Little Acorns Nursery blog: news articles, information & updates for parents

Activities for Children, Butterflies & Moths, Early Years Education, Education, Forest School, Learning & Development, Nature, Nursery, Parenting, Pre-Schools

The Big Butterfly Count: a Nature-Themed Activity for Families

Many will have heard of the Big Garden Birdwatch that takes place every year in January. However, fewer are aware of a similar activity called The Big Butterfly Count that takes place in July and early August. As well as being extremely worthwhile, it’s a wonderful activity for both children and adults to get involved in as citizen scientists. The activity helps with butterfly conservation, is educational for those taking part, and encourages families to get outdoors, closer to nature. And, as we know, getting closer to nature is very good for children and people of all ages. Today, we take a look at this wonderful butterfly-spotting activity and explain how children and families can get involved, help these beautiful little pollinators, contribute a little time to the conservation initiative and benefit themselves at the same time.

16th June 2023/by Mark

Activities for Children, Chorley, Clayton-le-Woods, Early Years Education, Learning & Development, Nature, Nurseries, Nursery, Pre-School, Pre-Schools

Bird Spotting Activity for Kids – with Free Poster

Are you looking for a fun and educational activity for your children? Why not encourage them to do some bird spotting? Not only is it a great way to spend time outdoors, but it’s also a wonderful opportunity for them to learn about nature and develop observation skills. As we know, being around nature is hugely beneficial to children and outdoor play is important.

To help you get started, we’ve created a free PDF poster featuring 40 British birds that children can try to spot and identify. Whether little ones are in the garden, park, or countryside, there are plenty of opportunities to see these beautiful birds in their natural habitat. Children can even try to spot birds when they’re simply looking out the window — this is quite an accessible activity.

So why not download the poster, print it out, and head outside with your children? Instructions are given underneath the preview image available in the full post below. Who knows, your little one(s) might just discover a new passion for birdwatching and nature!

15th May 2023/by Mark

Childcare, Childcare Funding, Chorley, Clayton-le-Woods, Early Years Education, Nurseries, Nursery, Pre-School, Pre-Schools

Significant Childcare Funding Announced for Families

A Guide to the Game-Changing Childcare Funding Initiatives Announced in the Chancellor’s Spring Budget 2023

Generous and far-reaching childcare funding reforms were announced in the Spring Budget 2023 last month. The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s new funding plans should give more parents, including those of even younger children, access to significant help with childcare costs going forwards. The new initiatives will:

allow parents to return to the workplace sooner after the birth of their child if they so choose;
help fill vacant jobs in the workplace;
allow parents (particularly women) to progress their careers sooner after starting a family;
help to boost the UK economy, and;
perhaps most importantly give more children access to a good early years education, starting potentially at a younger age. Beginning no later than the age of 2 has been shown to better prepare children for the transition to school, boost children’s education overall, improve GCSE grades, improve career prospects and even increase earning potential once they reach adulthood. Learn more about the benefits of a good early years education here.

So, the new childcare funding should make a huge difference for those families that are eligible. Let’s take a look at the 3 key childcare funding initiatives announced…

15th April 2023/by Mark

Active Play, Activities for Children, Childcare, Chorley, Chorley Nursery, Clayton-le-Woods, Early Years Education, Forest School, Learning & Development, Nursery, Nursery News, Pre-School

News Round-Up for Little Acorns Nursery

Having previously published guides and useful information here for parents, we thought it was time for a news round-up to highlight some of the wonderful activities that have been taking place with children at Little Acorns Nursery. Both children and staff have been extremely busy indeed, with exciting new initiatives, outings, special visits and extra-curricular activities. Let’s take a look at some of the most recent …

15th March 2023/by Mark

Follow for Nursery News, Expert Insights & Early Years Information

Childcare, Chorley, Chorley Nursery, Clayton-le-Woods, Nurseries, Nursery, Pre-School, Pre-Schools, Social Media

Follow for Nursery News, Insights & Early Years Information

Are you are a parent or carer of a child under five? If so, you could learn a lot about childcare, parenting and early years learning and development by following Little Acorns Nursery on social media. We’re active across multiple social channels including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram and share high quality content useful to parents of under-fives. That includes parents of children at Little Acorns although, actually, parents anywhere will find the content educational and useful. Our high quality content includes unusually informative ‘early years’ articles and information. For example, a whole range of guides, the findings from various studies, suggested activities for kids and overviews of things like childcare funding schemes with eligibility guidelines. Also, of course, the social media channels include posts relating to the exciting activities happening at the nursery in Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley.

Following is an overview of where you can find — and follow — Little Acorns Nursery and what you can expect to see if you do …

15th February 2023/by Mark

Childcare, Childcare Funding, Chorley, Clayton-le-Woods, Disabilities, Early Years Education, Lancashire, Learning & Development, Nurseries, Nursery, Pre-School, Pre-Schools, SEN, SEN & disability, SEND, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, Special Needs

Help for Children with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND)

Today, we look at how early years childcare providers like Little Acorns Nursery can help children under five if they have special educational needs and disabilities. This is often referred to as ‘SEND’ or in longer forms like ‘SEN and disabilities’. Let’s explore the topic to get an overview of some of the help available.

Childcare Help for Children with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities

Early years and childcare providers can support children under five in a variety of ways if they have special educational or developmental needs, and/or a disability. Indeed, helping affected children as early as possible in their lives is of paramount importance…

15th January 2023/by Mark

A Quick Guide to Childcare Funding Options in England

Childcare, Childcare Funding, Chorley, Clayton-le-Woods, Early Years Education, Nurseries, Nursery, Pre-School, Pre-Schools

Childcare Funding Options (a Quick Guide)

One of the first challenges when considering childcare for your little one is how to fund it. If you’re an affluent family, then great. However, if childcare costs will be a more significant hurdle to overcome, the good news is that there are lots of options available. Either way, it will help to be well-informed about the various childcare funding schemes on offer from the Government. There are quite a few of them and some are extremely generous and surprisingly easy to obtain. Today’s Quick Guide to Childcare Funding Options in England will give you an at-a-glance overview of what’s available, the key eligibility criteria and how to apply. Note, though, that they generally fund in-person childcare only from approved providers (like Little Acorns). Take a look at the many options …

15th December 2022/by Mark

Activities for Children, Childcare, Chorley, Clayton-le-Woods, Early Years Education, Food & Drink, Healthy Eating, Learning & Development, Nature, Nurseries, Nursery, Nutrition, Parenting, Pre-School, Pre-Schools

Microgreens: A Fun Food Growing Activity for Under-Fives

As promised in our recent Educational Food Growing post for kids, we’ve got another wonderful food-growing activity for children today. Whether you have a toddler, preschooler or older child, they’ll love this activity and it also has a huge range of benefits. It is a fun, educational, easy and inexpensive activity that gives children an enormous feeling of achievement. It also results in the miraculous growth of delicious food that children and the whole household can eat! What’s not to love, therefore, about our growing microgreens activity! Today, we explain just how easy it is.

First: What Are Microgreens?

Microgreens, also known as micro leaves, are …

15th November 2022/by Mark

Active Play, Activities for Children, Childcare, Chorley, Clayton-le-Woods, Halloween, Lancashire, Learning & Development, Nurseries, Nursery, Parenting, Pre-School, Pre-Schools

Halloween for Under-5s

October sees one of the year’s biggest traditions in the form of Halloween, which arrives on the 31st. Halloween, which is short, in effect, for “All Hallows’ Eve”, has it’s historical roots in Christian and, many believe, Celtic, Gaelic and Pagan festivals. Broadly speaking, these festivals were events to remember the dead, including saints (a.k.a. “hallows”). However, for virtually all children these days, it’s simply a traditional time for some themed fun. And what fun it can be! Today we’ll therefore take a look at the activities and opportunities that Halloween has for little ones at this time of year.

Halloween Activities for Children

Today, in the modern day, there are many non-religious Halloween activities that children can enjoy in late October and they can be enormous fun and a time of great excitement for children. For really little ones, however, a balance will need to be struck so that things are entertainingly ‘scary’, but only in a fun way. We do not want to give them nightmares and therefore care will be needed to get the balance just right. Getting them involved in preparing the activities will help.

Halloween Costumes — Dressing Up Fun!

Children, adults and even pets can dress up in spooky outfits to look like witches, ghosts, ghouls, skeletons or any one of the many horror figures they’re familiar with from films. Children will absolutely love getting involved in this activity, particularly when they get together with friends. Dressing up is a fantastic activity for all age groups. Shop-bought costumes are easily available but it doesn’t have to be an expensive activity. Home-made costumes are also completely viable, for example …

16th October 2022/by Mark

Chorley, Clayton-le-Woods, Early Years Education, Learning & Development, Nurseries, Nursery, Parenting, Pre-School, Pre-Schools, Progress Check at 2

The ‘Progress Check at Two’ – Rough Guide

Every 2-year-old attending registered childcare settings in England is subject to what’s known as a ‘Progress Check at 2’. Today we explain what it entails, who is involved and how it benefits little ones. Here’s our rough guide to the Progress Check at 2:

What Exactly is the Progress Check at 2?

The ‘Progress Check at 2’ is, as the name suggests, a complete progress check for children who have reached the age of two. It should be completed before their 3rd birthday and appraises their progress in all the key areas of their learning and development. It’s actually a part of the continuous assessment that goes hand-in-hand with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Amongst other things, the EYFS governs the learning and development curriculum that’s in place for children attending officially-registered childcare/early years education settings in England. It is appropriate to check that all is well in such areas, particularly at this critical age, and we’ll explain why later in this guide.

The ‘Progress Check at 2’ is Not the Same as the ‘2-Year Review’ — But They’re Linked

The Progress Check at 2 should not be confused with the Healthy Child Programme’s 2-Year Review that 2-year-olds also undergo around the same age. While the ‘Progress Check at 2’ looks at the child’s learning and development progress and is the topic of today’s guide, the separate ‘2 Year Review’ is more about the child’s health and wellbeing and is undertaken by healthcare professionals like health visitors. They will look at things like overall health, immunisation uptake, physical and mental health and development, overall wellbeing and support levels from parents, carers or guardians.

Although the two reviews are different, there are definite areas of cross-over, so it makes sense for both reviews to align and feed into each other. It’s therefore useful for them both to be undertaken at a similar time, in tandem if possible. In this way, a 360 degree picture can be put together to give a complete, all-round, holistic view of the child at this milestone age. In so doing, any issues can be picked up early, so that suitable measures or interventions can be put in place to improve things for the particular child under review. For this reason, parents, guardians or carers of 2-year-olds are encouraged to allow the sharing of information*, pertaining to their child, between the various professionals involved in each of the two reviews.

Ofsted inspections will also check to ensure that Progress Checks at 2 are undertaken in an appropriate way at childcare settings. They also recognise the benefits of these progress checks aligning with the separate, more health-based, 2-Year Reviews.

The Significance of Age 2

The age of two is a significant one, hence both reviews taking place at this age. It’s a key age where …

15th September 2022/by Mark

Nursery news and interesting information

Nursery news and interesting information

Our Little Acorns Nursery Blog

Our Little Acorns Nursery Blog

The Big Butterfly Count: a Nature-Themed Activity for Families

Bird Spotting Activity for Kids – with Free Poster

Significant Childcare Funding Announced for Families

A Guide to the Game-Changing Childcare Funding Initiatives Announced in the Chancellor’s Spring Budget 2023

News Round-Up for Little Acorns Nursery

Help for Children with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND)

Childcare Help for Children with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities

Childcare Funding Options (a Quick Guide)

Microgreens: A Fun Food Growing Activity for Under-Fives

First: What Are Microgreens?

Halloween for Under-5s

Halloween Activities for Children

Halloween Costumes — Dressing Up Fun!

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Little Acorns Nursery

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