After deciding on the right nursery for you and your family, confirming the booking pattern and arranging the settling in sessions, your little one’s first day at nursery has arrived!
We often get asked if there’s anything you need to pack for your child and what they will need with them while at nursery. Luckily, our fees are inclusive of everything the children need during the day, apart from personal items and clothing.
We therefore ask that you pack the following:
Spare Clothes
We recommend that you pack 3 x changes of clothes, including socks, underwear, trousers/shorts, long sleeve/short sleeve tops and jumpers. Your child’s day will be full of fun and adventures, exploring all sorts of materials and this does result in some mess!
Spare Clothes
If your child is toilet training we may ask for a few extra spares!
Seasonal Clothing
Seasonal Clothing
We are outstide in all weathers so seasonal clothing is super important! That means wellington boots, puddlesuit/waterproof clothing, weather appropriate coat, hats, gloves and maybe an extra pair of socks in the wetter/colder months! For the warmer months a spare sun hat that provides good cover is great to have in the bag.
Transitional Object
Any object that your child uses for comfort will be highly beneficial during the settling in process. Some children may have a teddy or a dummy. Some may not have any comfort object at home, however would find a muslin or a parent’s t-shirt very comforting during the settling in process.
Transitional Object
All other items are provided by Mulberry Corner including:
o Nappies
o Wipes
o Formula
o Sudocrem
o Suncream
o All Meals
o All Snacks
If you’ve got any further questions, we’re here to help! Just speak to us or drop us an email:
Zoe – Mulberry Corner Nursery Manager [email protected]
A typical day in…toddlers
There is one thing we can guarantee at Mulberry Corner…no two days are ever the same! But, we know that when choosing a nursery it’s important to get a feel for how your child will spend their days and once they’ve started at Mulberry it’s nice to know what to expect! Within all of the rooms at Mulberry, we cater for the children’s needs and each day/room will run depending upon the children who are sharing their days with us.
Jess from our sister nursery in Farnham is here to help give a bit more of an insight into what your child can expect when they join Mulberry Corner Day Nursery with this beautiful post written from a toddler’s perspective…
My Day at Nursery…
I arrive at nursery, with my bag on my back and I instantly head towards the pegs where we put our coats and our bags. I notice my picture above a peg, so I know it’s mine, and my parents help me take my bag off and place it onto my peg.
My Day at Nursery…
I then show them the way and we head towards the toddler room where lots of adults who I know really well say “hello” and give me big smiles! One of the adults will then then say “good morning, how are you today?” sometimes I answer, but sometimes I still feel a bit shy. My parents talk to the adults in the room and tell them any important information about me, before I say goodbye and go to the breakfast table. Sometimes I’m so excited to join my friends I forget to give them a kiss goodbye!
I now know how to choose my own cereal and I sit with my friends to eat our breakfast together before we go and play. I can choose which toys to play with and what I want to play, which I really enjoy.
It’s not long before one of the adults asks if anyone wants to go into the garden, which I always do! I still need some help getting ready for the garden, especially if it’s a cold day but as soon as I’m ready I run outside and see more of the adults and more children! Some of them are older than me and some of them are babies…it’s fun playing with so many children in the garden and the adults can be really silly too!
Some of my favourite things in the garden are going into Narnia, digging in the sandpit and making my mummy a picture in the art studio. But nothing can really beat running and playing on the super soft grass.
After all that playing, I’m ready for a snack and a glass of fresh milk which the adults say comes from a local farm.
The adults put out lots of toys and activities and they listen to what I like..when I was really interested in sharks they put out lots of sea animals and made the sea from different materials which was fun. The adults told me that I did really well with counting how many sharks were in the sea and I can do bigger numbers now.
Before I know it, lunch time rolls around! I enjoy sitting beside my friends enjoying the yummy ‘Hungry Monster lunch’. Sometimes there are things I’ve never had before and sometimes it’s the same as Daddy cooks at home.
After I have finished my lunch I have a nap…the adults have put my sleeping mat out for me with my favourite teddy that I always have at sleepy time. I can hear my friends playing and some of the older children are in the garden, but I soon get to sleep and I know I can play again when I wake up.
After my sleep, I choose some books to look at and an adult sits with me and reads them quietly…some of my friends join us and they choose some books to read too and then before I know it, it’s snack time again!
I can then choose what toys to play with, or what I want to play, or do an activiity that the adults have set-up….I usually choose this as there’s normally animals in there! My friend loves trains and I see that she is playing with a really big train set today!
The adults tell me that it’s half past four and that means another yummy meal from Hungry Monsters. Once this is finished, I try and do a puzzle and my friends try and help me before we sing some songs together with the adults…I know nearly all the words and actions now!
I look up and see that my Mummy is here to pick me up, after she has talked the adults about my day she helps me get my coat on and we say goodbye to my friends.
If you’ve got any further questions, we’re here to help! Just speak to us or drop us an email:
Zoe – Mulberry Corner Nursery Manager [email protected]
Loose parts are materials that encourage hands on creativity, discovery and open-ended learning. Anything can be classed as a loose part as long as it doesn’t have a defined use, such as a car garage or a dolls house.
Within all of our rooms at Mulberry Corner Day Nursery we have multiple resources that offer endless possibilities and opportunities to learn, while allowing the children to understand and lead on their own risk management (alongside our Early Years Practitioners of course);
- Loose parts we have at nursery include:
- Wooden sticks
- Cable reels
- Shells
- Guttering
- Feathers
- Pots and pans
- Corks
- Curtain hooks
Where did the idea of loose parts come from?
The concept of loose parts, and the huge benefits that they can have on children’s play and learning originates from Simon Nichloson. Nicholson wrote an article about the benefits of a loose parts environment on enhancing child development.
He identified loose parts as “ all the things that satisfy ones curiosity and gives us the pleasure that results from discovery and inventions” .
Loose parts can be designed, experimented with, added to, combined, moved, manipulated, and used to create limitless opportunities inside and outside.
Benefits of loose parts at Mulberry Corner
We see such variety In the children’s engagements and interactions with each other. Their creativity skills, ability to develop role play ideas and expressive skills with each other exceeds our expectations. The children are so inquisitive and interested in different objects (not only loose parts), that we get a rich environment full ot interesting questions, fantastic vocabularly and excellent problem solving skills.
Here are just a few of the benefits we have observed…
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Interactions – taking turns, sharing, happy relationships between peers
Collaboration – working together to develop a concept
Mathematical concepts
Subitising – How many without counting?
Measuring – lengths, comparisons
Sorting/ordering – height, shape, length colours
Scientific concepts
Planning – What has been done? What happens at the beginning, during and after?
Communication – ideas, adult/child conversations
Problem Solving!
If you have any questions about how we use loose parts at nursery, or how you could introduce them at home, don’t hesiate to ask any of the team!
Just a reminder, we are closed on 29th May 2023
At Mulberry Corner Day Nursery in Eastleigh, we hold two inset days a year. Read on for more information about our Spring 2023 Inset!
Inset days are a beneficial event for both staff and the children within an early years setting. They provide an opportunity to reflect on practices, engage as a team, discuss our environments and have fun; gaining knowledge and skills.
A good and effective inset day should be fun, personalised, energetic and balanced between sitting and being active.
At Mulberry Corner we plan two inset days a year; one is for the individual nurseries and the second is a companywide inset day, where all nurseries come together to share.
On Tuesday 25th April, our Chandlers Ford Nursery team focused on six big areas of early years development. A brief summary of a couple of these areas are included below to give you an idea of how beneficial our inset days are. More details will be added to our blog in the coming months..
- loose parts
- ethos
- role play with different scenarios
- provocations
- interactions
- engagements
- extending learning opportunities.
Provocations
Provocations are a great subject to talk about! It allows our staff team to think and act upon children’s interests and to boost engagements through open ended set ups.
The staff team were given a subject and they had to come up with their own engaging provocation that the children could use. We had some great ideas including an Easter tuff tray and some flower painting using authentic flowers as our focus point. Provocations allow for staff and children to use their imaginations and to achieve a sense of awe and wonder within their day.
Role Play
Something out of many peoples comfort zones is taking part in role play sessions, but the team did great!
Working in small groups, the team had a scenario to role play between the adults and one of the staff members would play the part of the supporting adult; asking open ended questions to support communication and engagements, and allowing the adult playing the part of the child to take risks but within a safe environment and talking them through processes to be safe. For example a child climbing on the table we wouldn’t just take the child off the table, we would get down to their level, make eye contact, ask them to come down and use propositional gestures for example, pointing to the floor.
Staff feel such a sense of achievement from doing this, knowing that when putting things into action day to day with the children they are supporting them to achieve many skills.
Staff feel such a sense of achievement from doing this, knowing that when putting things into action day to day with the children they are supporting them to achieve many skills.
Loose Parts
Loose parts are such a game changer within nursery life! Not only can the resources be cost effective and environmentally friendly, they can provide endless opportunities for the children. From pine cones to stones to guttering; the endless fun and activities that can be embraced is inspiring.
Having loose parts as a resource in nursery allows each and every child to experience something different and to gain something different from it, then their peers. For example a piece of guttering could be a telescope, a tunnel for their cars, a hat or a walking stick.
The team at Mulberry all worked so hard, and had a lot of fun during their inset day! We’re really proud of how everyone has been putting the learning into practice day-to-day.
We can’t wait for our company wide Inset ay in the Autumn!
If you have any questions on our inset day, or other ways in which we are continuously learning and development please get in touch.
To enquire about spaces at our Nursery in Chandlers Ford, or to find out more about our nursery jobs, email [email protected]
Congratulations Karen
We’re so proud of our Godalming Nursery Manager, Karen! She was recently approached by NMT Magazine to write an article on how she motivates, enterains and retains her amazing staff team.
The article shines a light on how the team motivate, encourage and work together to create a wonderful environment for staff, as well as children.
Well done Karen – we can’t wait to see the next article!
Just a reminder that we are closed for the Bank Holiday on Monday 8th May 2023
Just a reminder that we are closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday!
Wishing all our families a wonderful Easter break…remember to share some photos with us on Famly!
Just a reminder that we are closed on Good Friday 7th April and Easter Monday 10th April.
Have a wonderful Easter break!