All in a day's work - counting down to Christmas

The lead-up to Christmas can become so fraught and stressful that the true meaning can easily be lost, for the children and staff! At Oakey Dokeys have kept to our daily routines and followed our children’s individual learning as usual but as the time draws nearer, we have added in some extra sparkle.

All settings need to recognise the different beliefs and experiences of their children and families, with Christmas time being no exception. We have been careful to concentrate on the changes in weather, talked a lot about when it snows or Jack Frost visiting our garden and our decorations were snowflakes and stars instead of Father Christmas.

We like to concentrate on what the true meaning of Christmas is and embrace these ideas in our activities - we talked of our wishes and what we can give to others, as opposed to making long lists of what we would like Santa to bring us.

We try to capture the special atmosphere of Christmas and incorporate all the tinsel, glitter and sensory elements of it into our play. Our playdough is glittery and full of delightful smells such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and orange zest, our rice tray is gold and shimmery and filled with stars and jingle bells and we have filled up little bags with oats and edible glitter which our friendly robins are very pleased to eat when sprinkled liberally around the garden (other bags did find their way home for Rudolph!). 

CAKE AND COOKIES

We have found that many children struggle with Christmas parties, particularly children with additional needs as the change in routine can cause great distress. With this in mind, our last pre-school session before breaking up for Christmas was more of a low-key party.

Children came in their best clothes, we had fun dancing to music and our healthy snack included home-made cakes and cookies. Each child received a small gift, a carefully selected book, and this is handed out not by Santa but a lovely lady who dresses up as The Fairy Godmother, complete with beautiful dress and magic wand!

This year our older children were invited to our local school to join the early years class for a Christmas party. The school children wrote the invites to us and their teacher let them plan and organise it practically all on their own! Old friendships were rekindled which made it all the more special - we are hoping this will become a yearly tradition!

Everyone at Oakey Dokeys Pre-School would like to wish you a happy, healthy 2013.