Our Day
At Little Delwood Kindergarten, we open at 8:00 AM and close at 4:00 PM, we are open five days a week and term-time only. We offer a variety of flexible session options within a day, including morning sessions, afternoons, and shorter ‘school days’. Please ask a member of the Kindergarten team for more information!
A typical Delwood day includes a variety of opportunities for play and exploration, provided by our continuous provision. These might include (but are not limited to):
- Play-dough
- Sand, soil & water trays
- Creative art area & painting easel
- Board games & jigsaw puzzles
- Dolls house
- Role-play area with dress up clothes
- Book corner
- Block area
- Outdoor mud kitchen
- Ride-on vehicle toys
There will also usually be one or more other structured group activities throughout the day, such as:
- Woodland walks or walks around the estate
- Parachute games out on the green
- Baking delicious treats to take home
- Cooking food together
- Team games
- Music and singing
Children bring in their own packed lunch from home every day, and we eat together from 12:00 to 12:45. In addition, we provide a small and healthy snack twice a day, consisting of fruit and toast, bread sticks, crackers etc., at 10:15 AM and 2:15 PM. Free flow between the main room and the garden area is available throughout most of the day, and a day will also include opportunities for quiet time and sleep, for younger children that still do so during the day.
Children are given the time and space throughout the day to find and peruse activities of their own choosing and interest, while still learning to work and play as part of a group when joining in with the structured activities.
Appropriate Clothing
Appropriate clothing is essential to give children the freedom of movement and confidence to embrace the world around them, without worrying about tearing or dirtying their brand new clothes!
Sensible footwear is crucial, as we take walks often and there is plenty of movement during play. Child-friendly velcro strap shoes are ideal, so that children can learn to put their own shoes on and develop their self-help skills. For our frequent woodland walks, welly boots are ideal. Even if it isn’t muddy out, boots let children walk through streams and splash through the rivers.
Each day you must bring at least one full change of clothes for your child, including pants and socks. Even a fully toilet-trained child may still get wet or mucky through play, and everyone has the occasional accident!
Creativity & Messy Play
We supply the aprons, you supply the artists! But we all know that some artists can’t be stopped mid-flow to put an apron on, and for some children the thought of wearing an apron is a deterrence that stop them from ever painting at all, rather than wear one.
For this reason, we do not force children to wear aprons; only encourage them, particularly the younger and more ‘expressive’ artists! Always ensure that your children wear appropriate clothing to Kindergarten; nothing that would be too devastating if it got messy, please!
