Good morning! We are so happy to be able to welcome you back to nursery next week (From Monday 22nd February) and to get to know the many new children and families who have joined our nursery in the last few weeks.
The staff team has been preparing for this return in earnest this week. The purpose of the blog in the past few days has been to help you prepare too. We need to work together to ‘rebuild’ our nursery so Lego seemed like a fitting recurring theme.
Many of you have connected with us and with friends during our time apart and we have also encouraged experiences which focus on recognising and managing feelings; be reassured that these will both contribute to a positive transition back to nursery for your child. We must express how proud we are of your resilience, and continued curiosity and kindness in these times. You are all our stars!
Despite our overwhelming optimism about your children’s return, we have shared ideas which should help us all manage time apart from family and returning to nursery – environment, people, play, routines and feelings.
Today we share a final few suggestions and reflections for the weekend as well as a special video that we hope you enjoy.
- Look back at the blog posts made over the last 6 weeks and try some of the ideas you enjoyed the first time or that you haven’t done before.
- Try to recall three exciting/interesting/fun things you have done in the 8 weeks since we last saw each other. Maybe you have more than three magic moments. We would love to hear about them next week so talking about them now can help you to remember some of the details.
- It might be wet and windy but we know you all enjoy getting outdoors. This weekend, try to walk to the nursery as you may not have been in that direction for a while. Can you remember where the stars are painted on the ground? How many are there? I forget! Perhaps you could check and let me know.
- In our first days back at nursery we might miss our family that we have spent so much time with. Why don’t you plan one thing that you will do after nursery each day next week that will be part of your special family time? You might go to the park, make a snack together, have some hot chocolate, build some tricky Lego or cuddle on the sofa – you decide!
- Get yourself ready for nursery! Help your adult to pack your bag with a change of clothes. Get all your waterproofs and hats, scarves and gloves ready. Make sure your lunch box and water bottle are clean and ready. Is your name on everything? Can you check?
- Although we discourage the children from bringing personal items to play with in nursery, you may decide to share a secret token that only you and they will know about. It may help them feel a little closer to you if they miss you next week. This can be something as simple as you and your child wearing matching hair bobbles that day, a sticky note with a smile in their lunchbox, a little fabric heart sewn into the lining of their jacket or a keyring on their bag…Something small for us, but full of love for them.
- Have a chat about different aspects of the nursery day – drop-off, play, going to different spaces such as the Secret Garden, noisier/quieter times, toilets, snack/lunch, feeling safe, group time… Try to elicit how your child is feeling and address any worries they may have.
- Remember that there are a many stories on our Team that can help us talk about worries and feelings! Go to Teams, Files (at top of page), Storytime. You might like:
- In my Heart
- My Big Shouting Day
- My Strong Mind
- Ruby’s Worry
- No Matter What
- While We Can’t Hug
- Same But Different Too
- The Huge Bag of Worries
And finally… we arrived in nursery one morning this week to find Lego blocks strewn all over the floor! Do you have any ideas how they might have got there?
We couldn’t understand what had happened until we came across this video. It looks like we had a visitor!
