Mud kitchens & creative play
Places for mixing, making, pretending and experimenting.
Nursery & early years
Small children. Big discoveries.
Natural play environments designed for exploration, sensory play, movement and imagination in the early years.
Got Children First creates bespoke nursery play spaces that invite children to touch, climb, build, discover, experiment and imagine.
Designed for curiosity.
For younger children, even a small outdoor space can become an entire world. A mound becomes a mountain. A channel becomes a river. A timber platform becomes a shop, castle, boat or stage.
Our approach focuses on environments that let children decide how they want to play, rather than prescribing one activity. That usually means:
- Open-ended structures
- Materials children can move and change
- Texture, water, sand and planting
- Low-level challenge they can choose
- Space to play alongside one another
Play first. Everything else follows from that.
Our approach
Play at their level.
Sensory discovery
Different textures, materials, sounds, water, sand and natural elements.
Movement
Opportunities to crawl, balance, step, climb and build physical confidence.
Imaginative play
Open-ended structures that can become whatever children imagine.
Messy play
Mud kitchens, digging, water and materials children can manipulate.
Social development
Spaces for playing alongside others, cooperating and communicating.
Appropriate challenge
Carefully judged opportunities for children to test what their bodies can do.
What we build
What we build for early years.
Early-years gardens work best as a set of small, rich moments at a child's own scale: things to pour, mix, climb gently and imagine into something else.
Water & sand play
Hands-on environments that encourage sensory exploration and discovery.
Low-level climbing
Appropriately scaled structures that allow younger children to climb, balance and build confidence.
Imaginative play spaces
Open-ended structures that can become dens, houses, shops, stages or whatever children imagine.
How we design
Supporting development through play.
Sensory, imaginative, social and physical experiences can all form part of an early-years environment. The 16 Types of Play give us a way to check that even a small nursery garden still offers real variety.
The emphasis stays on play first, with development following naturally.
- Sensory play
- Exploratory play
- Imaginative and role play
- Object and construction play
- Locomotor play
- Social play
- Creative play
- Quiet, restful play
Safety, durability & practicalities
Practical considerations for nursery gardens.
Early-years outdoor space carries its own requirements, and we design around them from the start.
- 01Younger age ranges, including children still finding their feet
- 02Scale and height appropriate to the children using it
- 03Sensory experience: texture, water, sand and planting
- 04Ground-level play for children not yet climbing
- 05Visibility across the whole garden for key workers
- 06Integration with the existing garden, planting and shade
- 07Durable finishes that cope with daily, year-round use
Relevant projects
Nursery & early-years spaces we've built.
Completed project
Kintore Way Nursery Water Wall
Southwark, London · Nursery
A hand-built water wall with channels, pumps and vessels for pouring, damming and experimenting, designed for two- to five-year-olds in a nursery garden.
Water wall • Channels • Sand and digging area
Completed project
Kay Rowe Nursery
Newham, London · Early Years Setting
Low rope bridges, a climbing platform around a mature tree and sensory planting designed for the very youngest children in an early-years setting.
Rope bridge • Tree platform • Sensory planting
How a project works
How a nursery project works.
- 01
Talk
Tell us about the site, the children, the budget and what the space needs to achieve.
- 02
Explore
We visit the site, understand the environment and identify the opportunities.
- 03
Design
We develop a bespoke concept around the children, setting and intended play experiences.
- 04
Build
Our team brings the design to life using carefully selected materials and skilled construction.
- 05
Play
The structure is inspected, handed over and ready for children to make it their own.
FAQ
Questions we're often asked.
Our garden is small. Is it worth it?
Often the small gardens gain the most. A well-designed corner can add several types of play without losing floor space.
Is water play practical all year?
Yes, with the right design. Pumps and channels can be isolated in winter and drainage planned in from the start.
How high do you build for under-fives?
Heights are kept appropriate for the age range and matched with suitable surfacing, with challenge coming from variety rather than height.
Can you work around our existing equipment and planting?
Yes. We usually keep mature trees and good planting and design the new play around them.
Turn your outdoor space into somewhere to discover.
Tell us about your garden, your age ranges and how you'd like children to use the space.