“At our school, we have found the Scrapsheds have been a wonderful way for providing our older pupils with opportunities for imaginative and creative play. Having these resources in school has almost given these children ‘permission’ to simply play. It is simply wonderful to see this in world of social media and what can sometimes feel like social pressure for children to grow up so quickly.” James Clay, Head Teacher, Manston Primary School

The Scrapshed is a metal container or wooden shed which is filled with recycled materials and equipment suitable for outdoor play: plastics, reels, huge tubes, pipes, large boxes, old tyres, material, tarpaulin, denbuilding and much, much more.

In the past year we have welcomed another 12 schools and nurseries to the Scrapshed family in Yorkshire, and provided another 13 Scrapsheds for children’s creative outdoor play.

We’re delighted to be working with Temple Learning Academy, Townville Infant School, St Chads Primary School, Russell Hall Academy, St Margaret’s C of E Primary School, Lane End Primary School, Three Bears Nursery, Holy Trinity C of E Primary, Hawksworth Wood Primary School, Blenheim Primary School, Redscope Primary School and Wykebeck Primary School.

Since the Scrapshed scheme started we have signed up a total of 64 schools. Participating schools receive staff training around the benefits of risky play and using loose parts within a school setting. They take part in a playday which introduces the children to the wonders of the Scrapshed and gives them ownership of this new resource. Then throughout the school year we return to school to replenish the contents to ensure everything is in good order, there’s plenty of variety and the children have new materials to play with.

We have seen and heard about so many benefits for playtimes from the schools with a Scrapshed with positive stories from staff and children alike.  Most common are reports of improved behaviour at lunchtime, leading to more co-operative creative play, with inclusion of those children who may usually stand at the sidelines, and children returning to the classroom ready to work hard after a good break.

So many schools have large football areas and fixed play equipment which can be limiting, the Scrapshed is truly limitless, providing an ever changing creative way to introduce an alternative play opportunity to the school playground.

We believe every school should have a Scrapshed as an additional outdoor play option!

If you are interested in finding out more about the benefits of a Scrapshed at your school or nursery setting, please do get in touch with Louise Lucas at SCRAP email hello@scrapstuff.co.uk. Find out more about the Scrapshed here.