Published on August 22, 2024
Everything from facial expressions to recognising voices, being surrounded by colours and introduced to different sounds all play a part in helping young children to develop an interest in the world around them.
As they become immersed in a nursery setting and start to discover their own interests and opinions, the exposure to learning and play becomes even more important – igniting interests and helping them to recognise their place in a social setting.
But how do we ensure that both play and learning receive an equal weighting in the nursery day, to keep young children engaged and actively interested? It all comes down to the balance of social interaction and development opportunities.
Social interactions occur on a number of levels in a nursery setting.
Firstly we have the interactions between children, as they develop an ability to communicate, negotiate, share, and play with their peers.
We also have interactions between children and nursery workers, as team members balance early education support with play, childcare, chief snack maker, and more.
Then we have the continued role of social interaction long after the nursery day finishes, where we encourage parents to ask children about their day and uncover the things that they enjoyed and the things they found challenging.
All of these different levels of social interaction help to inform early development – with children who attend a nursery learning new words, recognising new emotions, and uncovering new ways of communicating. This in and of itself forms an integral part of their development and early education, by teaching them how to act and communicate in a group setting.
Where school is all about education and learning, nursery is an opportunity to equip young children with the life skills they need to adjust to a school setting and the levels of social interaction required during a typical school day.
Of course, when it comes to early years development and education among children of nursery age, there is little call for classroom learning and formal education. Instead, play-based learning takes centre stage across most nurseries, as we strive to bridge learning with play to inspire and retain the interest of young learners.
Not only is play-based learning more interactive and engaging for children, but it tends to resonate more effectively. Things like teaching the alphabet through song, learning short rhymes around different words, and attributing different numbers to animals and colourful charts is an important part of balancing education with play.
Play is also good for confidence building, especially via the child-led routine that we operate during a portion of the day across our My Ohana sites.
At My Ohana, we prioritise three main areas of early years development. These are:
· Mind
· Body
· World
Mind refers to the can-do attitude that we nurture in all young people across our nurseries, by introducing them to new hobbies, interests, and activities. We like to spend time outside as well as inside and use nature as a cornerstone in our children’s learning.
Body is all about movement and inspiring active play, while world refers to the way we inspire little minds and introduce them to the cultural norms of people like them all over the world.
Beyond these three underlying principles, at My Ohana we follow a series of enrichment programs and initiatives – enhancing children’s experiences and ensuring that they get the opportunity to socialise, interact, play and learn all in one.
· A science-backed program called “My Happy Mind” helps us to ensure a stable routine for children depending on their individual needs and interactive preferences. This program allows us to balance individual personalities with academic ability, nurturing an underlying desire to learn.
· Our nursery library emphasises the role of reading as both a learning and a relaxing activity. Introducing reading as something both enjoyable and fundamental to learning is key in early years education.
· Outdoor learning is all about getting outside and making both learning and discovery entirely immersive.
Via our founding principles and our series of enrichment and learning programs, we make sure that no two days at nursery are the same. And this doesn’t just keep the children in our care interested and engaged – it makes life pretty exciting for the rest of us too!
To discover if a My Ohana nursery could be the right fit for you and your child, and to learn about availability across our nurseries, get in touch with us directly.
