Should I send my child to nursery? What is the right age to send my child to nursery? What will my child benefit from attending nursery? These are just some of the many questions you may have when you have a young child and are considering sending them to Nursery/Preschool. Up to the age of 5 years of age is a critical time period of when a child’s brain develops. During this time, they develop emotions, speech, taste, touch, behaviour and so many more important skills that will shape the rest of their lives, so allowing them to have rich experiences will help to maximise their growth and learning.
There are many benefits that young children will experience by attending a nursery/Preschool. If you are considering your child starting Nursery, this article may help you to make that decision.
Nursery includes The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
The EYFS sets standards for the learning, development, and care of your child from birth to five years old. It is the first stage of your child’s education and aims to support their leaning and development throughout your child’s years at nursery.
Below is a list of the key areas of EYFS:
Prime area
- Physical development
- Communication and language
- Personal, social, and emotional development
Specific area
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
Developing our characteristics
Confidence:
For some children attending nursery it may be the very first time they have spent a few hours apart from their parents. Being away from their primary carers can nurture a child’s self-confidence as they are introduced to a variety of learning experiences, that will support their independence. This encourages discovery about life outside of their family unit.
Independence:
The sense of independence is important due to its promotion of self-motivation and the freedom to make their own decisions responsibly, which are hugely important skills to build for their futures. Here at Kids Play we embrace nature-based play and expose children to lots of outdoor learning experiences. These lead to increasing children’s confidence and developing an understanding for our natural world.
Benefits of being outdoors
Building Immunity:
Interaction at nursery with other children and adults supports development of the immune system to common infections such as colds. Developing a healthy immune system is important to protect our bodies from harmful substances and germs, especially in the crucial years of a child’s learning. Being outdoors in the fresh air and getting daily exercise is extremely valuable for our wellbeing.
Active Physical Play:
Not only is the fresh air a contributing factor to keeping your little one healthy, it will also help to build their physical experiences, developing their fine and gross motor skills in the great outdoors. It will encourage children to stay active throughout their lives and build their self-esteem, as well as decreasing risk of illness later in life.
Developing our social skills
Making friends:
Crucial social skills such as taking turns, listening to others, playing nicely with other children and communicating our feelings are all skills than can be learnt and developed at nursery, in order to encourage children to make friends with one another.
Socialising:
By having daily interactions with other children and adults, children will begin to understand their own emotions and develop an understanding of how to approach and interact with others based on these emotions. This will allow children to confidently interact with their peers whilst acknowledging the way a person may be feeling.
Preparing for the future
Preparation for school:
Here at Kids Play we want every child to enjoy their time at nursery and aim to prepare them for mainstream school. By building your child’s confidence and independence, it will help support them when transitioning into mainstream school as your child will have the experience of spending time in a learning environment, making friends and developing those all-important life skills.
Learning a routine:
Teaching the children the value of a routine will begin to prepare them for physically and emotionally for life after nursery. By establishing a routine, it encourages comfort and feeling secure due to knowing what to expect from the day ahead. Routines also allow for special family bonding time, allowing children to understand the importance of doing activities as a family such as bedtime stories whilst developing their reading.
Developing important skills
Learning new skills:
When children learn new skills, it has a direct positive impact on their confidence and self-esteem. It also teaches how to deal with challenges, by practicing the speed that they learn. Skills such as listening to and reading stories, completing jigsaw puzzles and cooking simple healthy dishes form the basis of learning for what is to come in the future.
Learning to take care of themselves:
By encouraging natural play revolved around day-to-day life skills like we do at Kids Play, it teaches children how to take care of themselves. By encouraging healthy eating in the first few years, it creates a habit that will help continue this throughout their lives. This, again, focuses on building their independence so children are not so reliant on their parents or carers.
Ultimately, the mass benefits a child experiences during the crucial learning stages of their lives will help them develop the skills they will continue to build on in the future. By going through new daily challenges, experiences, and routines, it increases the vast growth and learning potential of your little ones, allowing them to excel in whatever life has in store for them. We hope this article has given you insight into why nursery will benefit your child.
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