Middlewood Nature Nursery
SETTING
Outdoors
WHERE
Sheffield
What it’s like
A nursery where nearly the whole day happens outdoors, with den building, fires and mud kitchens instead of a classroom.
Forget a room with a carpet square and a home corner. Here the woods are the nursery, and the children spend almost all day in them, whatever the season. They build dens and shelters, learn actual knots, cook on a Kelly kettle and open fire, and go hunting for whatever the woodland's turned up that week, from fairy houses to bark rubbings.
Babies aren't left out either. They're taken into the woods in buggies or slings for the sensory side of things, the smells and textures of the trees, and once they're mobile they get proper space to crawl, climb and test their balance on uneven ground. It's a different pace to a normal setting, and the site is upfront that this is deliberate: almost the whole day is spent outside, with children following their own interests rather than a fixed timetable.
Winter doesn't stop play. The nursery supplies waterproof trousers and a jacket that go on over normal clothes, but parents are asked to send children in with proper layers underneath, gloves, a hat, fleece-lined boots, and a spare pair of socks in case feet get wet. Open-toed shoes are a no, sensibly, given the terrain. The whole approach is aimed squarely at what Ofsted calls school readiness, so alongside the tree climbing there's real attention paid to things like using cutlery, sharing, and sitting still and listening in a group, skills that get harder to fake once reception starts.
If you're weighing this against a standard nursery, the pitch is straightforward: more space, more risk-taking under supervision, and a claim that time outdoors is genuinely better for how children's brains develop. It won't suit a child who needs a strict, sit-down structure, but for one who's happiest with a stick and a puddle, it's hard to think of a more thorough version of that.
Plan your visit
Do they still go outside in winter?
Yes, the nursery takes children out year round. They supply waterproof trousers and a jacket, but you need to send your child in with their own layers, gloves, hat, scarf and fleece-lined boots underneath, plus a spare pair of socks.
What do the children actually do all day?
Den building, climbing trees, mud kitchen play, cooking on a Kelly kettle or open fire, scavenger hunts, and natural art, alongside maths and observation woven into all of it, like counting, measuring with sticks, and watching the seasons change.
Is there anything for babies?
Babies go into the woods in buggies or slings for sensory experiences, and once mobile they get plenty of room to practise crawling, walking and climbing under a practitioner's eye.
What should my child wear?
Dress for the weather, send spare layers and spare underwear in the bag, and avoid sandals or open-toed shoes since the ground is uneven. The nursery's own waterproofs go over the top.
Do you offer any funding?
They accept the 30 hours funding, though because they're open all year rather than term time only, it works out as 20 hours a week across the year. There's an extra £20 per 10 hour session for the forest school element, and 10 fully funded spaces per setting for families on income support.
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