Welcome back to Blackberry House Day Nursery Newsletter! In our monthly issues we will be letting you know of the achievements and beautiful learning opportunities that children engaged in that month from across our four settings. We will also be providing you with two articles that will keep you informed within the sector and might even provide some helpful information! In this month’s issue we have covered the importance of Sun Safety and Physical Activity in children under 5. Thank you for your continued support and enjoy reading!
April 2025
This month we have been focusing on children’s understanding and exploration of Spring. We continued to look at the changing environments but also explore them in more depth. We looked at the beautiful blossoming trees and flowers and learnt about planting. We engaged in lovely activities that supported the children’s understanding of lifecycles as we learnt about the life of a frog or a butterfly.
Our youngest children were able to continue exploring the world around us as the weather allowed us to have even more outdoor play! Our children engaged in some amazing Easter activities too as all settings hosted an Easter Event where parents were able to join and celebrate with their children. What an amazing month!
Under 3's
Our youngest children were able to safely explore the gorgeous sun in our gardens. We have done many sensory activities that continued supporting our senses and learning about the different textures and patterns. Our practitioners provided many activities that looked at the children’s holistic development covering many themes all focusing on the characteristics of spring. This was a lovely opportunity for our youngest children to explore the colours and smells of flowers as well as be introduced to new textures of new sensory play.
Our youngest continued to work on their physical development through indoor yoga sessions, soft play and plenty of tummy time opportunities. We also engaged in music sessions that allowed us to explore the rhythm! Our babies absolutely adore watching bubbles as they attempt to catch and pop them all by themselves. Our Under 3’s also enjoyed the rainy weather on a few occasions which allowed our toddlers to explore puddles and practice counting our jumps and splashes! Playing in our Easter themed sensory play was certainly the most fun as the babies loved exploring shredded paper and discovering hidden eggs!
Over 3's
Our Over 3’s continued to work very hard on their fine and gross motor skills this month as they engaged in many physical activities including super fun garden games with their practitioners. Our upper toddlers and preschool children practice their mark making skills very hard as they learnt about the letter of the day as well as writing recipes, creating building plans and looking at different patterns. We have been super explorers as we supported our younger friends in their outdoor adventures, from helping sweep up the gardens to understanding about safety and caring for others.
Our oldest Preschoolers continued with their school readiness programme as we are slowly getting ready for our children to leave us for Big School. Our Over 3’s additionally continued practicing their counting and problem-solving skills as we participated in many role play opportunities in our areas and environments.
Links to Development Matters
Sun Safety
In readiness for the Sun Awareness Week, 12th – 16th May, please familiarise yourself with our brief article on Sun Safety below 😊
We’ve been very lucky to have had a lot of sunny and dry weather recently, with more beautiful sunny days in the forecast. In order to ensure that our children and staff are safe, Blackberries created our own Sun Safe Policy. The policy reminds everybody of the correct procedures to ensure the safety of our children in the sun, including suncream, sunhats and appropriate clothing.
Parents and carers are always the first educators each child will have. It is from parents that children learn the first sense of care, love and nurture, as well as first levels of early education, without the parents always realising it! Research suggests that the biggest and most important predictor of a child’s future outcomes is the learning environment at home. As a nursery, we ensure that we scaffold the foundations set and further any learning that has already taken place on top of our educational programmes and curriculums. Working together as a team allows us all to have a better understanding of the needs of the children allowing for the appropriate level of support both at nursery and home.
As practitioners, we remind parents and children that a sunburn is not only painful and uncomfortable but also dangerous for the children’s skin, potentially leading to serious problems in life. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the UK with around 100,000 new cases being diagnosed each year, and it may be linked and caused by a sunburn which is why it is important to ensure our children and staff have appropriate suncream on site. In our policy, we recommend and advise parents to provide their children with a suncream of at least SPF 30 to be kept at the nursery, to ensure it is applied every 2 hours whilst playing outside. With the weather being so lovely, we provide a lot of water play opportunities too, and ensure all children have their suncream reapplied afterwards as water can easily wash it off.
On hotter days, when the UV rates are 4 and above, we ensure there is enough shaded areas for our children to explore in the gardens and avoid the hottest times which are between 11am and 3pm. Our children all have a sunhat that stays at nursery alongside their suncream to ensure their heads are also protected from the sun when playing outside.
In order to further support our settings, please ensure your child has their first layer of suncream applied at home in readiness for outdoor play in the morning, as well as appropriate clothing. This includes sun protective clothing such as sleeved tops, longer trousers and sunglasses. For the safety of our children who are beginning to walk or still learning the stability, we do not allow any sunglasses for children under the age of 2.
If you are unable to provide a suncream and a sunhat for your child, please let us know and we will be more than happy to support
Stay safe!
Why is physically active so important for children under 5?
Being physically active each day is highly important for the appropriate development of children. Exercise can support children in achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight, build and maintain strong and healthy muscles, bones and joints, as well as supports the development of good habits that will lead or have an impact on their healthy lifestyle. Through physical activity, children’s development of important interpersonal skills is supported as they learn all about participation, team work and turn taking. Children who are physically active are also more likely to have a better school attendance, improved academic performance especially in maths, reading and writing, as well as improved brain function including memory, attention and problem solving!
Babies should be encouraged to be active throughout the day in a variety of ways. If they’re able to crawl, we should provide enough crawling opportunities for them to enhance this skill. Those that are not crawling yet should be encouraged to stay active by reaching, grasping, pulling, pushing, moving their head, body and limbs during the day and throughout the activities offered. Tummy time should be scheduled daily for at least 30 minutes a day to support with their core muscles. All babies need to be fully supervised throughout their day to ensure their safety in the environments they’re in.
Toddlers and Preschool children (1 to 4) should receive around 180 minutes (3 hours) of physical activity each day. This may include outdoor and indoor learning opportunities and may include standing up, rolling, skipping, hopping, running and jumping. Children aged 1 to 4 years old should have access to a climbing frame, riding a bike, playing in the water, chasing games and ball games. Preschool children aged 3 to 4 years old should additionally have at least one hour of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity each day.
At Blackberry House Day nursery group, we ensure our children have a balance access to both indoor and outdoor provision allowing our children to explore a variety of age appropriate physical activities each day. Our areas and environments are reviewed regularly to ensure they are appropriate and meaningful for the children, and children’s learning and development is tracked and reviewed on a daily basis to ensure we provide the best possible learning opportunities for all.
