Busy Bees Blog
Welcome to the Busy Bees Blog!
This Blog provides just an insight of life at Busy Bees Preschool, where children learn and grow in a nurturing environment. We will share with you our values, aims and our approach to delivering the a rich and informed curriculum.
We will provide insights on various early years topics and guide you to additional resources on related subjects.
Enjoy!
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Toilet training can be seen as a real milestone in children's development and as an early years setting our parents often ask us for advice. When should I start? What signs should I be looking out for? How do I establish good toileting habits?
We direct families to ERIC, the children's bladder and bowel charity for evidence based practical advice. All our staff have completed training from ERIC so we can work together towards this essential skill. Take a look at the ERIC website to find out more about their recommended approach. https://eric.org.uk/potty-training/ .
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Promoting a healthy lifestyle
As we all know healthy food is important for growing children and developing healthy habits in childhood can support healthy habits for life. The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory guidance highlights our responsibility to provide nutritious food and promote healthy eating. So how do we approach this at Busy Bees? Firs tly we are not here to judge or shame parents, we understand the challenges parents face when feeding their children, particularly fussy eaters. While your child is with us we use our snack time to offer a range of nutritious foods, some familiar, some they might not have had before. Children are encouraged to touch foods, smell them, talk about them as well as taste them. It is a relaxed time where there is no pressure to eat if they don't want to. We take a similar approach if you choose for your child to have a hot lunch. Many of the foods will be familiar to them, but not all, and they are likely to be presented differently. Did you know you might have to serve a new food up to 20 times before your child will accept it, lots of patience is needed!
We believe that building a healthy relationship with food is just as important as a healthy diet. For us this means not labelling foods as good or bad. It also means letting the child choose how much to eat. If we don't respect when a child tells us they are full they could stop listening to their body's signals and accidently over eat.
If you are ever worried about how much your child is eating or if you worry their diet is too restricted we recommend you contact your health visitor for reassurance and support.
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Our 'Things to remember' are the behaviours we are encouraging in all children to keep us all happy and safe - our 'rules' if you like. You might have heard your child talk about them so we would like to share them with you and explain how they work.
In Bumble Bees we introduce the following;
We are gentle and kind -
At this young age many children are not able to understand that their actions can hurt others. They are still learning to control their bodies and can accidently be too rough. They are also learning about cause and effect so some unkind actions are done out of curiosity rather than a genuine desire to hurt. We teach children though demonstrating what kind and gentle play looks like and feels like.
We walk inside -
This is about safety and takes a lot of self-control!Children sometimes don't realise they are running, we walk with them to show them the difference. Often children are better at noticing running in others than in themselves!
We stop and listen -
This is about children being able to stop themselves from doing something when asked and is necessary to keep children safe. Their self-control is still developing so we need to practice, practice , practice.
When children progress to Honey Bees 'Things to remember' develops to;
We are gentle and kind -
Around age 3 children begin to understand they can hurt others and make them sad. We begin to teach children that words can upset people too. Friendships begin to develop between children and we talk about feelings and strategies to help us get along together.
We walk inside -
As children get bigger there simply isn't room inside. Lots of praise when we notice great walking usually works with this one.
We listen to each other -
This means listening when adults are talking to you and listening to other children when they try to negotiate during play. We expect children to comply with reasonable requests so we can keep them safe and the room runs smoothly.
We look after our toys -
Tidying up becomes part of children's routines and, although accidents will always happen, children are able to handle objects and books carefully and respectfully.
We stop and make good choices -
The children are still very young and still learning how to manage themselves, their wants, needs and feelings. We are teaching them to be able to stop when asked to, and be able to think about what a better choice might be.
'Things to remember' is just one part of our behaviour management policy. If you would like more information about this or are ever worried about your child's behaviour please get in touch. We don't pretend to have all the answers, but working together always produces the best outcomes for children.
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10th February is this year's Safer Internet Day. This has prompted us to share with you how we approach this at Busy Bees and offer suggestions for how you might want to manage things at home.
At Busy Bees each member of staff has a tablet but children are not allowed to touch them. The screen is locked with a pin to prevent access. Although children are not allowed to use them, staff do use these tablets to enhance children's learning. This might be using the internet to help answer a child's question or to show them a picture or video of something we are learning about. We use them to play music and stories, usually with the screen turned away. We use videos to support dance, yoga and other physical activities where the objective is to copy the moves they see on screen. And of course we use them to take photos and share updates with you via Tapestry. Children are often excited to see pictures we have taken. We have taken this approach because, most children, in some form or another, will have had access to touch screen devices at home. We therefore don't feel it's a necessary skill for us to teach in preschool.
Devices such as tablets and phones are part of modern life and so it's important that children are taught how to use them safely. We are sure that, as a family, you have your own rules and expectations around internet and screen use, but if this is something you are new to, below are some of the things we would suggest you consider.
* Use the internet with your child. Show them how you can search for information and how it can be a really useful tool beyond just playing games or watching videos.
* Teach children to ask first before using a device. You can't supervise what they are doing if they have free access whenever they like. Make sure screens are locked with a
pin or password in case children are tempted. It's also wise to ensure you have to put a password in to make in-app purchases so your child can't accidently buy things.
* Take a look at what parental controls are available on your devices, apps or through your internet provider. Remember these are never 100% foolproof so make sure your
child uses the tablet in the same room as you so you can keep an eye on what they are watching/playing.
* Sounds obvious but make sure your child only has access to age appropriate apps and websites.
* Be mindful of what older siblings or other family members might be watching when young children are around.
* Talk with your child about what they are doing and seeing online, encourage open dialogue and show an interest in their interests.
* Teach them what to do if they ever see anything that scares or upsets them. We suggest something as simple as 'turn tablet over and
shout for mummy or daddy'.
* Model healthy online habits yourself. Are you on your phone or tablet all the time? Do you put it away during meals for example?
Next week, the older children will hear the story 'Clickin Chicken' which tells the story of a chick who meets a friend on the internet but they are not who them seem. They will also take part in a small group, age appropriate, discussion about keeping safe online. The key messages will be
ask mummy or daddy before using a tablet or computer and tell an adult if you see something which scares or upsets you.
For more on this topic see
www.visitinternetmatter.org/advice/0-5/ which has advice for older children too.