Woodworking at nursery

I always thought N’s day nursery provided a lot of variety for the children in their care.

They have a forest school which is the big selling point for us (oh, and its set in farmland as well, so lots of learning about farm activities throughout the year), with playgrounds for each room for quick and easy free flow play.  They have external people coming in on a weekly basis depending on the room, so pre-schoolers do French and drama, N’s room does Yogabugs and drama, and the babies do Yogabugs.  There’s also music sessions.  All of this alongside the usual play, arty bits and cake making opportunities.

His new nursery school which he goes to 2 days a week, is much smaller, being held in the village hall, and has to rely on outdoor play on the village green, or walks round the village or up to the school playground.

However, I’ve been astounded by the amount of artwork he’s come home with already after only 4 days at the new place.

He’s come home with paintings (5 on the first 2 days), cut paper, I’ve seen his ‘face’ on the wall of the nursery, and most impressively the woodwork that came home with him on Friday.

Yes, that’s right.  Woodwork.  At the age of 2 ½!

This nursery have an online learning journal where observations and photos are uploaded, and it’s great to see what he gets up to.  The OH couldn’t believe they actually did woodwork (despite the tower of 3 chunks of painted wood), but the photos prove it.  Pictures of him with a saw and hammer (children’s size obviously).

So the nursery might be limited in size, but he’s definitely not missing out.  I think not having so much option for outdoor play is obviously giving him more chance to get creative in different ways.

He seems to have the best of both worlds really – just have to hope that when my job here finishes, it’s still feasible for him to stay at the new nursery with its shorter hours.

What things do your children do when they’re in childcare that amaze you?