With over 25 years of operating within the playground industry, Pentagon Play have become to go-to for hundreds of nurseries across the UK to help with installing and designing the best playground equipment.
In recent times, every local authority within the UK has wanted schools and nurseries to push active play to encourage all ages of children to be physically active. From nurseries to preschools, an active play programme can easily be introduced by adding active play equipment to a playground.
Active Play Resources
Active play resources are fantastic ways to promote physical activity to all ages of children. From from 6 months all the way up to KS2, Pentagon Play's fantastic range of active play equipment has become incredibly popular over recent years.
With children being in classrooms for most of the day, active play not only helps with keeping children physically active, but it helps with emotional, social and cognitive development. All of these areas are vital for a child's development as they grow up into an adult.
Being physically active is also seen as a great importance by the NHS as childhood obesity is becoming common and leading to children to develop a variety of different illnesses. Active play will help children combat obesity by helping them burn fat in a fun and engaging way.
Pentagon Play has worked with a variety of nurseries across the UK by providing our fantastic active play equipment. Our active play range has been designed by our expert team to engage children in a physical activity and keep them healthy.
A nursery in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire noticed our brilliant designs and were interested in how our active play equipment could benefit their children. Kindred White Post Nursery & Pre-School got in touch and we got to work.
The Customer
Kindred White Post in Farnsfield is part of a large family of nurseries and pre-schools which offer high quality, professional childcare for children aged 3 months to 5 years old.
Kindred nurseries are passionate about outdoor play and exploration. Nursery gardens are designed to provide experiences and challenges while promoting awe and wonder.
It's no surprise to see that these nurseries get fantastic reviews from parents, with all the staff offering constant support to the nursery pupils and helping them get an education and learn about life whilst playing games outdoors.
Meeting The Customer
Whilst at the NMT Conference in 2024, Pentagon Play had the pleasure of meeting Ruth (the CEO of Kindred White Post Nursery). Ruth told us about the amazing work Kindred Nurseries were doing and how they won 2 Nursery Group of the Year awards in 2022.
After hearing all of this, we knew we had to select Kindred Nurseries to test some of our products. 'from the wide range of products available on our Online Shop, they decided to select two products in particular: The Get Set, Go! Blocks – The Peaks Set and The Play Builder Apprentice Set.
Both of these fantastic products were recently added to our catalogue and can only be purchased via Pentagon Play's Online Shop. Kindred were really excited to test these new pieces of play equipment and see how their kids would engage with it.
Our Aim
Pentagon Play wanted to provide Kindred Nurseries with play equipment that would help develop physical skills within children through an engaging physical activity.
Even though the nursery had some pre-existing play equipment which helped with physical development, we wanted our equipment to provide a different experience. At Pentagon Play, we are always striving to create the next innovation and we feel like the Get Set, Go! Blocks and Play Builder sets were incredibly innovative.
Not only that, but we wanted to showcase how products listed on Pentagon Play's Online Shop were as effective as our installed equipment, whilst providing numerous other benefits. The process is simple and equipment can be manufactured and delivered in as little as four weeks! Products are delivered on a pre-arranged date and can be enjoyed by children straight away.
Get Set, Go! Blocks
Kindred White Post opted for our Get Set, Go! Blocks – The Peaks Set. This popular product includes 9 moveable climbing blocks of various difficulty.
The high quality, timber blocks are the ideal resource for nursery settings. Working together, pupils and practitioners can reconfigure the blocks as often as needed creating fresh obstacle courses and challenges.
Young pupils can work all muscle groups as they climb, stretch, leap, slide and jump from the blocks. Get Set, Go! Blocks are an open-ended resource providing different levels of challenge. Pupils are allowed to take some safe risks and they become actively involved in organising their own courses, improving their self-confidence.
Children can improve their social skills by playing games which rely on team work and communication. A popular example is "The Floor is Lava". The Get Set, Go! Blocks are perfect for playing a game like this, which encourages a child to support their friends as they navigate through an obstacle course.
Due to the freestanding nature of the Get Set, Go! Blocks, children can engage in child led play. Through child led play, children can develop their confidence, creativity and innovation, which Kindred were amazed to see develop through their test set!
Children 6 months and above can enjoy the Get Set, Go! Blocks too as the artificial grass that tops each block is soft and perfect for crawling on, allowing even the youngest of children to experience new senses and gain new information about the world around them.
Play Builder Apprentice Set
The second exciting product chosen by Kindred White Post, to be used in conjunction with their Get Set, Go! Blocks package was the Play Builder Apprentice Set.
This set contains 18 pieces and is the perfect introduction to outdoor construction projects. The set consists of different sized blocks, planks and ramps and allows children to build their own designs by slotting pieces together to create their own trim trail.
Maths skills are strengthened as children consider the shape of their build, the length of the pieces and correct positioning of them, making it a valuable piece of play equipment for education.
Effective communication and confidence is essential when working as a team as items are lifted and manoeuvred. A great addition to imaginative play - the blocks may become a jungle pathway, a ship or even a formula one car!
As the Play Builder set is freestanding, children can use their creativity and move the blocks however they want or need. Children can become leaders and develop their confidence by guiding a team with moving parts of the set.
The Results
On our return visit to Kindred White Post it was wonderful to speak with Nursery Room Leader Emma and Nursery Manager Rachel about how they found the new additions to the outdoor space.
Emma and Rachel absolutely loved both active sets and felt that they could be adapted for use across the nursery age range from babies, to mini tots to pre school children. Babies could enjoy tummy time and sitting and crawling using the blocks whereas older children could practise hopping, pushing, pulling and jumping using the equipment.
The Get Set, Go! Blocks were particularly favoured by a child with advanced gross motor skills who was confident to challenge himself and take risks. Rachel was amazed to see how much our equipment was pushing children to challenge themselves and accomplish physical tasks.
Both Emma and Rachel were surprised by the durability of the equipment, in particular the Play Builder set. The online exclusive Play Builder Apprentice set is made from Accoya wood, which comes with a 25 year guarantee, meaning nurseries who use this equipment don't need to worry about replacing the equipment after heavy use.
Rachel and Emma were also impressed with the natural feel yet hard-wearing, durable quality of the products. The equipment is able to withstand a wide range of different weather conditions without losing any aspect of quality.
Even though children had played with the sets for a a couple of months, they were as eager to use them as the day they were delivered thanks to the many set-ups and different ways to play with the sets.
It was amazing to hear that Emma felt that the sets had made a big impact and strengthened all areas of EYFS development. Most importantly it was clear to see that the children loved their new sets and we were very pleased that Emma would 100% recommend the Pentagon Play online shop process to neighbouring nursery settings.
Pentagon Play's Online Shop creates exclusive partnerships with nurseries and schools who are looking for high quality, unique products to add to their settings. Take a look at the Pentagon Play Online Shop and see what amazing products you can get now.
