Encouraging your child to bring nursery school skills home: a how-to guide
If you send your little one (or little ones) to a nursery or a daycare centre, you’re probably aware of the kind of skills that they’re taught while there. Early years are a hugely important part of your child’s development, and it’s important to thoroughly research the daycare nursery you’re sending them to as they’ll pick up quite a lot there.
The good news is that the Department of Education has developed an Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework so all children in nursery can receive only the best care. It’s important to encourage your little ones to keep up their skills at home so they can get in the habit of it and also transition more easily between the home and nursery environment.
If you’re happy with what your child is being taught at nursery and want to learn how to encourage them to bring their newly learnt skills at home, you’re in the right place. Read on for our tips and advice on how to encourage your children to continue using the skills they’ve learnt at nursery at home:
Encourage quiet time during dinner
At nursery, children are taught not to chat too much while eating and finish what’s on their plate. Create a dinnertime routine where you sit at the table with your little one and get them into the habit of focussing on their food without getting distracted. Don’t allow iPads or cartoons at mealtimes as this can quickly become a habit. Make sure that your children learn that they’ll need to finish what’s on their plate by not offering too many snacks outside mealtime. Developing this discipline with meals and eating habits can be one of the toughest things to conquer, but if you pair nursery teaching with home teaching, it should happen a lot more quickly.
Ask your children about new words they’ve learnt and use them at home
Both at nursery and at home, your child’s vocabulary will be growing on a daily basis. Make sure that they fully grasp the meaning of any new words they have learned by using them in sentences around the house. We’d recommend teaching them a new word or two during their bedtime reading and encouraging them to use it while speaking through the course of the week.
Encourage sharing
One of the most important things that children learn in nursery care is how to share with others. Whether they have siblings or not, it’s unlikely that they will have been around such large groups of children before nursery. Nursery teachers constantly advocate the importance of sharing and encourage children to share not just books and toys, but ideas and thoughts.
Continue this trend of sharing at home. If your little one doesn’t have any siblings, encourage them to share with you. Always acknowledge when they have shared something and thank them for it so they are incentivised to do it again and again.
Plan play dates outside of nursery
As your children learn to socialise in their daycare centre, try and make them more comfortable with it by arranging a playdate every so often. This is especially important if they don’t have siblings, as they may find it more difficult to share their space with others and may feel shy while at nursery. By taking them to socialise with other children outside nursery, you’ll see their confidence grow as they learn to become more comfortable playing with others.
Get them in the habit of asking to go to the toilet
Toilet training can be tricky, and you may feel slightly stressed sending a child that isn’t yet toilet trained to daycare nursery. However, nursery teachers are quite experienced in instilling the principle of asking to go to the toilet in their students. And when your child sees other children doing it at nursery, they are more likely to mimic that and do it themselves. Encourage them to continue with the habit at home and make it a rule so that they learn how to express their needs.
Integrate regular reading into their daily routine
As your child will be learning to read at preschool, help boost their progress by introducing books and regular reading time at home. A bedtime story is the perfect way to do this. Start by reading to them and slowly transition to them reading to you as they pick up more and more at school. Make this into a nightly routine and it can also help wind them down before bed.
You could also make going to the local library into a regular adventure and activity. It is a good way to get them more excited about reading, and they’re bound to run into fellow classmates there and feel more encouraged to read some of the same titles.
Practice writing and spelling at home
As you ignite their passion for reading, encourage them to write at home as well. This way, they can grow in confidence and start to improve their literacy skills at a good rate. Try getting some literacy games and activities from the library to make learning fun. This could include simple word and sound matching, poetry games and matching words to pictures.
Engage them in arts and crafts
Get their creative juices flowing by getting some good arts and crafts materials. Even something as simple as colouring in can be quite calming and encourage your child to flex their creative muscles. You could also draw and paint together. Doing arts and crafts together is a fun and easy way to bond with your child, and it can pretty much be done anywhere!
Take them out in nature
Once a child starts nursery, they’re suddenly out and about more than they have ever been in their lives. Encourage them to continue playing outdoors by taking them to parks or for nature walks. Being out in nature can spark their imagination and keep them active so they fall asleep happily tired out from a long and fun day!
If you are seeking a local nursery near you - Sandfield Day Nursery would love to hear from you
As experienced and compassionate childcare providers in Nottingham, here at Sandfield Day Nursery we appreciate that selecting the best day nursery for your little one’s childcare can be difficult. That is why, at Sandfield Day Nursery, we go above and beyond to create a comforting and educational nursery environment for the little ones of Nottingham.
Our daycare facilities are suited for children aged six weeks to five years old, and are run by a team of friendly and qualified daycare staff who recognise and appreciate the specific needs of each individual child. If you’re searching for local daycare facilities in Nottingham, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Back To List