Children's health and well-being is paramount. If early years practitioners can introduce children to healthy ideals and routines, through play, they will learn invaluable lessons that will last them for life.
HAND HYGIENE SET
REFLECTIONS ON LEARNING
AGE: 3+
PRICE: £14.99
CONTACT: 01732 225850
www.reflectionsonlearning.co.uk
A hand hygiene set featuring glitterbug potion, UV pen and a UV lamp to reinforce thorough handwashing.
Tested by Bolsover Infant and Nursery School, Derbyshire
'The attendance of our children is essential in an area where many of them arrive with developmental needs well below the age-expected levels. We strive to teach them to stay healthy so they can have a complete and full education. We normally have a visit from the school nurse once a year to look at hand cleaning. However, I feel we could use this as an ongoing science display encouraging the children to check their hands after washing.
'The children were amazed by the colours shown up by the UV lamp on their hands and became very interested in the process of cleaning them. Many insisted on going back to make sure that their hands were completely clean.
'I would also like to use the product to invite the parents in for a fun session on helping your child with basic skills such as toileting, hand washing, dressing and undressing.'
Star Ratings: **** - Very Good
MAKING HEALTHY CHOICES
- DIRECT EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
AGE: 3+
PRICE: £69.99
CONTACT: 0800 043 4142
www.des-uk-shop.com
Healthy eating puppets (two boy puppets and a chef) with scripts and
resources on a CD-Rom.
Tested by Barton Primary and Nursery School, Torquay
'The children responded extremely well to the teacher using the puppets - it was magical. Then they played independently using a range of voices and performance techniques. It was very illuminating and an excellent resource for communication, language and literacy. The quality of the puppets and the CD-Rom make this resource good value for money.
'The children responded to the puppets on a basis of science and listening to the healthy food dialogues and the chef 'TALKING' to the boy puppets, but the independent play of the children afterwards was fantastic. They made up their own performances and scripts, working together and sharing.
'The puppets promoted knowledge and understanding of the world; communication, language and literacy; personal, social and emotional development; physical development (by manipulating the puppets.)
'If the situation was extended, the resource could very easily be used for problem solving, reasoning and numeracy. In fact, we did touch upon this area in counting the fruit and so on. So all areas of learning were thus covered by these puppets.'
Star Ratings: ***** - Excellent
GIANT TEETH
REFLECTIONS ON LEARNING
AGE: 3+
PRICE: £14.99
CONTACT: 01732 225850
www.reflectionsonlearning.co.uk
Tested by Frederick Bird Primary School, Coventry
'We have many children in our setting who have a diet that contains too much sugar and as a result they have black and rotting milkteeth. From an early age children need to know the importance of keeping healthy and what they can do to contribute to this.
This product was ideal in helping promote good oral hygiene.
'I would definitely consider buying it, as it is a very good product to enable children to practise the correct way to brush their teeth. We introduced it in an adult-led session by taking it out of the box and using the mouth like a puppet to make the jaws move up and down. This instantly engaged the children's attention by making them laugh.
'We then started brushing the teeth with the toothbrush provided, and asked the children who brushed their teeth at home and why they thought they need to do this. This led to a discussion of the importance of looking after teeth and the best times in the day to brush their teeth. We counted the teeth and talked about the different purposes of molars and incisors. We provided toothpaste and brushed the teeth explaining the most effective way of brushing teeth.
'Each child then had a turn to brush the giant teeth and they were all excited to do so. We bought each child a toothbrush to take home that night, to capitalise on the learning and to encourage children to talk to their parents about looking after their teeth.
'Several expressly showed their parents the teeth the next day and this allowed us to talk to the parents about what we had been teaching. The giant teeth were then available for children to use independently and proved very popular, with children vying to have their turn.
'The product was good in developing children's physical fine motor skills, and extending their vocabulary, in addition to them learning about good oral hygiene.'
Star Ratings: ***** - Excellent
FOOD MAT
HOPE
AGE: 3+
PRICE: £24.95
CONTACT: 08451 20 20 55
www.hope-education.co.uk
A brightly coloured vinyl floor mat shaped as a plate showing food
groups in the proportions we should eat each day, along with five
friendly food group characters.
Tested by World's End Under Fives Centre, London
'The children sorted the play food out and matched it to the foods on the mat. This enabled us to introduce new key words such as bagel, watermelon and chilli. We think it is a versatile product that can be used in a variety of different ways, but the children were not interested in the food characters - they did not relate to these cartoon characters. We felt they would have responded more positively to pictures of real food which they could recognise and talk about.'
Star Ratings: ** - Satisfactory
FOOD PYRAMID AND CARDS MAXI PACK
WESCO
AGE: 3+
PRICE: £61.40
CONTACT: 0115 989 9765 or sales@wescouk.co.uk
A food pyramid display board with 56 food cards to illustrate the
proportions different foods should be eaten in.
Tested by Clockwork Day Nursery, Ashton Under Lyne
'We introduced the product to the children and talked about what we had to do. We listened to their thoughts and observed a little descriptive language. We initially led the play and then let the children carry on, but this was unsuccessful. Eleven children left the play straight away and one child stayed for a further two minutes.
'We left the product out to allow the children to initiate play with it but they did not find it interesting and their engagement and concentration were very low. The children found it hard to use the cards and match the food groups - they were not inviting. We thought this product would be better suited for children aged five to seven.'
Star Ratings: * - Less than satisfactory
HOSPITAL BEAR
GALT
AGE: 0+
PRICE: £55
CONTACT: 08451 20 30 05
www.galt-educational.co.uk
A tactile fabric bear plus a bag with plasters, thermometer, syringe,
sling, bandage, stethoscope and a set of activity cards.
Tested by Your Child Matters Childminding Service, Dartford
'The cards that come with the toy are excellent. They give information and four detailed scenarios with ideas and activities. It's an excellent link to a topic on people who help us and for keeping healthy and safe and Every Child Matters. Also, lots of the ideas are easy to link into the EYFS.
'We used Calamity the Bear in a role play activity making a hospital ward. This led to all the dolls and soft toys being bandaged up with Calamity. We used our doctors' and nurses' uniforms and extended the play with talk of hospitals and who had been to hospital. I also used the bear to talk about parts of the body.
'The hospital bear was chosen quite frequently during free play time by all ages of children (19 months to eight years). The younger children and the children with special needs all liked the bear because it was tactile and has ears that crackle. It is easy to clean and is completely safe for all ages, as everything is soft and there are no very small pieces.'
Star Ratings: ***** - Excellent
- All prices exclusive of VAT and post/packaging
BEST BUY
For Julie Palin, co-ordinator at the World's End Under Fives Centre, London, her best buy to promote staying healthy is free
'Following the outbreak of swine flu, the nursery's focus was to improve hygiene standards and it became the focus of a project. Dirty Bertie is a character created by the Department of Health to encourage good hygiene, and is a more child-friendly approach to the 'Catch It, Bin It, Kill It' campaign. The free resources, which include a storybook, nursery rhyme and posters, introducing Dirty Bertie, helped the children understand the need to wash hands and use a tissue, and was a fun way to enhance the children's learning. For more information search for Dirty Bertie on the Department of Health's website: www.dh.gov.uk'.
