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 different Stages of Play in the Early Years, How to Ensure your Child is Safe in a Car Seat, and How to Avoid Viruses at/from nursery.
Thank you for your continued support and enjoy reading!
Summary
We have certainly had another busy month at our settings! It’s been a cold one and a wet one with some places being lucky to have seen some snow too! Our children loved exploring the cold but also getting warm afterwords, after all who doesn’t love hot chocolate. Our children continued to explore the world around them throughout the month as they observed the changing weather outside. We looked at some ice and snow as well as the concept of light and dark which was one of our topics this month. The children loved participating in our outdoor walks as we completed a few, taking children out to a local park or to one of our memorial sites. It’s been lovely to continue supporting our children as they extend their knowledge through different activities!
Under 3's
Our under 3’s have been super busy continuing to explore their environments and learning opportunities presented by their practitioners. Our biggest focus was Light and Dark this month during which the babies looked at their environments differently and explore what it looks like when it’s dark and/or light. The babies absolutely loved getting outside in our pushchairs and exploring the local area as they enjoyed spending some quality time with their peers on a community walk.
Our younger children continued to look at their own shadows and those made by their favourite toys. Some of us even got to have a little play on a playground during one of our walks! Children also continued to explore textures by looking at various baking ingredients that they then used to help older children make biscuits for the whole nursery. Our babies loved exploring lights and colours as we participated in a Road Safety Awareness week. We looked at red and green lights and objects and painted our own pictures of the traffic lights. Our younger children loved exploring drawn roads and testing all the turnings with different cars. Excellent work!
Over 3's
Our older children continued to learn all about the differences and similarities in the environments as they observed water change into ice and snow. Preschool children loved touching the cold and expressing their feelings with the right words. We continued to look at the outdoor environment and how it all changes in the frost. Our older children also attended our local memorial sites where we were able to share our amazing poppy creations. The children loved getting out to the local community and the local community also loved seeing Blackberries around! When we got back, the children supported their friends in making their very own biscuits and hot chocolate as well as learn about using knives safely.
We’ve done super well in listening to instructions as well as showing great control of the tools we used. Preschool children also participated in many Light and Dark activities where we looked at different shadows and objects. We discussed our planets, the sun and the moon as well as torches and how they work. Our older children also participated in our Road Safety Awareness Week during which we explored what it means to be safe on the road. We looked at our safety in the car as well as on the road. We pretended to make our own roads and drive a variety of cool cars. It’s certainly been a busy one again this month, but the children showed amazing learning once again, well done to all!
Links to Development Matters
Stages of Play in the Early Years
In Early Years, practitioners take their time to enhance their skills and knowledge by gaining further qualifications in childcare and/or early years. This allows them to build on the set of skills they already have and further develop their practice and children’s learning. One of the many aspects practitioners constantly revisit to enhance own knowledge is the understanding of different stages and types of play in the early years. We’re very lucky to be living in an age where a lot of information about children’s development is already noted and out in the world for others to use and learn from. These may include the works of Mildred Parten and Jean Piaget, who both hugely but differently contributed to the understanding of how our children learn and develop.
It is noted that babies normally start their learning through unoccupied play. This stage focuses on babies exploring the environments and surroundings without actual purpose, and is crucial for any further stages. As babies become more aware, they enter the solitary play stage which can last for a few years. During this stage, it is absolutely normal and expected for babies and toddlers to explore the world by themselves without wanting to engage with other peers. It is often a concern that some of our parents raise, however all children go through this stage and it’s absolutely normal. Our practitioners are qualified and trained to identify any reasons for concerns therefore if we ever have any concerns in any aspects of your child’s play, we will raise them with you for further action and support. During Solitary Play stage children may still engage in child-initiated play, adult-led play, imaginative play, small world play, sensory play, role play and any other types of play, however they may choose to engage in it by themselves. Our practitioners are trained in a way to identify the right stages of play and to ensure the child is reaching their full potential no matter the stage they are at, this ensures the child is fully supported and understood by the professionals around them.
Once our children become confident and develop their concentration, they will start to enter the on-looker stage during which they will begin to observe other children engage in a play that interests them. This stage is very important for the child’s social and personal development as it allows them to learn about socialising and find out about their own needs and wants. Once the child gains enough confidence, they will begin to engage in parallel play allowing other children to engage in the same play without interacting with them. This is a very big first step towards social interaction and often misunderstood. As practitioners our aim is to support all children throughout all stages no matter their age, as we see the importance of personalised and individualistic learning.
How to ensure your child is correctly strapped in their car seat:
- Ensure the child has the correct sized child seat and whether it fits your car. If the car seat does not fit the car or it’s the wrong size for your child, it is not SAFE.
- Ensure your child is correctly seated (rear facing up to 9kgs/20lbs – roughly around 9 months; or front facing) based on their age or weight. Always check the car seat instructions for detailed information. If your child is not seated correctly, they are not SAFE.
- Never allow your child to wear a coat/jacket/thick layered clothing under the harness. This allows for room between the harness and the body making it loose and not secure. If the harness is loose, it is not SAFE.
- If you are using a second-hand car seat, ensure all parts are there. If any parts are missing or if the car seat is damaged, it is not SAFE.
- Always refer to your child’s height and weight as well as the car seat’s manufacturers instruction for correct safety information.
- Find out more on: https://capt.org.uk/car-safety/ and https://www.cdc.gov/child-passenger-safety/
A small reminder…
During the colder months of winter, we experience a lot more viruses and illnesses around. Unfortunately, this isn’t something we are able to control apart from the deep cleaning that we do and passing the right information and knowledge onto our children. With this in mind, we would love to ask for your support to ensure our children are staying as safe as possible and that they learn how to prevent any unwanted illnesses. We understand that it’s extremely inconvenient when a child has to stay off nursery due to being ill. We would like to remind everybody that your child’s/children’s interest, health and wellbeing is always our number one priority, therefore as a setting we must strictly follow our illness and medication policies, meaning sometimes children may simply be too ill to attend. We would like to remind you that we do our best to keep all surfaces and resources as clean as possible and we engage in deep cleaning at least once a week. This allows us to prevent the spread of any unwanted viruses and bacteria and is the most effective approach we know. To further help us, we engage children in appropriate hand washing techniques and teach them why we do it. We additionally also show them how to safely cover their mouth when sneezing or coughing and why it’s important to do so. If you’ve been affected by an illness at this time in the year, please feel free to support with further educating our children by teaching them how to keep germs to themselves and get rid of those that are on their hands.
