At the Marmalade Cat we have a broad and balanced curriculum, which is structured towards the social, emotional and intellectual development of each child. We always emphasise the development of independent life skills and confidence, and seek at all times to ensure each child’s develops at their own rate.

Staff in this room work closely together to deliver the curriculum and meet the needs of all the children. We recognise that if a child is in our care all day, they will need time for quiet reflective play, for boisterous play and time for playing in different friendship groups.

Our children are responsible for choosing many of their play activities, and we also have circle time to focus on their interests with reference to the EYFS curriculum. An introduction to numeracy and phonic awareness is experienced through games – learning is always fun in our nursery.

Tigers Routine

Time Activity
7:30am-9:00am Breakfast and free play We say our goodbyes at the door to our grown ups and come in and say hello to our friends. We are supported to put our things away independently and are invited to sit for breakfast. We enjoy open ended provision such as building blocks, Lego, small world or construction and chat with the preschool grown ups about we’ve been up to and how we are feeling.
9:00am-9:15am Register and good morning We tidy as a team together and get ready for the day. We come together for calendar time. We sing ‘good morning’ songs to our friends, work together to write and sing the date, do the weather report , we start to recognise our names and letters as we register. This is a really special and important time of the day for togetherness, as well as early maths and literacy.
9:15am-10:00am

Outdoor play Our activities are led by the seasons, the weather and our interests. We love exploring the nature garden and seeing what the time of year brings us, especially bugs and beasties which we learn to take care of and respect. We enjoy play in the sandpit, take part in gardening jobs, get wet with bubbles and puddles, or experiment with rolling, tipping and filling.

We play in messy tuff trays and enjoy planting seeds or watching tadpoles grow.
10:00am-10:15am Snack time We enjoy fruit or vegetables for snack and find our bottle with our name on so that we can hydrate.
10:15am-11:15am Focused activities We enjoy playing with things that interest us. Making fire engines with boxes, creating decorations as a team or role playing in the ice cream shop.
11:15am-11:30am Group circle time/show and tell We come together before lunch and play circle games, explore treasure baskets and take part in show and tell to show our friends things we are interested in. Our friends can ask us lots of questions.
11:30am-12:30pm Lunchtime We all find our name and sit down by our name for a tasty homemade lunch together. We are learning to say please and thank you. We take part in lunch time chats, where we ask our friends questions and enjoy this social time.
We use tongs to serve our salads, pour our own drinks and we scrape our plates once we have finished.
12:30pm-2:00pm Free play, sleep time/ quiet time We settle down to read and snuggle with soft toys to get cosy. We grab a blanket and do some colouring or mark making. We build or play with train tracks whilst listening to calm music. If we are feeling tired we may have a sleep.
2:00pm-2:30pm Team work tidy and snack We work with our friends to put our toys away and get the room tidy. We wash our hands and sit down with a nice snack (indoors or outdoors).
2:30pm-3:30pm Outdoor play An opportunity to test our physical skills by playing on our climbing frame, racing and chasing games, playing on trikes.
3:30pm-4:00pm Planned activities We have fun doing our yoga poses of the month, practice makaton in sing and sign or use playdough in a dough disco.
4:00pm-4:30pm Tea time We find our name on our water bottle and find our name on the table and that will be our place. We sit with our friends and chat about our day as we enjoy tea.
4:30pm-4:45pm Story time We enjoy a peaceful moment with an adult led story. We read favourite stories of our own and sing rhymes and songs with our friends.
4:45pm-6:30pm Free play and hometime We enjoy playdough, playing with loose parts, vehicles, trains and making marks. We say goodbye to our grown ups and friends at the end of another busy day.