Birthday Plate

I absolutely loved this idea I found on sugardoodle.net

We have a very limited budget for Nursery but I still wanted to do something fun for the children's birthdays this year. So, I bought some paper birthday plates from the store and I'll give each of them a birthday plate along with this poem which I've taped on the back of the plate. We sing to the Birthday child in Nursery and afterwards I'll give them their plate and let them know it is just for them to eat their birthday dinner or for any meal they choose. They get to decide. Here is the poem:

This big day comes just once a year,
hip, hip hooray your birthday is here!
We all love you and think you're great
so we're giving you a special plate.
Save it for your birthday dinner
or cake and ice cream if it's the winner.
Either way, it's up to you,
Just know we love you too.
Happy Birthday!

Check in and Check out

I think it is very important to have a very organized check in and check out system. A couple weeks ago I substituted in nursery and parents would drop off kids and not saying anything, there were a couple of kids we didn't even know their names or who their parents were, there were new kids (which happens often in our ward because we have lots and lots of appartments and so people are always moving in and out) And then the parents would come pick up their kids without us even knowing. And then it was panic because we thought a kid escaped!  The saftey of the kids I think is the first and foremost important thing. If the kids are not safe, and do not feel safe, they will never feel the spirit, they will never learn and they will never make friends. I feel an organized nursery will help them feel safe and be safe. Also if I am constantly worry about who is lost, I won't have time to teach the rest of the kids. So the check in and check out systems are very important. So here are the ideas I have found that I like. Once again I think most of these have come off of sugardoodle.net

For Check in I liked this idea

It's hard to get names and faces for everyone. I brought my digital camera to church for several Sundays and took everyone's picture. Then I bought wooden flowers at the craft store, painted them all a different color, and glued their photo to a flower. The wooden flowers are indestructible, so the children can't smoosh them and ruin them. I used a Sharpie to write the child's name on the flower. We use a basket to hold the flowers, and as each child comes in, they find their flower and attach it to a poster that I made. It's a field of 'stems' with a piece of Velcro at the top of the stems. I have a Velcro dot on each wooden flower. The poster says: "Our Nursery Friends". The children love their flowers, and it gives them something to do when they get there. It helps with separation anxiety a little bit.
One thing I think I will change will be I want everything to have a teaching purpose, not just be cute. It needs to be functional and it needs to bare testimony of something in the gospel. So I thought I could either change the flowers to suns, and put at the top that Jesus wants me for a sunbeam. And every week we can talk about ways of being a sunbeam. So they think about it when they find their name on a sun.  Or I might find just little boy and girl figures and glue their faces on it and say something about being a Child of God. When Craig and I decide, what we think will be best I will put pictures.

For Check out I liked this idea



I have found that in nursery you have three kind of children. The ones that cry EVERY time the door opens, the runner who runs out when the door opens, and the ones who are bored.

I found a way to make all 3 happy. By putting their name on a star, outside on the door. Then the parents come to the door pull off there child's star. Sliding the star under the door, the children then RUN the star to the teacher to find out who is outside the door. Using the 2nd door in the room, the child with their name on the star goes through. Those who cry or run, are to busy waiting for their star to be doing so, and no one is bored.

Doing this has make pick up time so much easier and less crazy. You don't have to use stars. you can use just about anything: apples, animals, circles, squares, triangles...any kind of cut out you can think of.

I like the star idea because we can talk the song "I am like a Star Shining Brightly" We sing this every week in singing time and the kids love to do the twinkles with the stars, once again we can do a short weekly lesson on what it means to shine like a star. Repitition is important at this age. Also giving visual reminders  during the day is a great way to help instill in them a testimony of being a good example.

Roll Call

So far most of my favorite ideas have come from sugardoodle,  I would just leave them there, because I am not in any means trying to challenge sugardoodle, but I am simply using this blog to collect what ideas I think would be good to improve our nursery. I am a little bit nervous, being called as the nursery Leader, they have left the same nursery workers in there, so I am afraid to go in and tell them we are changing things. I hope they are greatful for the help and not resentful.  Craig and I will definatly prayerfully consider the changes we make, and how we make them. So these are just some of the ideas that I have found, they may or may not be used, and later posts I am sure will state what we have found to work, and what we feel the Lord wants us to do.

In the past few weeks I have noticed that a lot of kids come in and just scream, I think this is normal. Seperation is difficult for kids. My daughter is one of them. So I was talking to another mother who is in the same boat and she said that she has seen nurserys that this doesn't happen and the thing that makes a big difference is that they have an organized activity right in the beginning. it isn't just mass chaos. I can see how that would be helpful, coming in to lots of noise and chaos could be very overwhelming for little kids.

So I have been looking for ideas of what to do when the kids first come in. Some of the ideas I like are:
playdough
fruitloop necklaces
making a cave with blankets and reading stories
bubbles

I will be looking for more ideas in the next few weeks. If anyone has any ideas feel free to share.

So after five to ten minutes of that activity when all the kids for the day are there I think taking roll would be good (I plan on  having a check in process as well, which will be another post) but I think that physically taking roll so the kids know you are taking roll helps with a couple things. It teaches routine, which I think is one of the main purposes of nursery. It also shows the kids that we care if they are there and that we miss the children who are not there. It helps the adults in the room know the children's names, and it recognizes visitors.  I also think it would be a great time to highlight birthday kids (i am sure that birthday ideas will be coming as well. . I think it is important for every kid to feel very special and be highlighted). It is also a great time to introduce new kids.

I really liked this idea for roll call. I got it off of sugardoodle.net

After the children arrive and they are getting wiggles out from being in sacrament, we go through the roll by everyone getting out their pretend glasses (cupping hands around eyes like binoculars). I go through each name on the roll, asking all the children to look for "name of child". Everyone puts on their pretend glasses and I pretend I can't find them. The children get so excited when they find the "named" child. Then I say "There you are! I'm so happy to see you!" Continuing through the roll. When we get a child who is not present, I show sadness that they are not with us and move on to the next name. This helps the children know who visitors are too.