Chessel Centre

In the Pearl Room, there is space for 24 children aged nine months to three years old, all year round. In this room, which looks out on to the garden, there are so many opportunities for children to explore and learn.

The Pearl Room is full of adaptable spaces which can be chopped and changed depending on what the children are interested in at that particular time. For example, the nap area can easily be switched from busy play area to calming sleep space with beds, mattresses, and blankets aplenty! There is also a separate creative area where the children can get really stuck into messy, explorative play in a purpose built space.

We take inspiration from a range of childhood education approaches. This is reflected in our environment, which is full of realistic, natural resources and cosy, enclosed areas providing multiple opportunities for communication and collaborative play.

We also have our own sensory room with a bubble tube and projector; this ensures the children have the opportunity to take a break and regulate themselves whenever they need to.

See what the Pearl Room have been up to this month:

April 2024

As always, Pearl Room have had a jam packed month of fun and activities.

In the home corner, we’ve been investigating herbs, using our senses to explore mint, basil and chives. The children talked about what the leaves smelt like and then helped to make dough with flour and salt. They practised their fine motor skills and hand eye coordination using different spoons and safe knives to chop and combine the herbs with the dough.

We have been practising counting 1-10 using coloured counters. They enjoy filling up the number grid with the counters.

We created a hospital in the pearl room and loved pretending to be doctors, nurses and patients. The children used bandages and different equipment like stethoscopes and thermometers, to examine one another and take each others temperatures.

March 2024

We did lots of Spring/Easter activities, including an Easter themed treasure hunt outside in the garden. We explored sensory trays with eggs and rabbits, and we made Easter cards for our loved ones.

We also have been learning about caring for our teeth. We helped to brush pretend teeth after reading the book “We’re going to the dentist”.

February 2024

We have been talking about the Colour monster story to discuss our feelings and emotions. In the book, the monster organises his colours (emotions) into jars. We were inspired to make our own “mindfulness jars” so we could shake them and watch them when we needed to take a moment to calm or reset our emotions. We asked parents to bring a jar in for us to make one and we then sent them home for the parents to use at home with the children.

There have been lost of festivities in February. We celebrated the beginning of the New Lunar Year (Year of the Dragon) by making our own crowns, watching a Lion Dance and we even had our own lucky red envelopes with a special treat inside. These envelopes are given as a sign of luck and prosperity for the coming year. We of course ate pancakes on Pancake Day (with berries and yoghurt) and for Valentines day got creative and made cards for the special people in our lives.