn't need help any more. They had got the confidence to build up the momentum on their bikes to power them up the slopes. It was great to see them challenging themselves.’ She adds that the children were encouraging and supporting each other to navigate around the skatepark.

The child who suggested the skatepark trip declared that it was ‘the best day ever’.

extension activities

• The children who visited the skatepark enthusiastically told their friends about the experience, and educators noted a renewed interest in bike play.
• The trip led to staff talking in more detail to the children about road safety and reiterating good practice, such as staying on pavements, holding hands with an adult when crossing roads and looking and listening for vehicles.
• Staff linked riding bikes and scooters to the nursery's continuing learning around sustainability and being environmentally friendly.
• The trip also supported the nursery group's Movement and Mindfulness programme, which promotes the benefits of being physically active.
  
  

what they gained

• Balance and co-ordination: Riding down hills, especially on uneven terrain, requires adjustments to maintain balance and control, which takes concentration and strengthens co-ordination.
• Agility and motor skills: Navigating hills and obstacles builds agility and enhances gross motor skills. Powering uphill helps to build muscle strength, especially in the legs and core.
• Body awareness: Riding bikes and scooters can help children to develop a better sense of their body's centre of gravity.
• Resilience and confidence: Overcoming nerves and the skatepark's challenges can help foster resilience and a positive attitude towards perseverance and problem-solving. It also boosts children's self-confidence and sense of achievement. ‘We learn by failing and trying again, so the skatepark was a perfect place for the children to try new and hard things and to challenge themselves,’ says Butt.
• Wellbeing: Undertaking physical activity and spending time outdoors are both proven to help reduce stress and improve wellbeing.
• Social skills: ‘The children at the skatepark are not all in the same friendship group and we saw them building new connections with children that they don't normally seek out, and they were helping each other, which was nice to see,’ says Noble. Graves adds that they were all riding along and chatting to each other as they returned to nursery, and still talk about the experience together.
• Cultural capital: Exploring a place of interest in the local area enriches children's cultural capital by helping them to develop a sense of place and belonging to their community.