Shake your body

Our fun daily fitness sessions that younger children can choose to join. These sessions last five minutes in the morning to provide a positive start of the day and helping to establish routines. It helps children become ready to learn and increases coordination. Studies have shown that the type of movements within this programme strengthens nerve pathways in the brain, aiding learning. The Wake Up and Shake Up songs in these sessions promote health and wellbeing, while aiding communication and language – vital skills in the early years.

Feelings & Emotions

Developing every child’s emotional intelligence and resilience is important to help them overcome future challenges. We use different tools that help children express their thoughts and feelings, such as ‘feelings bag’ packed with resources that allow them to recognise and talk about different emotions.

We give them ways to cope with each emotions and help them regulate their behaviour and emotions. We also help each child understand how their emotions affect others and how to understand others’ emotions.

Cooking

We offer some cooking activities that teach practical skills such as fine motor skills, knowledge of hygiene and food and numeracy. These activities are a sensory experience often using all five senses, making it a more engaging and truly memorable experience. The children also learn about healthy choices and extended conversations about healthy eating take place during such activities.

Show & Tell Boxes

To aid communication, we encourage our older children to make their own ‘Show and Tell Box’, where they can collect some of their favourite things, bring them to our nursery and share them in small groups with their peers or key person. We encourage children to listen carefully and ask questions to facilitate conversation and confident speaking.

Surprise bag

One of our most popular activities is the surprise bag during circle time. Within the bag are many different items which link to nursery rhymes. When an item is picked out the bag, we sing the nursery rhyme. While this activity is simple, it encourages children to share and take turns, develop language and extend vocabulary.

Planting & Growing

Outdoor learning is a great way to extend children’s knowledge of the outdoor environment. These experiences offers a range of activities that help children understand the world around them while gaining practical skills. Activities include growing and picking fruit and vegetables that are used in our kitchen or gardening.

Messy Play

At Alpha Day Nursery, most of our learning is play based for all ages. Messy and sensory play engages a child's senses while learning and exploring new things. As a child grows, this learning through play and exploring is still a vital part of their cognitive development. Sensory play has several benefits including supporting cognitive development, fostering STEM skills, improving fine motor skills and encouraging language and communication.