Category: Doune Parents

Active Home Learning Ideas & Learning Through Play Opportunities

Below is a selection of ideas to consider for your child during this period of school closures. We are not suggesting you HAVE to do these things, but we are offering them as suggestions in case you run out of your own ideas! Also, keep an eye out for more fun ideas uploaded on our app daily.

You can also keep in touch with us through your child’s learning journal. Why not upload photos and comments about a challenge your child has completed, or share with us something that your child has been doing/exploring within their own free play, or maybe just a photo of family event you have all enjoyed. We can’t wait to see what exciting things you have all been doing from home.

Top Tips

  • Remember all children are different and have their own likes, dislikes, interests, and own timetable of development.

  • Children respond readily to routine and at present their daily/weekly routine is going to be different. Try to establish a daily routine around mealtimes, play times and rest times.

  • Offer the challenges and play ideas only for as long as it is enjoyable for your child – this might only be for 15 minutes or less for most of these activities and you can always go back to them at any time.

  • Allow lots of opportunity for your child to enjoy free play with their own toys, following their own interests and use this opportunity to observe what motivates your child and consider different ways you could develop their own interests.

Communication & Language

Read aloud to your child in your home language – encourage your child to choose the book, join in with a familiar story, hold the book themselves, turn the pages themselves, make up the story/retell the story by looking at the pictures.

Spend some time saying rhymes together/sing songs – revisit old favourites, listen to some familiar ones online, learn some new ones, action rhymes are usually the most engaging for our children

Make up a story together, write down the story as your child tells it to you, if they would like to draw their story encourage and support their mark making by writing simple captions for their pictures. Maybe they could share their story with other family members

Make a card to send to a relative or friend

Health & Well Being

Allow your child to help you prepare their snacks and meals, washing and preparing fruit or veg, spreading their own butter, serving out portions, pouring own drinks, washing up their own plate, cup and cutlery

Encourage your child to think about what you might need from the shops, gather their thoughts on what they would like to eat and write down their ideas and support them to find the products at the shops

Have them help you clean, dust, sweep, tidy the house!

Help to wash the car or their bike/scooter

Help to tidy up the garden/water house plants/feed pets/plant seeds/feed birds

Have a daily local walk/cycle/scooter or visit local park for fresh air and exercise (if we can!)

Check out the Cosmic Yoga & Go Noodle on Youtube – fun interactive video clips

Numeracy & Mathematics

Support them to sort out clothes for washing, organising items by colour for the machine, matching socks, fold clothes, put items away in the right place

Play family games such a snap, bingo, snakes and ladders

Look out for opportunities to count amounts, spot/say or read numbers on signs when out and about on doors/buses (if we can go outside!)

Baking opportunities to explore size, amount and weight

Water play exploring items which float/sink, fill containers different amounts using different sized spoons

Expressive Arts

Listening to music, dancing and playing party games such as musical bumps, musical statues

Use water and different brushes such as decorator’s brushes/rollers, old toothbrushes/scrubbing brushes for mark making on outside paths and walls

Offer opportunities to cut and stick with paper and fabric

Use cardboard boxes, tubes, packaging to make models

Use pots and pans to create drums to play along with different types of music

Make Playdough – use different shaped jars, tubs and boxes as cutters – add stones, sticks to add decoration

End Of Week 2 Update from Maureen

Dear Parents and Staff

That’s another week of self-isolating over. My intention was to give my house the love and attention it deserves but sadly I have failed. I will do it next week!

I hope your home-schooling is going well and to help you out, we will be putting out some more ideas on the app this weekend.

A few parents have e-mailed us to say they have been charged fees for April, please be assured no fees have been charged but we cannot amend your standing orders or voucher payments, this must be done by you. Any payments received will sit as a credit on your account, should you wish these returned please note the following

  • Standing orders can be returned if you e-mail your bank details to Susan at accounts@earlydaysnursery.org.uk

  • If you have paid by voucher and wish this returned, you will need to contact your voucher provider, request their bank details and reference required to ensure they allocate this back to your voucher account correctly. Once you have this information please forward to Susan at accounts@earlydaysnursery.org.uk

Our little group of key-worker children are doing well and thoroughly enjoying the extra attention they are being given by the lovely staff. They are all experts at hand washing including our babies.

The staff currently working are enjoying their 3-day working week and like having even more time to play with the children. They are missing their furloughed colleagues and I wish to express my thanks again to everyone who agreed to be furloughed.

As always, I send you best wishes, keep safe.

Maureen

Maureen’s End Of Week Update

Dear Parents and Staff,

We have now completed our planned tasks for the first week (I think). A huge thank you to the managers who have helped coordinate all of your arrangements in the Cobra room at 10 Walker Street office!

Nursery Arrangements

  • No 10 Walker Street is the only nursery open

  • There are 11 children registered there as category one key worker children

  • The staff appointed there who volunteered to work are:

  1. Nikki Monaghan -Nursery Manager

  2. Jose – Old Coated House

  3. Amy – 10 Walker Street

  4. Lilly and Alex – Doune Terrace

  5. Steph, Kay and Astra – Melville Street

  6. Nic (Admin) – Early Days

  7. Isabel (Admin) – Walker Street

  8. Sylvie (Cook) – Doune Terrace

  9. Phil – Maintenance Managers (Jannies)– Walker Street

  10. Ozzy –  Maintenance Managers (Jannies)– Melville Street

Sincerest thanks to our staff who volunteered to help.

The staff chosen will work a three day week and will have their hygiene training form Nikki on Monday. She will be the main contact for key worker parents at Walker Street. I am working from home as well as Susan (accounts) and Lillian (book keeper).

The remaining staff have generously agreed to the furloughs arrangement and I thank them for that.

Contact details are:

I will try to keep in touch weekly for as many updates as I can give. In the meantime keep safe and give your beautiful children a hug from us.

Look out for some fun daily ideas on our App also!

Warmest Wishes

Maureen

Update From Maureen and Parent Pack

Dear Parents,

We have spent today collating a register of the children whose parents require childcare. These are the parents who are essential category 1 keyworkers i.e. Doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals.

Thank you to everyone for helping us in this task. I appreciate this may change on a day to day basis and any category 1 keyworkers whose circumstances change should contact me at maureen@earlydaysnurseries.org.uk

We are also choosing a team of staff to provide the childcare required. This team will be taken from a large number of staff who kindly offered to work. Our other staff will be invited to volunteer for the furlough scheme and many staff have done this to help the business stay viable.  Thank you to them also.

It has been overwhelming to have the outstanding support and commitment from all to help tackle this terrible virus.

To help our ‘home parent teachers’, I enclose a pack which the managers have compiled to help your sanity!  We will continue to provide further ideas as and when we can. Please note that these are best to be opened on a laptop via the website or email to view easier.  If you do not have access to a laptop, Nikki can help get these to you another way.

Parent Pack

Activity Cards

Support learning at home

Please let me know if we can help in any way.

Best Wishes

Maureen

Further Nursery Opening Information

Dear Parents

I am beginning to feel like Nicola Sturgeon with my updates but here goes!

Firstly can I emphasise that the principal and essential reason for us providing childcare is to help the main key workers, mainly healthcare to  fulfil their critical support.

I must emphasise it is not compulsory for key worker’s children to attend.  Where alternative home provision is available, this is the best option.  The main reason is to reduce the spread of transmission. Therefore the minimum number of parents who require childcare will help this cause.

As from tomorrow 24th March 2020 we will be opening only 2 settings as follows

Melville Street Nursery will be open for the key worker children from Early Days, Old Coates House and Melville Street Nursery

Walker Street Nursery will be open for the key worker children from Walker Street Nursery and Doune Terrace Nursery.  Any Pre School children should be dropped off at No.17 Walker Street and Babies, Tweenies and Toddlers should be dropped off at No 10 Walker Street.

To help contain the spread of this virus we are respectfully asking parents not to enter the nursery building.  Staff from your own nursery will  meet you and the children at the door and take them into their new rooms.    Obviously if any children are upset or unsure you can bring them in to help them settle.

We are currently looking at the childcare that will be needed for key worker children and also looking at the staff we will require.  Once these details are finalised we will update you accordingly.

Thank you again for your ongoing support and lovely comments.

******IMPORTANT UPDATE******

Following the broadcast from our First Minister, we have decided as a company to confirm the following guidance to parents:

Only children of TWO keyworkers should attend nursery tomorrow.

Single parents who are keyworkers and have no alternative childcare arrangements can also attend.

We will continue to keep you updated.

Best wishes

Maureen