Routine

The benefits of routines in the lives of young children is a subject often spoken about as a way of establishing a feeling of security for little ones. Attending nursery provides children with a strong routine and structure to their day, this means that they are aware of what is expected at certain times of the day. This strong foundation enables children to play a more active role in tasks as they know what to do and when to do it. For example, they will know that before home time they need to tidy up, before lunch time they need to help set the table and wash their hands.

Developing social skills

Crucial social skills such as taking turns, listening to other people, playing with other children and communicating their feelings and opinions are all skills that can be learnt at nursery.

Children will learn more about interacting with other adults and children, along with gaining a greater understanding of other people’s feelings and empathy. Playing with the other children at nursery or playgroup provides an ideal opportunity to put these emerging social skills into practice.

Making new friends

Nursery is the perfect opportunity for your child to begin forging those first friendships. They will be surrounded with children of a similar age to themselves and will see the same faces each time they attend nursery.

Being around all these extra children is also perfect for creating new opportunities for play. Even when simply playing side by side with another nursery age child, children will be aware of each other and may start imitating each other to establish a connection. Of course, being surrounded by their peers is also perfect for taking part in group games and role play activities too.

Preparation for school

Being at nursery is a useful way to ease your child’s transition to starting school. Starting school will not come as such a shock to a child that is already used to spending time in a learning environment.

Taking part in structured activities, spending time with peers, following rules and listening to instructions from nursery staff will all help them to feel prepared for life at ‘big school’ when the time comes.

Learning new skills

Starting nursery can be an exciting new adventure for young children and will nurture a wide range of new skills. From learning to hold a pencil correctly through to developing their emerging numeracy skills, your little one will soon be rapidly expanding their skill set once they start at nursery or pre-school.

Personal skills such as being responsible for washing their hands before they eat and putting on their own coat and hanging it up by themselves will all be developed at nursery.

Confidence

For some children attending nursery or playgroup may be the very first time they have spent a few hours apart from their parents. The added independence that comes from being away from their main carers can nurture a child’s self-confidence as they learn to complete basic tasks by themselves and discover more about life outside of their family unit.

Attending a nursery or playgroup will widen your child’s experience of the world. Taking part in different activities, spending time with different children and adults and visiting different places will help their confidence to grow and build a foundation which prepares them for life in the outside world.

Me time!

From a parent’s perspective, your child attending nursery or preschool even for just a few hours a week can provide some much needed me time. Let’s face it, looking after an energetic pre-schooler can be pretty full on, so it’s handy to have a few hours to yourself each week.

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