Mealtimes
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All food will be freshly cooked at nursery. Menus have been carefully planned to meet the nutritional requirements of children and guidance from the Children's Food Trust has guided menu planning. Menus will be published in due course.
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Mealtimes are an important time of day for children. Within the baby room the mealtime routine will be dictated by the individual needs of the babies themselves. Some babies may be fed in highchairs whilst others may sit at a table to eat. Some babies may still be bottle fed or feeding mothers may choose to come in to nursery to breast feed.
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Within the toddler room children will eat in their key groups with their key practitioners, the same applies with children in preschool.
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Preschool children will be expected to serve themselves from choices made available on their tables. Staff will support children to make healthy choices, e.g., to choose a balanced meal consisting of carbohydrates, protein and vegetables. Children in the preschool will eat from china plates and drink from glasses at all mealtimes, unless a risk assessments informs us otherwise. Toddlers and babies will use plastic plates and beakers.
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Ofsted registered full day care nursery
Activity Types
Children take part in a wide range of activities which may be freely chosen by the children themselves or which may be initiated by an adult. The Early Years Foundation Stage states that learning and development must be implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity. This page aims to explain different types of play which takes place within Mill House Day Nursery.
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Child-initiated play
Child-initiated play is play which is freely chosen by children. Children decide what to play with and who to play with. Such play is instigated by the child's innate curiosity and personal interests which have developed as a result of the child's observations and previous experiences. Child initiated play happens in all areas of learning and development and adults who support children in their early years draw ideas for future planning from observations made as children engage in this type of play.
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Child-initiated play may be completely child-led or it may require the support of an adult in order to support such play, e.g., a child may initiate a cooking activity which requires the support of an adult for some elements of the activity.
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Child-directed play
Child-directed play is play which usually involves a child directing an adult in play, e.g., during a role-play activity. The child will give instructions to the adult in order to control the play, maybe directing the adult to be the shop keeper or customer during a shopping scenario.
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Adult-initiated play
Adult-initiated play refers to activities set up or initiated by adults for children to explore and discover. Adults might, for example, set up an activity for children to explore, such as bubble painting. Many activities set up by adults fall into this category, however, adult-initiated activities can develop into child-led play as children explore and master the activity provided.
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Adult-directed play
Adult-directed play, also referred to as adult-led play, involves adults carefully planning an activity to develop a particular aspect, understanding or skill. Resources are carefully selected and the activity process usually involves a sequence of steps and tasks which are undertaken with a child or group of children to ensure a specific learning outcome is met. An example here might be a phonics session or a swimming lesson, these are two very different activities which must be adult-directed.