At Monkey Puzzle Bedford, each room is individually appointed to reflect the particular requirements of each age group. On the whole, we prefer to move the children between the rooms based on their individual development rather than their age

Our Nursery

Baby Room

Our Baby Room is a 12-place playroom for children aged 0-24mths with a staff child ratio of 1:3, with a dedicated area for babies to sleep/rest peacefully. In the Baby room, we provide a wide range of sensory toys and experiences to explore such as black and white equipment, Book, Messy play and age appropriate toys. We have a large open area to allow children to become more mobile by rolling, crawling, pulling themselves to stand and walking for physical development. In order to encourage your baby’s curiosity and sense of exploration we have a heuristic area to help children experience such natural objects as wood, metal, pine cones and corks.

At meal times in the Baby Room we encourage older babies to become more independent and we work alongside parents to support individual weaning stages.

Our dedicated and cosy sleep room is where babies are supported to feel relaxed in a safe and secure environment which is attached to the main baby room via an adjacent staircase. Sleeping babies’ well-being is continuously monitored including the environment to ensure the temperature is just right!

There is also a separate artificially grassed outdoor area with the space to encourage physical development along with areas for exploring in play.

Toddler Room

Our Toddler room is a playroom for children aged 2 years – 3 years with a staff child ratio of 1:4.

Our Toddler Room is unique in that it offers separate cubby hole rooms which we use to promote different areas play to extend the children’s learning to cover the whole curriculum, including a malleable area in order to develop children’s independence further by allowing them access to such media to develop their fine motor skills and imagination with their creations. Physical skills are built upon by us offering all sorts of construction materials along with different methods including; stacking, assembling, disassembling, sorting or moulding. Our role play area is where children can get into character and act out real contexts or reflect and develop their knowledge of a topic or interest.

We encourage the children to be as independent as possible, for example finding their own pegs, beds and drawers. We also have a large emphasis on physical needs by potty training the children in their own way and at a time to suit them by working along with parents.

Meal times are very sociable times, with all the children sitting together with staff role modelling. The children are encouraged to self-serve during meal times adult support is offered when needed.

Pre School Room

Our Pre-School Room is a playroom for children aged 3-5yrs with a staff child ratio of 1:8.

Our Pre-School Room is one large room with a room with dining space for the children at meal times where they are encouraged to self-serve. All activities are accessible and in easy reach for children, giving them the opportunity to explore and investigate new challenges, ask questions and develop a natural curiosity and become an independent and self-confident individual. Children are given the opportunity to explore prints and mark making throughout their daily environment through books, posters, signs and labelling.

We also like to have morning and afternoon helpers who have responsibilities with helping set up and tidy up after meal times.

Pre-School also offers access to 2 separate outdoor areas allowing the children to extend their own learning through continuous provision.

Key group sessions in Pre-School continue to further support children’s learning, awareness of letters and sounds and numbers with the introduction of new information and topics to interest the children. This targets each individual child in enhancing their independence and readiness for school. This encourages each child to speak out and be heard, giving them a sense of value and self-esteem. The group times cover discussions on children’s home interests etc, encouraging their listening skills, turn taking and gaining knowledge of their cultures and communities.

Any artwork made by a child are the child’s own work. We may put examples of adult drawing or photos as an example to inspire and give ideas but the children do their own work or joint with friends. This is also with other activities, for example in the sand or water we will provide jugs, funnels, sieves, spoons and many other things for children to try and discover and experiment and learn for themselves. They also have a malleable station to allow them to make free choices and create their own sensory media.

Our aim is to encourage the children to take responsibility for their environment, tidying up after themselves and for all children to respect equipment and each other.

Outside Space

We have 4 garden spaces where the children have the opportunity to explore and play. All of these spaces include various surfaces to enable outdoor play throughout the day all year round, allowing the children access to continuous provision.
Our outdoor spaces allow children the opportunity to extend their own learning, giving children the opportunity to take risks in a safe and stimulating environment.

Access to our outside spaces supports the development of healthy and active lifestyles by offering children the opportunities for large physical activities using one of our large climbing apparatus, freedom and movement around the spacious areas and promotes a sense of well-being.

Playing and learning outside gives children contact with the natural world and offers experiences that are unique to outdoors, such as direct contact with weather and the varying seasons. It also helps children to understand and respect nature, the environment, independence and lifecycles. The outdoor environment allows children the opportunity to explore, discover, be active and healthy and to develop their physical capabilities.

We would love you to come and have a look for yourself.  

Please pop in and see us or call and arrange a time that suits you.