Making brushing teeth fun!

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Think of creative ways to make brushing your teeth fun. For example, listening to fun sounds or songs that are two minutes long to help keep yourself and your kids brushing for the entire time is recommended.

Also, having a cool toothbrush designed for kids that features their favourite characters helps bring the fun in brushing and allows children to bring their favourite cartoon and television friends into the bathroom with them.

  • Create a rewards chart – Children should brush their teeth twice a day, so try keeping track of your child’s brushing on a calendar by the sink with gold stars. If there are two stars at the end of the week, they could get a little treat.
  • Make brushing teeth time family time – At night, get together in the bathroom to brush your teeth for the recommended two minutes. It will encourage your children when they see their parents/carers doing it too.
  • Don’t make the dentist a scary place – Dentists recommend dental check-ups every six months, which can be scary for many children. So prepare them beforehand. Give them an idea of what to expect; try using picture books or do some role-playing exercises to explain to kids what to expect during a dental visit. After the visit, reward them for good behaviour.
  • Keep a routine – Make it part of your child’s daily routine so they can become used to regular brushing.
  • Use tooth brushing games and apps – Brushing apps for smartphones and tablets, like the free Oral-B Disney Magic Timer App, can help children brush by featuring exciting animation and virtual stickers.

Lastly, remember that a healthy diet is essential in tooth care for kids. Try to avoid or limit sugary foods and drinks. It’s recommended that they only drink milk and water. If you give them sugary foods, only do so at their regular mealtimes.

‘Scribbling’ – The Hidden Meaning

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Adults see scribbling, but for children it is their masterpiece!

Mark making is a very important phrase of a child’s development. It is a visual way to communicate and interact in a meaningful way with adults in their lives, as well as developing their coordination, creativity and literacy skills.

The phases of scribbling in young children can be categorised:

  1. Random scribbling – this first phrase is the very beginning of children showing interest in holding a pencil and making random marks, typically, this can be seen as lines in different directions.
  2. Controlled scribbling – this next stage shows the child has much more control over the pencil and will leave marks where they want to on the paper.
  3. Naming of scribbling –  at this stage, the child is thinking more into the mark-making action. They are beginning to make links with their marks on the paper and the world around them, this could be something that is meaningful to them in their life, a personal experience or an object.
  4. Early representational attempts – at this stage, the child’s drawing may start to resemble real-life images because they have greater muscle control and a greater understanding of the world around them.
  5. Representational stage of scribbling –  in the last and final stage, children will draw basic objects, this usually starts with circular shapes. It might be their own personal version, e.g. they may draw five circles together and call it a car.

As adults, we should provide opportunities for children to mark make it their own way. This doesn’t always have to be using a pencil and paper. Try sticks in the mud, flour and a paintbrush or their finger dipped in paint. The possibilities are endless.

Child Scribbling

What makes a Little Owl Practitioner?

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What makes a Little Owls Practitioner ? ?

There are a carefully selected set of ingredients that make our wonderful Practitioners at Little Owls Childcare…take a look at the following recipe of how to make the perfect practitioner! ?

* 1 large cup of patience.
* 2 heaped tablespoons of energy and enthusiasm for working with children.
* An enormous scoop of empathy.
* A jug of humour and laughter.
* A large bowl of understanding of child development.
* A scoopful of teamwork and positive attitude.
* A pinch of exciting activity ideas.
* A large handful of nurture and compassion.
* A love of messy activities and noise!
* A heap of dedication!
* A cup of smiles !

Combine all of the above carefully, sprinkle with plenty of love and you have a wonderful Little Owls practitioner ?

Clever Communication

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Clever communication ????

In the Discovery Room (Birth to confident walkers) at our Cannock Daycare Nursery, we recognise the need to communicate effectively with our babies.

One of our chosen methods is to use simple sign language for some everyday words and instructions.

‘Research shows that sign language speeds up speech development, reduces frustration in young children by giving them a means to express themselves before they know how to talk, increases parent-child bonding, and lets babies communicate vital information, such as if they are hurt or hungry. (educationalplaycare.com).

Of course, the children are hearing the spoken word at the same time which helps with speech and language.

Before you know it, they are not only associating that sign with a word but attempting to sign it too!

Singing and signing is lots of fun too…the babies really engage when we sing with actions to support the song.

We share a weekly sign with our families, feel free to follow the link for more information.

https://makaton.org/TMC/The_Makaton_community/Sign_of_the_Week.aspx

 

Wheeeee love slides!

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Wheeeee love slides!

Here at Little Owl Cannock Daycare Nursery that “Wheee” sound is a very familiar one to us all!

Our children love spending time climbing on the variety of slides we offer.

The benefits of using a slide make it more than just a fun activity ….
? It helps them learn to balance as they have to keep their torso in balance as gravity pulls them down.
?there is a lot of coordination involved in climbing the ladder,changing position at the top, safely, sitting down and finally descending .
?climbing the steps is a super way to strengthen upper and lower body muscles as well as giving them a cardio work out!
?valuable social skills are being learned, taking turns -waiting for someone to move before sliding down, cooperating with each other will help them interact throughout childhood and into adulthood. Communication and language is developed also as they count the steps and ask for help if needed.

So let’s encourage this type of activity as much as possible!

 

Little Actors in the Making!

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Little actors in the making! ?

Our preschoolers, at our Cannock Daycare Nursery, are thoroughly enjoying their weekly drama sessions courtesy of Chase Grammar School.

It is giving them the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in singing, sharing feelings, acting out real life situations, improving memory and communication skills, building their confidence socially and generally having lots of fun.
Well done to our Little Owls Adventurers!

Bringing stories to life

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Bringing stories to life for our Little Owls! ??

Our Adventurers in the preschool at our Cannock Nursery absolutely love story time ?.

The traditional tales are brought to life with our wonderful story sacks.

They are able to use all their senses to fully immerse themselves in the storytelling process. Using a story sack enables everyone to access the story regardless of their communication and language skills.

We have many stories to share, here are a couple of examples…
For more information about the benefits of story sacks see the link attached.
https://literacytrust.org.uk/resources/how-make-and-use-story-sack/#:~:text=Using%20story%20sacks%20in%20your%20early%20years%20setting,memorable%203%20supporting%20children%20with%20their%20own%20storytelling

“Alexa, play Nursery Rhymes”

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“Alexa, play nursery rhymes !”

It’s time to get singing! ?

We love nothing more than a good old sing song with our babies in The Discovery Room!

It connects us all and brings a smile to our faces especially if someone is feeling a little sad – it proves to be a helpful distraction and leaves everyone feeling better!

But why is singing so important? Here are a few reasons…
? It connects us socially as we share the actions to the songs and It exposes our Little ones to vocabulary that may not occur in day to day conversation.

?It strengthens their fine and gross motor skills as we clap our hands, point to things or stamp our feet

? It improves their memories as we remember the repetitive patterns and actions to
the songs.

We often include the shakers and other objects around the room to
enhance the experience!
For many more positive reasons to break into song with your little one, take a look at this link…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/why-do-we-sing-nursery-rhymes/zdsyf82

“I can do it myself!”

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‘ I can do it myself!’

Encouraging independence in our Little Owls.

As our babies at Cannock Nursery develop into toddlers, one of the most noticeable changes is that they are eager to do a lot more for themselves.
When our babies become confident walkers, they take the next step and move into the Explorers room. From there they move to Adventurers. These rooms are where the children’s independence really comes into play.

Learning to follow routines is one key way to provide opportunities for this, for example –
Hanging up their own coat, washing hands before meal times and sitting down together for story and singing time.

Snack time provides many opportunities for our Little Owls to show off their skills.
Our routine enables them to make a choice of snack, to use a child’s knife to spread the butter and cheese on by themselves and to pour their own drink .

The children develop such a sense of achievement as well as developing key fine motor skills along the way.
All of these responsibilities empower our children and are important steps towards preparing them for the big wide world ! ?