Wild West goes East
Childminders Joanne Randall and Helen French from Spalding inLincolnshire organised a 'Cowboys and Indians' day for all the childrenin their care, aged from 18 months to 12 years. Children, childmindersand their assistants all dressed up as cowboys, cowgirls or AmericanIndians, and tried their hand at using a bow and arrow and built atepee.
Time for Tea
Nursery staff and children at Alphabet House Day Nursery in Beeston,Nottingham, held an NSPCC Stop for Tea event last month, raising 167 for the children's charity. As well as drinking their cuppa, stafforganised a bouncy castle, face painting and other activities forchildren and families to enjoy.
A run for the money
Children at Daisy Chain Childcare in Adel, Leeds, did their bit in thenursery's annual sports day to raise money for the NSPCC. As well asrunning races and taking on other sporting events, the participantsenjoyed a visit from Ronnie the Rhino, a mascot for the Leeds Rhinosrugby team.
Outstanding club
Staff at the Nursery Club at Esporta's Riverside Health and RacquetsClub in Northwood, Middlesex, are celebrating after being ratedoutstanding by Ofsted in their first inspection. The health club tookover the setting from a private company in February. Inspectorscommented on the setting's good relationship with parents and thebalanced programme of free play provided for children.
Poppy's party
Poppy's Day Nursery in Staplehurst, Kent, held a party to mark thesetting's first anniversary. The children enjoyed games and activitiesand tucked into a special birthday cake.
Out of the Rainforest
Rachel the Rainforest Adventurer paid a visit to Little Cherubs DayNursery in Wallasey, Merseyside, and told the children all about heradventures. She brought along some live rainforest creatures and thechildren weren't squeamish about handling the creepy crawlies.
Flights of Fancy
Kidsunlimited's Lynda Ellis Nursery in Broomhall Road in Sheffieldwelcomed some feathered friends to their summer fair. The nurseryorganised a falconry display and the visitors gave flight demonstrationsfor the children and families. Children were also able to have theirphotos taken with various birds of prey.
Green Fingers
Children at Sinclair Nursery in Glasgow have been busy over the past fewmonths planting and tending plants and vegetables in the nursery garden.They took great pride in picking marrows, of which the largest weighedin at 2.2kg, and these were added to a vegetable curry for lunch.
EVENTS
Handa on stage
'Handa's Hen' by Eileen Browne, author of popular children's bookHanda's Surprise, is touring theatres in a new production for two- tofive-year-olds by the Little Angel Theatre. In the story, Handa and herfriend Akeyo search for Grandma's missing black hen and meet differentanimals along the way. The tour opens at the Polka Theatre in Wimbledon,London, on 26 September and calls at 12 other venues in and out of thecapital, finishing on 27 December at the Albany Theatre in Deptford. Forinformation visit www.littleangeltheatre.com.
Shining bright
Nurseries and schools are invited to take part in 'It's Alright to beBright', an annual initiative by the National Association for GiftedChildren (NAGC) to celebrate the diversity of children's abilities andto raise awareness of the social and emotional needs of gifted children.The event is funded by NAGC and supported by recruitment agency SelectEducation, which is being rebranded to Randstad Education. To take partin 'It's Alright to be Bright' on 19-26 September and get a freeactivity booklet with ideas to challenge a class, visitwww.itsalrighttobebright.com.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Children from See-Saw day Nursery in Boston, Lincolnshire, explored thechange of seasons during their first forest school session of the newterm. They observed the changes taking place in nature as autumnapproaches, learning about the effects the four seasons have on treesand other plants, and played various forest school games, including '1,2, 3 Where Are You?'.
- The best photo of the week will win 30 worth of children'sbooks.
- Do you have a story to tell? Share it with us atnews.nw@haymarket.com.
