Natural Foundations

We won't be open tomorrow as we are busy collecting some new equipment. We will be open as normal on Thursday. Please share this with anyone who you think may be coming over to us tomorrow. Thanks Emma and Jo xx

We will be open in the morning from 10 - 12! Come and have some bank holiday fun!We will be open in the morning from 10 - 12! Come and have some bank holiday fun!

Remember to vote this evening ✌🏼 ...also remember the nightmare the current #conservative council caused us at Natural Foundations
Here's one at the polling station with my friend who helped us try to fight for a #BabyMemorialGareen & to #SaveNaturalFoundations
#UseYourVote

We have a purse handed in. We know the name of the owner so if you can message us I will get you re-unitedWe have a purse handed in. We know the name of the owner so if you can message us I will get you re-united

We will be closed on Thursday 2nd May all day for a visit from a local preschool. We will be open again on Friday. Please share this post with anyone you think may be coming on Thursday.

****Moomin Day****
Monday 6th May
10-2pm
... Child £7 Adult £1
Come along to our moomin special.
☀️Interactive story walks with Mike Dodson and The Imagination Station
☀️ Moomin theme baking
☀️ Moomin craft
As well as all of our usual play opportunities
Tickets on sale via our website:
www.naturalfoundations.co.uk
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We are closed for a private birthday party this morning!!

****Bank Holiday Moomin Day**** With the start of the new Moomin series on Sky 1 and our love of Finland and the Moomins, we are going to be running some moomin sessions.
The session will include:
... An interactive story walk with Mike Dodson & Sarah from the imagination station,
Moomin themes Crafts & Moomin theme Baking
Tickets will be released at 8pm tonight
Sessions will be Monday 6th
10-12pm
1-3pm
£7 per child £1 per adult
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If you or your child might be finding life a bit of a struggle at the moment then we may be able to help you.
The purpose of Natural Foundations has always been to offer therapeutic play activities alongside all the other activities we offer. As a not for profit social enterprise our profit goes towards these activities to keep them at a reasonable cost for people to be able to afford. We always wanted Natural Foundations to be a safe place for families to come and not feel ...that the cost of activities would prevent them from accessing support.
With this in mind we will be starting two courses after Easter for children and their parents who may need help with a range of difficulties. We have put some funding aside for those families who may need to access this support but affordability may prevent them.
We will be continuing our mindfulness sessions on a Thursday evening with Mellow Moments. The children who took part in the course before Easter really benefitted from the relaxation techniques they learnt Please let us know if you would like further details.
We also have spaces available on our play therapy course we are starting on Mondays after school.
This course will allow children to explore their feelings through play and adults to talk in a safe place.
The course will be run by Luisa McSharry, a very experienced Child phsychologist, and Emma Syndercombe, a play therapist.
If you would like to get further information then please send us an email to support@naturalfoundations.co.uk
Any information you provide to us will be completely confidential.
We look forward to hearing from you.
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The sun is shining - it's a beautiful day and we're open from 10 - 2.
A little llama and a big llama to brighten up your day because there can never be enough Llamas in the world!!!

Happy Easter to everyone!! Thought you might like this - it's fab!!
We're open on Easter Monday from 10 - 2!!!

We have had a really busy weekend, ending in a hot dog cooking party in the sunshine ☀️ We are closing tomorrow for sending long overdue time off. If you have been to visit us over the Easter break, please leave us a review on TripAdvisor, Google or Facebook ❤️ We hope you all enjoy the bank holiday weekend and look forward to seeing you soon. We are.open on Monday from 10am - 2pm! 🌴#freedomtoplay #easteregghunt #naturalfoundationsessex #chelmsford #kids #playoutside #outdoorplay

A couple of days ago a little boy came through the door at 2pm and the first thing he said was ' Mummy I want to go home!' He didn't fancy what we had to offer inside.
We didn't then see him again inside until just before 5 when we were about to close. He came charging in with a light in his eyes and a big grin on his face.
The magic of outdoor play!!!
... Mike Dodsworth will be back with us in the morning telling stories while the children play!! Tickets are available through our website!
Come and get a touch of magic!!
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Hope everyone enjoyed our Easter event this morning ☀️We have about 20 tickets left for tomorrow morning #easter #eastereggs #naturalfoundationsessex

The sun is shining. It's a beautiful day and we're open from 1- 4 this afternoon!!

Rachel Amorette is the winner of our Easter ticket competition 🐥🐣
Thanks to everyone for taking part and sharing
***Opening times over the Easter weekend***
... We will be opening today after our Easter event 1pm-4pm - No need to book
SATURDAY - Still some tickets remaining with storytelling by Mike Dodsworth!!
SUNDAY - Closed
Monday - Open 10-2
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Little Easter baskets have just been delivered by the Easter Bunny ready for the Easter activities this weekend! You can still get tickets on our website

****Share and comment on this post and we will be giving away two tickets for Friday or Saturday OR a refund on two Easter tickets if purchased***
We still have plenty of tickets left for our Friday and Saturday Easter events.
We have interactive story telling a Easter hunt with prizes and a vegan nest making workshop (gluten free option too)
... Plus all of our usual play stuff.
Tickets are £9 per child £1 per adult
Thursday 10-12pm Friday 10-12pm Saturday 10-12pm
Purchase via:
https://www.naturalfoundations.co.uk/
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Who says that older children don't know how to or don't feel the need to play any longer??
These girls had a blast this morning at the hairdresser's!!
Natural Foundations fires up the imaginations of all ages!!!

Wish we'd come sooner!!! We all (grown ups included!) had a fantastic time. We've been twice during the half term and my children are asking to go back. There's much to do. My sons loved the sandpit and biscuit decorating and my daughter loved the hairdressing station.

Fantastic place for preschoolers and even my almost 7 year old enjoyed himself, saying "it's much better than I thought!" �

Highly recommend coming.

What an absolutely brilliant place!! My son had the most fantastic morning running around and playing, he loved the yurt and the pizza making was so much fun!! It’s a travesty that the council want to shut this place down. We will be back without a doubt, it’s lovely to see the kids having fun and playing outside!!

We love this place. I have visited regularly with first my son and now my daughter and both over the years have loved every visit. This place just works, we have been in rain and shine and my kids always have a brilliant time. I wish I had thought of this concept first!

We held my sons 3rd birthday yesterday at natural foundations and it was amazing!!!! The children made their own pizzas, toasted marshmallows and played till their hearts were content. Adults had endless tea and coffee and the only tears were from a child who didn't want to leave. I love this place and his concept. Cannot recommend enough! Thank you natural foundations for giving my son a 3rd birthday to remember. �

We have just come back from our visit to Father Christmas at Natural Foundations and had an excellent time, thank you! The Elf Trail was so much fun, and Jessica certainly got the knack of toasting marshmallows!



If I had to choose just one Christmassy event to attend, it would be this without a doubt! Thank you for such a lovely afternoon!

We came to see you yesterday with our 1yo and 3yo littles, they had the best time as did we grown ups. We will def be back to play now I know how to get to you. I just love the way anything goes in the name of play, just the way it should be x

We absolutely love NF! My little boy (he's 2) never wants to leave and we go weekly (missing the odd week) I'm sure his brother will be the same when he's old enough to play there! There is so much to do and lots of imaginative play, even biscuit decorating! We are yet to try the adventure tots but I'm sure he will love that too! Highly recommend NF :)

The most amazing magical place! Thanks ladies for all you do for our children! My boy is a total earth baby and loves NF and playing with the mud, water and outside toys ��

Perfect place to explore for my 3 years old boy. He never gets bored there. There are so many toys that I use to play with when I was a child and there was no computer. It is very important for the community to have a place like this in this digital world. Here we can be humans again. ❤️

Perfect and safe environment for your little ones to go off and explore the environment! My two year old loves it and I do too. It will beat huge loss to the children and community if this place gets shut down. the only downside to my visit today was the rude people from the council who were there to inspect it.

Natural Foundations is a unique oasis in the City of Chelmsford - my children love visiting and I enjoy taking them. Even during the wettest and coldest of days there is fun to be had (there is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing!).



A yurt and Geodesic domes, gypsy caravan, mud pits and mud kitchens, sand pit and trampolines. I wish I was 4 years old again!



Emma and the team do such a great job of creating a fun space for kids to explore and play. We have also had a birthday party here which was brilliant.



(I would also thoroughly recommend a visit to Sandford Mill when they have their open days).

My daughter had her 4th birthday party here. We made our own pizzas and roasted marshmallows. They played and they had great fun. All of the parents said that this place is amazing. The children throughly enjoyed themselves. Emma and Jo were very accommodating and very lovely to us.

Thank you Natural Foundations for helping us make fond memories.

My 2 children (5 & 2) always have so much fun when they attend. They enjoy being builders in the sand, train drivers, chefs in the mud kitchen, scientists at the water table, families with the babies, palaeontologists with the dinosaurs or whatever else the little imaginations fancy on that day!! The special events (Easter & Christmas) are always so well run with special festive activities & the most adorable little intricacies adding to the excitement. A lovely, safe, outdoor place for children to be children!

Just amazing! My boys (1.5 and 3.5) had a fantastic morning yesterday. Such a great variety of activities on offer and beautifully laid out. Friendly helpful staff, and somewhere to buy tea, what more could you ask for?!

Loved it, we will definitely be back, thank you xx

I have visited Natural Foundations many times and I have to say it is completely brilliant. So much for my two boys to do and lovely to see them outdoors - where they love to be! We recently had our youngest boys second birthday here and it was fantastic. Emma was extremely helpful and made sure everyone had a wonderful day - and even when we took 30 minutes too long to leave it wasn't a problem. Lovely people who cannot do enough for you and a lovely place for children to play. Thank you xx

I came here yesterday with my daughter in law & 2 year old grandson. We all absolutely loved it & my grandson enjoyed himself for the entire 2 & half hours! It's an absolutely delightful place. There is so much for little ones to do & we will definitely return. Thank you Natural Foundations for creating such a lovely place for kiddies.

I would just like to say that as a lady in my 60's I was slightly dismayed that a few children were left entirely unsupervised whilst mum's were sitting chatting with their cuppa's. I think those mum's would be horrified if their little ones were not watched at nursery. I always assume at places like this that children should be supervised by the adult that has brought them.

Natural Foundations have provided such a wonderful place for play. It is our responsibility to ensure our kiddies stay safe. One little boy was being quite naughty. My grandson was pushed in the face quite hard by a little boy & a couple of other incidents happened with the same boy but sadly no sign of his adult being around. This is absolutely no reflection on Natural Foundations whatsoever.

Came here today with a 2yo and 4yo, both loved it! It was freezing and both were wearing gloves which made the water trays tricky, i would advise bringing waterproof gloves to put on top of regular ones! So much to explore here, can't wait to come back! I imagine it gets very busy in the summer, the yurt wasnt really an option for us as so many babies were in there!

Back here for the Easter event having moved away so not able to come as often... we used to go at least once a week if not more. There is no finer place for toddlers and young children to explore and play independently. My son always gets completely engrossed and there are always new things to see and do. Natural Foundations has a magic about it that is thanks to the passion and commitment of its founders and their dedication to kids having a wonderful time outdoors, taking things at their own pace. Reminded me we are not so far away really and so will definitely make more effort to come regularly x

Amazing! Really good value and a really simple idea that the kids love! I really hope you find somewhere for the future as I've only just discovered this place and want to take my kids again