Visit to Community Playthings

At the end of November 2024, Sarah, Tina and I had the opportunity to visit the Darvell Bruderhof Community in Robertsbridge, where Community Playthings furniture and resources are developed and manufactured.

KatieB Kids has been using Community Playthings as our primary provider of furniture and ‘room-scaping’ since it was first established back in 2014. The emphasis on durability, sustainability and child-centred design aligns closely with our values as a nursery, and we have developed a strong relationship with the brand over the last decade.

As part of the visit, we had an introductory talk about the origins of the brand, a display room tour (including product demos for both inside and outside equipment), a factory tour (including the opportunity to make our own wooden helicopters!), and a design and sustainability talk from one of the senior product developers. Not only was it exciting to get to see some products which haven’t been released yet, but the team had a genuine interest in hearing our feedback on existing products, as well as our perspectives on the needs and considerations of an Early Years setting in the current climate. One of their main focuses at the moment is creating inclusive room-scaping which caters to children’s varying needs, especially cosy nooks and communication-friendly spaces, something which we have also been developing at the nursery. We spoke about the importance of children being able to experience play at different ‘levels’, which we see the babies enjoy daily on the ‘up-and-over’ in our Piccolo room.

Having the opportunity to explore and even play with the Outlast collection of outdoor resources and furniture gave us lots of ideas which we can incorporate into the development of our garden spaces, facilitating the creation of an outdoor classroom environment which covers all areas of learning. The wood used in these products is specially designed to be able to withstand all weathers and remain outdoors all year round without degrading, and the team at Community Playthings are so confident in their durability that they offer a 15-year warranty! It’s really important to us as a business to invest in high-quality products which are made to last, thus reducing the environmental impact of the manufacturing process.

We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Community Playthings in years to come, building a space that supports the idea at the centre of the Reggio Emilia approach that the environment is the third teacher.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Darvell Community, there is a documentary on BBC iPlayer, which you can access here.

This wooden truck was made in the 1960s and is still going strong today!