Winter Play Safety Tips

Winter can be a great time for outdoor play, but with temperatures dropping and the long nights setting in it's important to take a few extra safety precautions to keep children safe at play during winter months. Here are a few measures you can take to keep outdoor play safe and fun all winter long.

Wrap up warm

It may seem obvious, but keeping kids wrapped up warm in vital when they're out playing in cold weather. A thick waterproof coat, some good gloves, a hat and scarf are all important. Keep them bundled up underneath, too, with good thick jumpers and thermal underwear for those really bitter days.

Get some good wellies to keep their feet warm and dry in snowy conditions, and try to keep the rest of your child's clothes as waterproof as possible. Wool is better than cotton for this, as well as being warmer to boot. Of course, you can't always guarantee they'll stay dry, so...

Pack a change of clothing

If you're heading away from home for play time, you should pack some spare clothing just in case the children get wet. Nothing brings on a chill quicker than shivering in cold, wet clothing - if your child gets wet in the snow, then they should change out of their damp clothing as quickly as possible. Keeping a spare set of clothes in the boot of the car can save on some very damp and unhappy homeward journeys!

Supervise their play time

It's always important that children's outdoor play should be supervised, but this goes doubly for winter play. Always keep an eye on children playing around snow and water, and make sure to keep them away from any icy patches. And you should take extra care when it comes to outdoor play equipment...

Inspect outdoor play equipment

All good play equipment is designed to be used in any weather, but in wintery conditions you should always check the play equipment your children are going to be using before they play on it. Clear any buildups of snow or leaves, and check for any icy patches or sloppy surfaces. Metal play equipment in particular can become slippy when wet, so make extra sure that the equipment your children are going to be using is safe before they start playing.

Red Monkey Play equipment is designed to be safe and fun in any weather - with robust play-grade timber and non-slip decking, our equipment is perfect for play all year around. Click here to find out more about our great all-weather play equipment.

Follow these simple tips, and you're on your way to keeping your children safe and warm at play this winter. The cold weather doesn't mean you have to keep your kids shut up inside - get out there and play!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

Water Play Ideas

We've already talked about how you can liven up your sand play - now it's time to talk about water! Water is great for play time - everyone knows children love splashing about. But water play can also be a great learning aid. Clever use of water play can teach children loads of things about the world around them, and they'll have fun while they're learning too!

Here are a few tips for how you can add a splash of originality to your water play.

Colourful water

Not only does coloured water look great, it's a wonderful way for children to learn about how colours work. All you need is a little squeeze of food colouring, the kind available from any supermarket, and your water will be transformed!

Now try some simple colour matching exercises - ask the kids to place the yellow duckling in the yellow water, for example, or to fill the red beaker with red water.

It's also a great opportunity for children to learn about colour mixing - let them experiment with mixing different colours of water together and see what new colours they can think up. Hopefully they'll bring these new ideas into their next art class!

Sensory Water

Don't just stop with colour - why not add some scents and herbal infusions to your water play? A little bit of cake flavouring - again available at your local supermarket - can make water smell lovely. Mixing it up with colours can teach children to associate colours and smells - try some red strawberry flavoured water, or a green peppermint flavour.

Mixing some herb cuttings in with your water can introduce more unique scents, as well as teaching children a little bit about nature. Let them mix up their own scented infusions, identifying the scents of different types of herbs - herbal tea bags and tea leaves make some great additions, too. They'll be mixing up all sorts of interesting potions in no time, and learning all the way!

Water for storytelling

Loads of children's books feature water in some way - books like Sharing a Shell, The Rainbow Fish and Tiddler. Why not bring an extra dimension to story time by turning your water play area into a scene from their favourite book?

Coloured craft foam can be used to make all sorts of water-proof story props - let the children cut and craft their own scenes and characters. Laminated pages and printouts can be great for storytelling too. See what ideas you can come up with to transform your water tables; add sand or pebbles for a beach scene, or coloured rocks to make a coral reef.

Our Water Tables are a great way to introduce water play to your play area!

Whatever you choose to do, there are loads of ways to make water play a central play and learning experience. For great water play inspirations, why not check out Red Monkey's Sand & Water range - bringing a splash of fun to any play area!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

Sand Play Ideas

Sand play is a great learning experience, and great fun too - with clever use of sand, children can learn to mould, build and act out sand-based adventures. Sand can be both a toy and a teaching aid if you know how to use it.

We've put together a few tips to help you make the most of sand play with your children. The children will learn all sorts of things, and have a great time doing it too!

The sand kitchen

Sand makes a great 'ingredient' in any play kitchen - whether it's dry and powdery or wet and malleable like dough. Try introducing other 'food' elements to the sand kitchen - dry pasta is a good one, and herbs or cut grass make for a great vegetarian option.

Get some old pots and pans together, and the children will be cooking up sandy delights in no time! All good fun, and they'll be learning about mixing ingredients at the same time. Why not think up some sand-based recipes for them to cook, and see what they come up with?

Red Monkey's Kitchen Units are perfect for some sand-based cookery!

Colourful sand

Give your sand play a colourful new dimension by mixing in a few tablespoons of powder paint with your sand. The colourful sand is a delight for the children, and can be used to teach them about colours, too.

See if they can match coloured sand with coloured objects - for example, filling a red cup with red sand. Or have the children colour the sand themselves, and see if they can get the hang of mixing colours together to create new ones. Perfect for both sculptors and budding artists!

Sand islands

Sand can be used to create great play-scapes for acting out stories and role-play scenarios. Damp sand can be used to create all sorts of fantastic environments - flatten it down to build roads, dig tunnels and caves for creatures to lurk in, or build mountains for characters to roam over.

Try turning your sandbox into a scene from a favourite children's book, then drop in some toys and let the children act out the story. You could even print and laminate pictures of your children's favourite characters, and bring the story to life right there in the sandbox!

Whatever you choose to do with it, sand is one of the most versatile gateways to creative play. If you're looking to add some exciting sand play opportunities to your play area, why not check out some of our great sand play products?

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

Case Study: Delves Infant & Nursery School

Our favourite part of any job comes after installation is complete, when teachers and children see their finished play area for the first time. Seeing the looks on their faces makes all the hard work worth it!

Red Monkey recently completed work on an ambitious Outdoor Play and Nature Garden project at Delves Infant and Nursery School in Walsall, and we couldn't be more pleased with the results! And seeing the look on Head Teacher Emma's face when she first saw the new play area, we know the children are going to be even happier than we are!

The brief

Our brief was to create two new outdoor areas at Delves Nursery School - an 'outdoor school area', which was to feature a dedicated outdoor learning area as well as challenging play equipment, and an 'eco zone', a natural garden area with scenic water features and outdoor shelter for learning and relaxation.

Project Manager Richard designed the new areas by combining play products from the Red Monkey catalogue with some bespoke designs created specifically for Delves - including rustic nature houses and a completely original water fountain.

The result was a comprehensive new outdoor area that's completely unique to Delves - you won't see anything quite like this anywhere else!

The reception

Project Manager Richard reveals the new play area to a delighted Emma.

Delves' Head Teacher Emma Ingram loves the new areas - here's what she had to say after we unveiled them:

"Outdoor learning is an important part of children’s physical, social and cognitive development. At Delves Infant & Nursery school we wanted an outdoor area which would inspire and excite our young minds and develop children’s confidence and inquisitive spirit. 

The team at Red Monkey completely identified with our vision, aspirations and ambitious plans. Their professionalism and commitment was consistently exceptional throughout, from the initial pulling together of ideas through to the bespoke design, manufacture and installation of our amazing ‘Eco Zone’ & ‘Forest Schools Area’. We now have an outdoor area that is both unique and extraordinary. We are thrilled!"

Emma Ingram, Delves Infant and Nursery School, Walsall

We certainly can't argue with that - thanks Emma! If you'd like to see how Red Monkey can bring a creative flare to your school or nursery, just give us a ring on 0116 281 3975 to book your free site visit today!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

The Importance of Play Blocks

Sometimes the old ways really are the best - it's been 100 years since wooden building blocks were first mass-produced as toys and learning tools for young children, and yet recent studies show that they are still one of the most effective ways for children to learn basic skills. Don't believe us? This BBC report highlights just how important play blocks can be in aiding learning development.

Generate, Concentrate & Communicate

Red Monkey Play Blocks come in a range of sizes and
shapes, to encourage imaginative play.

It's often modern technology that attracts children's attention these days - bright screens and colourful games - and there are some excellent digital teaching aids out there. However, experts believe that there's nothing to compare with the physical act of basic building for developing children's spatial and social awareness.

So how do play blocks help children's learning? Well, by building even basic structures, children start to understand things about the world around them. When gravity pulls their new tower down, they'll instinctively build it less top-heavy next time. When a bridge won't support any more blocks, they'll look for ways to reinforce it. These are things they'll pick up innately, just by by playing. The more they build, the more the learn about the basic physics of building.

Play blocks are also a great way for children to develop their social skills. After all, we can build bigger castles faster if we work together, right? As children start to appreciate the benefits of cooperation, they also begin to develop a greater sense of empathy for those around them.

Introducing Red Monkey Play Blocks

Play blocks may prove to be an invaluable tool for children's development; so how about getting your hands on your very own? Well, Red Monkey have you covered. We've just launched our new Play Blocks; chunky wooden blocks in a range of sizes, especially designed to inspire imaginative play in young children, and provided in a handy box.

Our new Play Blocks are available now!

A 25-piece box of Play Blocks costs only £19.90 including delivery; if you're interested in getting your hands on some, give us a call on 0116 2813 975, or alternative send us an email to sales@redmonkeyplay.co.uk and let us know you're interested!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

Childcare Expo 2013

We are happy to announce that we're exhibiting at this year's Childcare Expo in Coventry on the 27th and 28th of September. The Childcare Expo is an inspiring and informative free event for all those working in the early years, childcare and nursery sector.

You can expect to see stands from loads of the UK's top nursery suppliers - including Red Monkey Play! We're going to be exhibiting some new products - it's the first time you'll be able to see our new Kitchen Units outside of the workshop, and we're also launching our new range of Play Blocks, designed to inspire creative play and improve spatial awareness. They'll be available to purchase from our stand, so be sure to drop by!

Our new Play Blocks are a fun and flexible teaching tool.

As well as our products, we'll have free gifts to give away and we're running a competition to win some great Red Monkey play equipment - so visit us and say hello, and who knows, we could be delivering a spark of imagination to your play area soon!

You can find this year's Childcare Expo at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, and you can find Red Monkey Play at Stand E13. We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information on the Childcare Expo, why not visit the website?

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

Role Play & Learning

The importance of role play.

Role play is an important part of growing up. It's how children learn to communicate, how they learn to relate to each other and the world around them. That's why it's so important, especially for Early Years and nursery-age children, to encourage healthy, imaginative play as much as possible.

Children learn important social
skills while they play.

The importance of role play is something that's now being acknowledged by UK teaching authorities; the three key pillars of the 2013 Early Years Foundation Stage framework are 'communication and language; physical; and personal, social and emotional development.'

Every one of these areas can be bolstered by including role play ideas in children's play time. And it's not hard to do! Given some simple tools, most children will naturally come up with their own imagined worlds, with their own rules and ideas to explore. All you have to do is provide them with the means to get creative!

Introducing our Early Years Kitchen Units.

At Red Monkey Play we recognise the importance of role play to children's learning and development. All of our Nursery and Early Years play products have been designed with children's imaginations in mind, and make great additions to a role play setting.

Our Kitchen Units make the perfect addition to any role play area.

These are the Kitchen Units, our latest Early Years role play products. Children love to play house - it's a way for them to learn to cooperate and empathise with one another, and just as importantly, it's plain old fun!

Our Kitchen Units are the perfect addition to an imaginary house set, providing three key features of the kitchen - a sink, an oven, and a washing machine. They're the perfect size for Early Years children, and are built from robust play-grade timber, so they can stand up to rough-and-tumble play sessions.

And in the true spirit of role play, our Kitchen Units don't have to be kitchen units at all - they can be the controls of a space ship, or machines in a laboratory, or treasure boxes at the bottom of the sea, or…or anything else you can imagine. I'm sure the children will be able to come up with better ideas than I ever could!

With role play, the only real limit is their imaginations!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.