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.

Emma is part of the Happy Days Nurseries & Pre-Schools team at Lyde Green and is currently raising money for Cancer Research. Her challenge is to walk 100 Miles in May. Starting yesterday, Emma managed to do 1.5 miles by doing laps around the garden with the Happy Days children.

She explained to them that she was doing a challenge where people give money to make poorly people better. They sang ‘grand old Duke of York’ throughout the march and loved it.

Emma’s only got £52 left to reach her £150 target, after already raising £98, with £16.25 gift aid.

Emma voiced ‘It’s a cause very close to my heart as my mum has had a very rare 1 in a million type of cancer 3 times and after a harrowing experience chemo and a coma, she is now doing really well. My nan passed away from cervical cancer. I have had pre-cancerous cervical cells removed. My uncle is currently battling cancer. My friend survived throat cancer. It is now 1 in 2 of us that will get this horrible disease. It was 1 in 4 only a couple of years ago.’

You can support Emma and this amazing cause by clicking here. No donation is too small, every little helps.

Happy Days, Swindon are celebrating having achieved the Woodlands Trust Silver Green Tree Schools Award.

The Green Tree Schools Award encourages outdoor learning and inspires children about trees, woods and wildlife. As part of their curriculum, all Happy Days Nurseries are registered for this award and participate in environmental projects within the Green Tree Schools Award programme, learning about the environment, how it impacts wildlife and what they can do to have a long-term positive impact on the planet.

At Happy Days, Swindon, the children have been recycling old batteries and milk bottle tops, making posters to remind everyone to switch off lights to save energy and planting willow trees!

Leanne Smith, Nursery Manager, stated, “I am immensely proud of the children for achieving this award, they have enjoyed learning more about the environment and what they can do to have a positive impact on the planet. Special thanks to Louise Harrison, Chloe Cuss and Courtney Mead for leading this programme with the children. We are now looking forward to working towards our Gold Award.”

For more information on Happy Days unique curriculum, click here. To book a visit at Happy Days, Swindon, click here.

On the 16th and 17th of April, Happy Days Salisbury created a fundraising event for a little boy with Haemophilia in their care.

Joshua’s mum said- ‘shortly before Josh’s first birthday last year he was diagnosed with Severe Haemophilia A. This is a genetic bleeding disorder in which it takes longer for bleeding to stop and bleeding can occur on joints without having had an injury. This came as a shock to us and marked the start of a lifetime of treatment and care, but we have received outstanding support from the NHS and Nursery in his care.’

Tuesday 16th April is Josh’s birthday and falls just the day before World Haemophilia Day. So to mark these occasions and to raise awareness of bleeding disorders, Happy Days nurseries & Pre-Schools invited the children to wear red on Tuesday 16th, raise money, share some tasty treats and talk about Josh’s condition.

Together with Josh’s mum, Happy Days Salisbury raised in total £224!

Messages from Lorna, Joshua’s mum – “A huge thank you to you all! We are overwhelmed by your support for World Haemophilia Day, it was amazing to see all the children and staff wearing red! You have helped us raise £224 for The Haemophilia Society! Thank you so much, it means so much to our family and will go along way to support others affected by bleeding disorders.”

If you feel able to donate to this incredible charity, please click here. If you’d like to learn more about Haemophilia, please click here.

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.