Feeling, Talking, Walking Garden
The Feeling, Talking, Walking Garden is a vibrant green space designed for children to explore, play, and learn through all their senses. Children can touch, smell, hear, and see a wide variety of plants and sensory items. Key features include raised beds under a pergola with a sensory path, a mud kitchen with a chalkboard, music-making instruments, a natural climbing frame, a wooden hut for imaginative role play and shelter, and a shed to store sensory toys, sand, water play items, and specially adapted trikes.
The garden uses natural materials to provide opportunities for inquiry, discovery, and learning across developmental domains. Children engage in creative and cognitive development by working with leaves, sticks, and rocks—building, sorting, comparing, and discussing.
They explore basic science concepts by observing plants grow and comparing scented herbs. Gross motor skills are developed as children practice balance on stepping stones, while fine motor control is refined through careful touching, grasping, and investigating leaves. For children who experience sensory overload, tantrums, or difficulties with emotional regulation, the garden offers ample opportunities to stimulate and regulate their senses in a calm and supportive environment. Children can simply be themselves, play in pairs, or socialise in a relaxing, natural setting. Through tending the raised beds, planting, and caring for the garden, children also gain a sense of ownership, pride, and accomplishment, nurturing both confidence and a connection to the natural world.
