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Testing the Play Builder Set with WMB Childcare

Posted on 19 June 2024 by Lucy Cooke

The Customer

WMB Childcare are an award-winning nursery group driven by Andrew & Folake who are passionate about providing a solid foundation for the children under their care.

A group of children are completing an obstacle course which has wooden planks connecting to a variety of different wooden blocks. The children are balancing across the planks or standing on a wooden block whilst the surrounding area is covered in artificial grass surfacing.

Caring for over 550 children across the UK every single day, WMB Childcare have become a juggernaut within the nursery industry. With over 5000 satisfied parents, it's no surprise that WMB Childcare has fantastic reviews and is working with partners such as Manchester City Council and The Manchester College.

WMB Childcare are always looking for new ways to improve their services, always wanting to make sure that their children are getting the best care possible. This led two members of WMB Childcare (Folake and Claudia) attending the NMT conference.

Meeting The Customer

We met Folake (COO) & Claudia (Area Manager) at the NMT conference where they explained their vision for new resources and the importance of engaging outdoor play.

Wooden blocks are stacked on top of each other to create a staircase, with 4 children stood on each step. Each step is one higher than before, creating an ascending order.

After learning more about their outdoor needs, we knew straight away our freestanding resources on our Online Shop would be the best route for this nursery group. Our Online Shop offers open ended resources which encourages decision making, creative play and so much more.

They loved our Get Set, Go! Blocks, Play Builder and Tuff Spot Table and the fact they arrive fully assembled was a massive plus for WMB!

Our Aim

Our Play Builder is one of our Online Shop’s best sellers in primary schools, promoting critical thinking by locating the blocks together and connecting the planks.

Two children are stood on top of a wooden Play Builder block, which has been placed on artificial grass.

Balancing and spatial awareness is explored through jumping on and off the trails and taking risks from one block to another. Problem solving, upper strength, teamwork and many more skills are developed through incorporating this product in your outdoor setting.

Whilst Play Builder is popular in schools, we wanted to gain further feedback of this product in a nursery setting. This is where we reached out to Folake to discuss this product testing opportunity! WMB Childcare were thrilled to partner with us and test this product in their Born 2 Win setting in Moston, Manchester.

The Play Builder Engineer Set

Being the biggest Play Builder set that we offer, we felt like this set would be the perfect equipment set to test! With over 75 pieces included, we knew that every child at Born 2 Win would be given the opportunity to engage with it.

Being crafted from Accoya wood, we assured WMB Childcare that the Play Builder Engineer Set would be durable. From the wooden blocks to wooden planks, every aspect of this incredible set can withstand the energy and excitement from the early years. 

A group of children are balancing and standing on wooden planks and blocks that are included in the Play Builder set. They have created a circuit as the planks and blocks connect to each other.

Not only is the set durable, but it comes with an outstanding 50-year guarantee! This means nurseries, like the Born 2 Win setting in Manchester, don't have to worry about replacing the equipment anytime soon.

An exclusive feature that the Play Builder Engineer Set has is the specially adapted Water Play Blocks. Knowing that WMB Childcare wanted to help children learn through a variety of different forms of play, the Water Play blocks allow the incorporation of sensory play into outdoor learning. 

From an early age, children love to interact with different materials and explore different senses, which the Play Builder Engineer Set allows.

A young boy is holding a wooden plank from the Play Builder set and is looking at the camera. Whilst he's looking at the camera, he's hugging the wooden plank and smiling whilst surrounded by other playground equipment.

Preparing children for the next steps in their academic journey is the main aim of WMB Childcare, which is also why we felt they would be the perfect nursery to test the Engineer set. This set aids with child development in a variety of ways, from language development to physical development.

The Results

It is safe to say, the children loved this construction package. Their confident children were keen to build the blocks into steps and jump off them, building their self esteem and confidence in risk tasking and jumping. 

Once they realised how they can create trails with the blocks and planks, this is where their children began problem solving and using fine motor skills. They worked as a team to fit the planks into the block entries to ensure they were secure and using their imagination to make the trail bigger and better.

A child is inserting a wooden plank into a wooden block. He is focused on trying to insert the wooden plank perfectly into the whole, allowing it to connect strongly. A group of children behind are watching and collecting other wooden planks and blocks to use.

One little boy who was initially very shy, ended up building his confidence after a short while. Carefully working his way around the trail, the little boy was able to improve his balancing skills individually and improve other areas with the nursery practitioners help.

With English weather being so wet, the nursery had decided to use the product inside which was a great alternative for nurseries who don’t have a huge outdoor space or an all weather surface. The equipment still provided the fantastic benefits it usually would outdoors.

We hope the kids continue to develop using our Play Builder set!



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