The nursery owners and staff are very excited to show you the new pre-school build, which is making great progress. Take a look at the photographs to see just how good it’s beginning to look, especially now that the high quality timber cladding is almost complete. This is going to be such a lovely new space for the children play and learn in.
A New Home for Our Pre-School & Forest School
The new build is going to be used as our pre-school area and also as our Forest School unit. So, a lovely timber finish is rather apt when you think about it. Our children will also find its attractive design and finish very appealing and much more exciting than a standard, brick-built unit. The building even has its own kitchen area and toilet facilities, so will be very self-contained. However, it has lots of large windows and doors to let the natural light in and will allow easy, free-flowing access for outdoor play when appropriate.
Being a modular, timber-framed construction means this new pre-school build has been far faster to build than a traditional approach. That, together with the fact that most of it was pre-fabricated in modules off-site, means that there has been minimal disruption, noise or safety concerns during construction. Indeed, we’d like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to the team at Smart Modular who have done such a wonderful job so far. We love it and can’t wait to see how the inside looks when it’s finished.
One of the UK’s Most Outstanding Nurseries & Forest Schools (Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley)
At Little Acorns, we cater to children’s abilities. Our high quality staff focus on those rather than what’s expected for their particular age. With a dedicated learning and development plan customised to the abilities and strengths of each individual child, they’re able to become the very best version of themselves during their time with Little Acorns. With the arrival of the new pre-school building, they’ll be even more likely to achieve personal bests in each area. And they’ll be even more ‘school ready’ by the time they complete their time with us, to move 
smoothly on to reception year at school.
As the outright winner of a major National nursery award and with a glowing Ofsted report that confirms that our childcare provision is as good as it gets, Little Acorns Nursery is clearly one of the UK’s most outstanding nurseries. The nursery is based in Clayton-le-Woods, near Clayton Green, Clayton Brook and Chorley and the new pre-school building will soon allow room for some additional nursery places for under-fives. 
That’s great news for Chorley and Central Lancashire parents who want the very best start for their children and who also like the idea of their child benefiting from a Forest School setting. If our unrivalled quality of childcare sounds appealing, please get in touch as soon as possible to avoid possible disappointment:
Generally speaking, under-fives should be encouraged to be active. There are many benefits of this including remaining physically fit, getting to know and enhancing physical abilities, honing motor skills (fine and gross) and improving coordination and balance. In addition, it helps the very young to develop visual and sensory skills. Physical activity is also part and parcel of the development of new neurological pathways in the brain. All these skills and benefits will become increasingly important as children grow, develop and become ever-more active and independent.
Once they reach the age of 3 to 4 (preschoolers), 3 hours of physical activity is an ideal daily minimum. Now that they’re older and more confident in their physical skills, they can continue with the toddler activities but add more complex and moderately vigorous options to their play. Dancing, swimming, scooting, climbing, chasing, cycling and energetic outdoor activities are good examples.
Eating a healthy, balanced diet is important at any age. However, during their formative years when they’re still growing, it’s even more important for under-fives. Their young bodies and brains are still developing, so getting the right balance of food types, vitamins and nutrients is essential in order to maintain optimum health, cognitive function and even sufficient energy levels. (Regular exercise is also essential, of course – however, we’ll cover that separately in a future post).
That’s a huge and important list of benefits. Advice from Public Health England also suggests that exposing children to a wide variety of different foods from an early age not only gives them access to greater diversity in what they eat, but is also likely to make children more accepting of new foods as they grow older. And, of course, that greater diversity in food types means a more diverse range of nutrients, vitamins and minerals will be consumed.
As part of a healthy diet, children should try to eat something from each of the four main food groups every day. These are:
Dairy products, which give children much-needed calcium, Vitamins A and B, potassium and more. Aim for 3 portions of dairy products per day. Examples include milk, yoghurt and cheese. Use full-fat options for toddlers and then, from the age of 2, switch to semi-skimmed varieties.
At Little Acorns we are serious about playing our part and serve up healthy, balanced meals each day to our children along with suitable drinks and healthy snack options. Breakfast, lunch, afternoon and teatime snacks are all provided and included in our standard nursery fees. Food is prepared each day by Judy, our wonderful in-house chef, using the highest quality, fresh ingredients, sourced from local suppliers. Food allergens are extremely carefully monitored and managed. Any special diets, e.g. vegan or vegetarian, are also catered for as needed — simply forewarn us about any specific requirements and we’ll be happy to accommodate them.
Little Acorns Nursery has a 
