A big thank you to Katie, after reaching her 10th year work anniversary at Happy Days Nursery Exeter!

This month we have been celebrating our colleague who has worked at Happy Days for 10 years. Throughout her time at Happy Days Katie has supported the learning and development of children in both our Explorers and Adventurers units…. Where she has worked in every room caring for all different ages and needs. Katie has supported whole families as siblings have attended Happy Days and Katie loves sharing stories with children.

Thank you for all of your support and dedication over the years!

Harry our holiday bear is currently sunning himself up in Ibiza and following all our Sun Safe guidelines!

We introduced our holiday bear to Happy Days Exeter last month to help the children with learning about sun safe and oral health (in his suitcase he has a diary, his toothbrush, sunhat, sunglasses, and his very own passport). We had a suggestion box for names and once we had a good selection of names we had a poll vote for the final name on our Parent’s Facebook page; and ‘Harry the holiday bear’ was the winner!

The children are so excited to take him away on holidays or home with them over the weekend. He is a great way for children to learn about different countries and cultures and helps to teach the children about being responsible.

Harry has his holiday diary where families can add pictures and diary entries about what he gets up to on his holidays. He is a very well-travelled bear, and we are all a bit jealous of him!

It’s More Than Just Play!

Happy Days Nurseries & Pre-Schools are inviting parents to join them at one of their nurseries for their Summer Open Day, It’s More Than Just Play!

Parents will be able to discover how play is at the heart of our innovative “Where Children Shine” early years curriculum, providing opportunities for children to learn, explore, and discover while attending nursery. The curriculum values children as unique, strong, and resilient individuals and recognises that play is a fundamental aspect of a child’s learning and development.

The open day is being held across all sites* on 22 June 2024, 10:00 – 13:00, and is the perfect opportunity to celebrate our colleagues and all that they do to ensure all children have the best possible start in life, enabling them to reach their full potential in becoming strong and motivated learners for life.

During the open day families will:

· Experience interactive activities for children to explore and learn through play

· Learn from our experienced nursery team about the benefits of play-based learning

· See firsthand how our curriculum fosters a love of learning in a nurturing environment

· Gain valuable insights on how play sets the stage for an exceptional start in life for your child

· Learn more about the government support available to help with the cost of childcare

Everyone in the local community is invited to attend along with our current parents, their friends and family. There is no need to book, just turn up.

We look forward to seeing you there. To find your local nursery, visit: https://happydaysnurseries.com/find-a-nursery/

*excluding Droitwich who are holding their on Saturday 6 July 2024, 10:00 -13:00

Happy Days Nurseries & Pre-Schools in Exeter have had another busy week of learning, this time all about food!

After spending the last few weeks learning about wildlife and nature by watching butterflies develop and taking part in gardening, they were ready to get their chef hats on.

This morning the Explorers took part in a fruit tasting activity and really enjoyed it. The children spent the activity practising their fine motor skills to use safety knives to chop up a banana and spoons to scoop seeds out of a melon. The children even had the option to look the part by wearing an apron and a chef hat. This assisted the Let’s cook aspect of our curriculum nicely.

The Happy Days Let’s Cook Programme encourages children to take a more active role in choosing, preparing and cooking simple dishes which will encourage them to eat a wider variety of healthy foods. Research shows that the more familiar children are with ingredients and the more they feel involved in the process, the more likely they are to eat the food at the end.

When engaged in the cooking programme the children will be introduced to new healthy ingredients, and encouraged to explore unknown tastes, smells and textures which will increase their exposure to a wide range of fruit and vegetables, herbs, spices and foods from a variety of cultures.

Teaching children about the benefits cooking and nutrition can make a real difference to the quality of their lives; it equips them with the confidence to make healthy food choices and supports a healthy enjoyment of food. Learning to cook from an early age can contribute to maintaining a healthy weight, good oral health and general health and wellbeing.

Despite the rain, spring has arrived at Happy Days Nursery Exeter. The children have been making the most of it by getting their green fingers on. They’ve been planting various flowers and vegetables for the Happy Days garden.  

The Adventurers had a large selection of seeds to choose from to plant; Cucumbers, Carrots, Morning Glory, Sweet William, Godetia and sun flowers. After choosing their seed everyone discussed all the different things that plants need to grow.

This helps them develop their understanding of the natural world, appreciate it’s beauty and learn to take care of it. This is part of the Inquisitive & Ambitious Thinker aspect of our curriculum through the Let’s Grow Programme. Throughout the year the children have the opportunity to sow seeds, tend to the plants and harvest the produce, improving their understanding of where food comes from.

Our Pre School children at Happy Days, Exeter, have been observing life cycles in action by introducing butterfly farms back in March. The children (and adults) have been able to watch the changes over time from starting off as caterpillars, forming their chrysalises and then transforming into butterflies!

It has been fantastic to see how this has supported the Inquisitive and Ambitious Thinker aspect of our Happy Days Curriculum; enhancing their knowledge of the natural world whilst also supporting them to be strong and confident communicators, learning new vocabulary such as chrysalis!

Throughout the past few weeks, the children have taken part in making predictions of what changes they might observe; sharing their ideas and listening to their peers. They counted how many caterpillars, chrysalis and butterflies there were and checked against their predictions.

To extend all the wonderful learning we have been doing about the life cycle of butterflies, the children enjoyed a ‘Let’s Cook’ activity. We enjoyed using chopping boards and knives to cut all the different fruits, vegetables and salami from the very Hungry Caterpillar story. We particularly enjoyed tasting all the different foods!

Yesterday the children had the opportunity to display their care and concern when holding a butterfly, linking to the objective of week 3 of our Positive Transition to School Programme. We then let them fly out into the garden to continue their life in the natural world.