Home learning and development | wyesidedaynursery

Ideas for supporting your child's learning and all areas of development in your home.

This page is to assist parents & carers in helping to support their child's learning and development at home. When your child is at nursery you can view your child's individual next steps on their Tapestry account which will help you further to understand and support your child's development.

As a parent it can sometimes be hard to know exactly what your child should or shouldn't be doing and it is easy to forget that just because your friend's child can do something doesn't mean that your child is behind.

Each term we will add a range of activities for you to try at home as a family. These activities can be adapted to individual children's ages and interest so go wild and experiment. Don't forget to feedback to your child's key person and add an observation on your child's Tapestry account.

Mindful Activities for kindness, focus & calm.

This year we have been focusing on mindfulness within our nursery as children have been surrounded by a lot of change and uncertainty in their life. Due to constraints of the lockdowns some children have had less valuable time with other family members and friends outside of their homes . We all worry as a nation what impact the pandemic affects will have on our children's mental wellbeing and emotions. Therefore it is important to remember that children need to feel safe, secure and grounded and the activities set out below are easy to follow to support children through different parts of their day, from morning to night. You can find many more activities like this from " Mindful Kids" by Whitney Stewart & Mina Braun.

Mountain Rising

Ask your child to stand straight with their feet apart and arms by their sides. Ask them if they can feel the bottoms of their feet. on the floor. keep your eyes open.
Ask them to imagine that they are rising up from the ocean and that their head is the top of a mountain.
Raise your arms, fingers apart to lift your mountain head higher. hold the position for a moment and stay solid as a mountain.
ask your child if they have any worries and see their worries a tiny waves splashing the mountain.
breathe in and breathe out to blow the waves far out to sea. Now watch the water become calm around you.
Now lower your arms and take a mindful breath. Tell your child that they can stay strong as a mountain all day.

Mind Castle

Sit mindfully, with your spine straight and body relaxed. Close your eyes and take three soft, slow, mindful breaths.
Draw a castle in your mind. What does it look like on the outside? Does it have towers or a drawbridge?
Now go inside your castle. What do you see? Wander through the rooms. Notice the shapes, smells and sounds in each room.
If you start to think of something else, take a deep breath and blow out air. bring your thoughts back to your castle.
When you have finished exploring every room in your castle , talk to your parents about what you saw.

Loving-Kindness

Sit mindfully, with your spine straight and body relaxed.

Hold your hand over your heart, and repeat to yourself: " May I be happy. May I be safe. May I be peaceful. May I be kind."

Now ask your child to think of a friend or family member.

Repeat to yourself:

May you be happy. May you be safe. May you be peaceful. May you be kind.

Now ask your child to imagine people they don't know yet.

Repeat to yourself:

May you all be happy. May you all be safe. May you all be peaceful. May you all be kind."

Ask your child to continue their day knowing that everyone wants to be happy, just like they do.

Shake the sillies out !

Stand like a statue. Breathe in and hold your breath.
Breathe in and shake out your arms. Shake them high & shake them low.
shake out your legs. shake them this way and that way.
Shake your body until its loose. Shake, shake, shake your sillies out. See them fly off you like water droplets.
Flop down gently into a chair or onto a mat. Now let that silly out " Ahhhh!"
Now take three soft, slow mindful breaths. Fill your nose, your lungs and your tummy. Now you can return to your day.

Mindful Munch

Before you eat, take three soft, slow, mindful breaths.
Sniff the food you are about to eat. What does it smell like?
Look carefully & notice the texture. Does it look hard and crunchy? Soft & mushy?
Take one bite and chew slowly until your food is like a paste. Is it sweet or salty? Does the taste change as you chew?
Swallow your food. What sensations do you feel in your body as you eat?
How was your mindful munch different from the way you normally eat? Can you eat your whole snack or meal this way?

Where to get GREAT IDEAS from...

We use TWINKL for instant access to inspirational lesson plans, schemes of work, assessment, interactive activities, resource packs, PowerPoints and teaching ideas. Click on the link below to see the website.

Twinkl

Ideas for supporting your child's learning and all areas of development in your home.

This page is to assist parents & carers in helping to support their child's learning and development at home. When your child is at nursery you can view your child's individual next steps on their Tapestry account which will help you further to understand and support your child's development.

As a parent it can sometimes be hard to know exactly what your child should or shouldn't be doing and it is easy to forget that just because your friend's child can do something doesn't mean that your child is behind.

Each term we will add a range of activities for you to try at home as a family. These activities can be adapted to individual children's ages and interest so go wild and experiment. Don't forget to feedback to your child's key person and add an observation on your child's Tapestry account.

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Mindful Activities for kindness, focus & calm.

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Mountain Rising

​

Ask your child to stand straight with their feet apart and arms by their sides. Ask them if they can feel the bottoms of their feet. on the floor. keep your eyes open.

Ask them to imagine that they are rising up from the ocean and that their head is the top of a mountain.

Raise your arms, fingers apart to lift your mountain head higher. hold the position for a moment and stay solid as a mountain.

ask your child if they have any worries and see their worries a tiny waves splashing the mountain.

breathe in and breathe out to blow the waves far out to sea. Now watch the water become calm around you.

Now lower your arms and take a mindful breath. Tell your child that they can stay strong as a mountain all day.

Mind Castle

​

Sit mindfully, with your spine straight and body relaxed. Close your eyes and take three soft, slow, mindful breaths.

Draw a castle in your mind. What does it look like on the outside? Does it have towers or a drawbridge?

Now go inside your castle. What do you see? Wander through the rooms. Notice the shapes, smells and sounds in each room.

If you start to think of something else, take a deep breath and blow out air. bring your thoughts back to your castle.

When you have finished exploring every room in your castle , talk to your parents about what you saw.

Loving-Kindness

​

Sit mindfully, with your spine straight and body relaxed.

Hold your hand over your heart, and repeat to yourself: " May I be happy. May I be safe. May I be peaceful. May I be kind."

​

Now ask your child to think of a friend or family member.

Repeat to yourself:

May you be happy. May you be safe. May you be peaceful. May you be kind.

​

Now ask your child to imagine people they don't know yet.

Repeat to yourself:

May you all be happy. May you all be safe. May you all be peaceful. May you all be kind."

​

Ask your child to continue their day knowing that everyone wants to be happy, just like they do.

Shake the sillies out !

​

​​Stand like a statue. Breathe in and hold your breath.

Breathe in and shake out your arms. Shake them high & shake them low.

shake out your legs. shake them this way and that way.

Shake your body until its loose. Shake, shake, shake your sillies out. See them fly off you like water droplets.

Flop down gently into a chair or onto a mat. Now let that silly out " Ahhhh!"

Now take three soft, slow mindful breaths. Fill your nose, your lungs and your tummy. Now you can return to your day.

​

​

Mindful Munch

​

​Before you eat, take three soft, slow, mindful breaths.

Sniff the food you are about to eat. What does it smell like?

Look carefully & notice the texture. Does it look hard and crunchy? Soft & mushy?

Take one bite and chew slowly until your food is like a paste. Is it sweet or salty? Does the taste change as you chew?

Swallow your food. What sensations do you feel in your body as you eat?

How was your mindful munch different from the way you normally eat? Can you eat your whole snack or meal this way?

Where to get GREAT IDEAS from...

​

We use TWINKL for instant access to inspirational lesson plans, schemes of work, assessment, interactive activities, resource packs, PowerPoints and teaching ideas. Click on the link below to see the website.

Stand like a statue. Breathe in and hold your breath.

Before you eat, take three soft, slow, mindful breaths.