Engaging the Mind, Engaging the Body – The Best Approach for Day Nurseries in Sanderstead | Little Apples Day Nursery
One of the most essential parts of any child’s development is exercise, tailored to be appropriate to their unique capabilities. Not only does it help develop the body and lead to a healthy heart and lungs, it’s a great way of letting off steam and thus improves mental health. This is why preschools and day nurseries, like Little Apples in Sanderstead, place such an emphasis on working it into daily activity plans. Our success in this area is part of the reason we received out ‘Outstanding’ grade from Ofsted, making us one of the most high achieving nursery schools and childcare / early education providers in the wider Croydon area.
But we all know the benefits… the problem is encouraging exercise and getting the children excited and interested in participating. We, like many day nurseries, favour organising games, competitions and team-based creative activities to get the blood pumping and the muscles working. The question today’s blog looks at, is how parents at home can make exercise fun!
Making Exercise Fun!
Invest in Some Wellies – We look at wellies and think, well… not much; but for children a pair in their favourite colour, adorned with their favourite cartoon character, can open up a real passion for getting out in the weather. In the summer, going for walks with the kids has a lot of draw for all the family, but a good pair of wellies can make a walk out in the autumn – winter rain and snow both fun, and not a total messy nightmare!
Get Creative – As nursery schools/ preschools and childcare professionals will all attest: it can be difficult to continue to get children excited about the same activities when they’re repeated day-in and day-out. So we’d recommend Sanderstead parents and guardians to use their imaginations, and turn walks into treasure hunts and similar adventures. Perhaps you could turn it into a game of I spy with a reward at the end, or go picking flowers! If there are particular activities that your children enjoy doing at day nurseries, perhaps put your own twist on them and base it round a walk.
Devolve Responsibility – Most of us are not too old to remember the feelings that arise when being bossed around by parents and the like; it’s usually in our best interests, but we still crave a little more responsibility. “We’re not babies!” So asking your children where they’d like to go and what they’d like to do, then steering that kernel of an idea into the realm of possibility, can really get children invested in activities. This democratic approach is often employed at nursery schools and day nurseries, including ours in Sanderstead.
Consider Cycling – Many children get realty excited about the thought of cycling. And not only is it a fantastic form of exercise, but it’s a great eco-friendly way of getting out and about, from A to B. Learning to cycle is a life skill, which is why many preschools / nurseries around Sanderstead look to encourage it, with the cycling proficiency test later on being a sort of accumulation of all the prior efforts. Cartoons or shows about cycling have been known to cause the bike bug in children, and it’s a great hobby / interest to foster!