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:

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.

January 2024

As always, the children in Pearl Room have been very busy bees this month.

Pearl Room are obsessed with the babies! To deepen this child led play we laid out a blanket to lie down all the babies, with blankets, dressing up clothes, shoes, dummies, nappies and milk bottles, for the children to role play with. They made connections to real life, speaking about their siblings at home and how they take care of them at home. They have also been super helpful with sweeping up mess and tidying up.

The Pearl Room children created their very own 2024 artwork. They used their fingers to dip into paint and decorate the 2024 sheet, in the style of fairy lights. George was super proud of his painting, holding it up to take a photo