Healthy Body, Happy Me at Children 1st Day Nurseries

Healthy Body, Happy Me is an annual campaign organised by the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) to encourage better health and happiness for children. This year’s theme was ‘Off We Grow’ which was planned to emphasise the essence of growing and thriving, not just in physical terms but also in respect to the emotional, social and cognitive areas of a child’s development. Each day of the week focused on a particular area of development such as playing, telling stories and being curious.

At our Oakwood nursery the children in Jeremy Fisher’s kick started the week with ‘Respond to me Monday.’

The children had noticed that the weather has been changing so much recently, so they were encouraged to think about how we respond to these changes.

This has included talking about the different clothes needed for different types of weather! The children have learnt that the clothing we wear not only covers our bodies but offers us protection from the elements!

The Jemima Puddleducks created a little post for “Play with me Tuesday.”

Play makes you strong! Play makes you smart!

Play promotes problem solving skills! Play boosts creativity!

Play reduces stress! (for both your child and you!) Play creates friendships and social skills!!

Play builds resilience! Play promotes curiosity!

Play is Fun!!

The week continued with the Bobtails exploring different stories and ways of communicating as part of Wednesday’s ‘Tell Stories with Me.’ By Thursday, ‘Curiosity and Me’day, the children in the Peter Rabbit’s room were busy exploring natural objects in the transient art area.They were able to show their independence skills by choosing their own natural materials to create different faces.

The children in Benjamin Bunnies looked at fruits and used safety scissors to cut them up for snacks. They also looked at using different materials to print with and seeing the effect they made.

After such a busy week, Friday’s theme, ‘Relax with Me’ gave the children the opportunity to relax and play at home with their families.

Children at Syston and Hathern also enjoyed a week of activities inspired by the NDNA’s Healthy Body Happy Me campaign, sharing stories, solving problems and being curious about their world.