Chessel Centre

In the Pearl Room, there is space for 24 children aged 1 – 3, 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:

November 2023

We created our own clay Diva to celebrate Diwali and the Festival of light. The children moulded the shape, painted them and decorated with glitter and sequins.

The children made their own poppy pictures for Remembrance Day! They used a potato to print the flower shape with red paint, and a circle sponge to print black dots.

We also joined in with Children In Need, having a pyjama day and the children enjoyed making a conga train. Even the grownups joined in!

October 2023

We have been super busy with lots of fun activities in Pearl Room this month.

The children decorated their own Autumn pictures! They used a circle sponge to stamp on their pictures and chose their own design out of leaves 🍁, tree 🌳, pumpkins 🎃, acorn, hedgehog 🦔, squirrel 🐿️. We used red, orange, yellow and brown paint for the autumn colours.

We have been investigating the pumpkins. We cut the pumpkins open and explored what was inside, using our hands, spoons and tweezers. We looked at the seeds and talked about the textures being “sticky,” “cold,” “ smells like Weetabix.” There was a lot of scooping and feeling the textures on our hands.

The children painted their own pumpkins! They used orange paint mixed with gold glitter. They also painted their hands and made their own spider paintings! We looked at the Halloween decorations we put up in the room and they were all interested in the big spider and web on the wall!

The children initiated their own yoga while we played calming music. They explored moving their body in different ways!

September 2023

Pearl Room have had a great September! We have been using our imaginations by using various props and dressing up outfits, the favourite of which has been a cuddly cow costume! We also have been developing our moving and handling skill on the Wheelybug ride on toy, which has been very popular.

The children have. experimented with using different types of technology, in particular using tablets to take photos. The children developed their “understanding the world” knowledge by learning how to operate the simple mechanisms such as taking a photo or pressing buttons on toys to create lights and sounds.

Finally, we held a lovely autumn themed stay and play session at the end of the month. We had a small group of grown-ups come in to play and join in with some autumnal playdough, painting activities, reading stories and some of our grown-ups even were encouraged to have a go on the indoor slide! We are looking forward to our next stay and play next month, which will be Halloween themed.