We hosted our first ‘stay and play’ for parents and carers to come and see what their children get up to at nursery. We thought it would be fun to hold it on Halloween and have spooky activities for the children and parents to participate in.

We had lots of messy activities set out in each room. The baby room had an autumn tuff spot with pumpkins, leaves and spiders webs for the babies to explore. They also studied the pumpkins and experimented with spooky foam and playdough. The toddler room had spooky jelly slime, pumpkins and spooky rice. Pre-school had a potion making station and Spider slime.

Children also had access to lots of fruits during snack time and were able to sit with their parents and carers, showing them how well they behaved at snack time.

At the end of the session toddlers and Pre-school all sat down together and read Room on the Broom with our Deputy Manager Ian.

‘Stay and play’ sessions are an important part of working in partnership with parents and carers. As a nursery we want them to feel involved with their child’s play and learning as much as possible. These sessions enable them to take part in activities with their children, talk to other parents and talk to staff. As part of YMCA North Tyneside, we want our families to be part of the community and create supportive networks. We will be running termly ‘stay and play’ sessions so all parents and carers can become involved.

At the end of the session, one parent told us

“It was lovely to see what our little one gets up to at nursery, we really enjoyed staying”.

We are so glad everyone had lots of messy fun!

If you would like more information about the activities held within YMCA Day Nursery, please click here to get in touch