A day in the life…Toddler Room

At First Steps Nursery in Poole, we have a dedicated room for our toddlers aged 2-3 years. This crucial year is when a lot of learning takes place and we ensure our environment is set up to engage and promote learning through play for all the children.

A typical day in our toddler room usually starts with breakfast time. In our toddler room the children sit at tables in small groups and at breakfast time they will have an opportunity to make choices about what they would like to eat. In our toddler room we promote independence and the children are encouraged to feed themselves.

Throughout the day the children will have access to free play toys and resources where they can choose from a variety of activities including construction toys such as duplo, mark making activities, role play set ups, small world toys and much more. As the children in this room become older and gain more language and communication skills they are able to express their interests and preferences to the practitioners who can help them to access toys of their choice.

We will also have some adult lead activities to participate in, these are activities that have been set up by the practitioners and can be a variety of messy play, craft activities or targeted activities to help children meet their next steps. Within the toddler room we will be introducing some key concepts such as colour recognition, mark making skills, puzzles and shape recognition and lots of language development. All of these new concepts will be introduced through play based activities that will engage the children and enable them to learn new skills in a fun way.

Within our day in the toddler room we also have group circle times, this is a fantastic opportunity for socialisation and the introduction of new language. We use our nursery bank of books during circle time to introduce stories that the children will recognise throughout their journey at First Steps. Through repetition and activities based around the stories the children are then able to re-tell key parts and use and remember language from the stories such as ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’.

Garden time is an essential part of our daily routine where the toddlers can explore our outdoor environment and also an opportunity to use up some of the copious amounts of energy our two year olds seem to have. We have equipment to promote gross motor skills such as our slide, ride along toys and our ball pit. As our toddlers are becoming more curious about the world around them garden time is an excellent opportunity to explore some parts of nature, such as the changing colour of leaves, the weather and insects.

 At First Steps we understand that every child is different and every child grows and develops at different rates. For some of our children this room is where they may begin their toilet training journey. Our experienced practitioners are on hand to help with this time and will liaise closely with parents to mirror the techniques being used at home. We have low level toilets as well as potties and can use whichever each individual child is more comfortable with, stickers and certificates are always on hand to acknowledge the children’s achievements and progress. There is of course opportunity for our toddlers to rest and nap if required, after lunch time the children who sleep are settled onto sleep mats with any comforters they have.

 The key aspects of our toddler room curriculum is to enable our toddlers to move into or preschool room as confident communicators, with independence in some of their self-care needs such as feeding themselves and to be able to play alongside their peers. Each day in our toddler room is filled with fun and laughter and we thoroughly enjoy watching the children’s personalities flourish at this age.

To find out more or to book a tour, contact us today.