We know lots of you are now getting your children ready to come back to nursery and we are really looking forward to welcoming them all back, in fact we CAN’T WAIT! We know that you will all be thinking now about getting the children ready to come back after such a long break, so we thought we would share some ideas with you which we think will really help them settle back in, help us settle back them in, and help you with any nerves you have about them coming back.
- Fill in our updated All About Me form! We’d love it if you could complete this (with your child where possible) and send it back to us, as the children will have changed lots and developed new interests and skills over this time and we want to hear all about it so we can engage with and encourage it as soon as they return!
You can also share pictures via our parent Facebook Groups or iConnect which we can talk about with the children on their return.
- Routines – people’s lives have looked very different over the last few weeks and so daily routines will do too. Starting to get into your ‘new normal’ routine a few days before being back at nursery might help that first day not to be too much of a shock to the system. This might involve practising getting up and ready for the day for your normal nursery time or starting to get back into a normal bedtime routine.
To refresh yourself on what our routines are like click here
- Talk about hand washing – we talked about this a lot with children before lockdown and are sure that you have been at home too. However, it might be a good time to revisit this with your children. This video demonstrates a great way to explain washing hands to children and the importance of this.
- Use some online resources to talk about the Corona Virus again, making sure they know that as long as they follow the slightly new way of doing nursery life they don’t need to be afraid. For younger children this is a great book, and for the slightly older ones we would recommend this one
- Show them pictures of nursery room – refresh their mind on where they will be coming, and get them excited about visiting again. All week we will be posting pictures of the team improving the spaces ready for their return, or you can use our Google Tours on our homepage.
- Finally, watch our “We Miss You” video, spotting their favourite staff members, ready to see them in real life in the very near future! You can watch it here.
More than anything, our top tip for getting them ready is to talk. Talk about what they are excited about and who they can’t wait to see, as well as if they have any worries or fears about returning.