What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

Cool Canvas

Home
United Kingdom
Bolton
Cool Canvas

A small team of creatives crafting bespoke spaces that spark play and learning across the UK. Follow our journey and be inspired!

We design, manufacture and install natural play areas.

27/10/2026

A beautiful setting deserves a fantastic play space.

We built this at Ripley Court School in Surrey in the height of summer, and we’re only just getting around to sharing it. It’s been a busy few months!

Our second project at the school, following the nursery garden, completes the transformation of their outdoor EYFS provision.

One of the biggest changes was turning an awkward, previously unusable hillside into a feature. Because everything we build is bespoke, we can work with the levels and use them to our advantage. Here, we created a dry riverbed with tiered waterfalls, allowing children to follow the water downhill, explore its movement and experiment with flow through hands-on play.

The sand play areas sit beneath cedar-shingle roofs, providing shade for digging, mixing and making. Substantial robinia timbers and rope work create opportunities to develop core strength, balance and coordination, with natural materials running throughout.

We also built stone steps to connect the levels and tie everything into the character of the school and its surroundings. Planting pockets soften the edges and bring greenery into the play space.

Up above, we replaced the cracked, worn and broken surfaces to create an open-ended area with room for loose parts, building and imaginative play.

Every part of the space now has a purpose, with plenty of freedom for the children to make it their own.

26/10/2026

If you’re planning a redesign of your outdoor provision, don’t forget the importance of natural planting. 🌿

Trees, grasses and scented plants bring texture, movement and seasonal change, giving children opportunities to explore, notice and connect with nature.

For us, planting is part of the design from the beginning. It helps turn a play area into a living, growing learning environment.

25/10/2026

From an overlooked strip of tarmac to a space full of possibilities 🌿

We’ve been so busy creating on site that we’re only just catching up with sharing our summer projects!

This space wraps around the side of Crigglestone Nursery School, creating a new outdoor learning environment alongside a newly transformed room inside.

We’ve loved developing the outdoor spaces here over the years and seeing the nursery’s brilliant little learners thrive.

A big thank you to everyone at Crigglestone for your continued trust. Wonderful people to work with, and we look forward to helping these spaces grow and evolve for years to come. 💚

22/10/2026

We’re a small team of artists and makers. This is what we do, and we love it.

21/10/2026

From a blank canvas to three gardens made for play and learning 🌿

This new-build nursery started completely from scratch, and our task was to bring its outdoor spaces to life. Three compact courtyards, each also serving as a fire escape route, meant every layout, material and feature needed careful thought.

For the babies, we created a caterpillar nook, sandpit, sensory water play, ballet bars, post boxes and a little investigation station.

The 18-month-to-two-year-old garden brings together an atelier space, storage, riverbed, pergola and sensory planting, with plenty to discover.

In the preschool garden, we took the challenge further: a larger investigation station, a strong wall with ropes and planted trellis, plus a riverbed, bridge and matching pergola, offering more adventurous play for growing abilities.

Cedar shingles echo the building’s rustic character, while permeable resin-bound surfacing and artificial grass make the gardens usable throughout the year.

One of our favourite details? The outdoor surfaces meet the indoor floors at the same level. Open the bifold doors and children can move freely between inside and outside, without a step.

And, as always, planting brings everything together. We love how greenery softens a space, adds texture and creates little moments of discovery. 🌱

Three gardens, designed to grow with the children who use them.

18/09/2026

What a summer it’s been for Cool Canvas.

We’ve been a little quiet on socials, but for a very good reason. During the six-week school summer break, our team completed five major school transformations across the country.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to start revealing them, beginning with Beaver Road Primary School in Manchester.

This was a challenging one. The playground sits in a courtyard right in the heart of the school, meaning every log, boulder, tool and piece of material had to be transported through the school corridors.

The result is a little oasis full of awe and wonder.

Tree houses, a dry river bed, sand play, natural climbing, completely new surfaces and drainage, plus a renovated outdoor shelter.

We’ve even created the foundations for a miniature school petting zoo, soon to be home to goats, rabbits, guinea pigs and chickens! 🐐🐇🐓

We’ll be heading back once the animals are settled to add the finishing touches and capture the space properly in action.

Five transformations. Six weeks. An incredible effort from the whole Cool Canvas team.

And this is just the first one…

28/08/2026

So nice to get the chance to revisit a nursery space we created 12 months ago. Getting to see how the space has been used in that time and seeing how the planting has established. The school has done a fantastic job of staying on top of it and we can see the area has been really well used. We’ve done a couple of tweaks ready for the children and staff to return next week. Happy days!

13/08/2026

What a week! This job at Beaver Road Infant School involves creating a natural learning environment in the heart of the school. But to get to the area, we have to transport all the materials in and out through the school corridor. It’s hard work but we love a challenge. Stay tuned as we create this wonderful area full of awe and wonder ready for the children’s return in September!

16/07/2026

There’s nothing better than returning to a completed project and seeing it exactly as it was intended… full of children.

Just a few weeks ago, St Stephen’s Primary’s existing EYFS outdoor area was ready for some Cool Canvas magic. Today, it’s been transformed into a landscape that encourages exploration, creativity and learning through play.

From children getting stuck into the giant sand area, to building with loose parts, creating artwork, mixing potions and finding a quiet corner to enjoy a book, it was fantastic to see every part of the space being used in a different way.

One of my favourite moments was watching a child completely lose themselves in a book, creating their own story from the pictures. It was a lovely reminder that when you give children the right environment, their imagination really does take over.

A huge thank you to everyone at St Stephen’s Primary for trusting us with your vision. It was a pleasure working with such a welcoming school, and seeing the children enjoying the finished space was the perfect way to round off the project.

We hope this outdoor learning environment inspires curiosity, creativity and adventure for many years to come.

12/07/2026

From forest… to finished library. 📚🌳

Every great space starts with a vision, and this one started long before we arrived on site.

Every piece of timber was carefully and sustainably selected and felled from responsibly managed woodlands, before being milled and handcrafted by our artisan team to create this truly bespoke library for the children at St John’s Thornham.

Designed around the needs of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 pupils, the space is filled with reading nooks, treetop walkways, hidden dens and natural textures that encourage curiosity, imagination and a genuine love of books.

For us, it’s about far more than creating a beautiful room. It’s about building environments where children want to learn, explore and make memories that last a lifetime.

A huge thank you to everyone involved in bringing this project to life. We’re incredibly proud of what the team has created.

Address

Bolton

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://naturalplayareas.co.uk/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Cool Canvas posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.