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Monday 8am - 6pm Tuesday 8am - 6pm Wednesday 8am - 6pm Thursday 8am - 6pm Friday 8am - 6pm

Kids Ahoy

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Kids Ahoy Nursery Ltd offers quality care from birth to 12 years across two Dumfries sites, including our new Indoor/Outdoor nursery, Land Ahoy.

We also provide Afterschool and Holiday Clubs, with a strong focus on nature, learning, and wellbeing.

31/10/2026

🍁 A wonderful start to Term 2 across Kids Ahoy and Land Ahoy! 🍁

This week has been filled with exciting autumn themed experiences, encouraging children to explore, investigate and learn through play. From sensory rich pumpkin activities and messy exploration to creative ghost crafts and imaginative dress up opportunities, the children have been busy developing their creativity, communication skills and curiosity about the world around them.

It has been lovely to see so much engagement, laughter and learning as we begin another exciting term together 🎃👻🍂

10/10/2026

What a fantastic end to the term for our babies and toddlers! We’ve had big imaginations, busy hands, and lots of fresh‑air fun.

Our little firefighters have been so engaged, building, exploring, and creating their own rescue scenes. We’ve also been practicing our BSL signs during play and routines, and it’s amazing to see how confidently the children are beginning to communicate with their hands.

Add in plenty of outdoor adventures, autumn leaves, construction play, and teamwork, it’s been a brilliant way to finish the term.

We’re so proud of our curious, capable little learners.

07/10/2026

We love dinner in the forest 🌳🥒🥕🥯

03/10/2026

A very special day for Kids Ahoy! 💙⚽

Our nursery was lucky enough to win the Queen of the South Mascot Prize Draw, and today Roxene’s
two boys had the unforgettable experience of walking out onto the pitch with the team.

Moments like this show the power of community partnerships giving children confidence, excitement, and memories they’ll talk about for years.

Thank you to Queen of the South for making today so magical. We’re still smiling! 💛

01/10/2026

At Kids Ahoy and Land Ahoy, we are learning British Sign Language to support communication with our children and within the wider community.

Yesterday our BSL sign of the day was museum!

Some of our babies and toddlers didn’t know what a museum was so we used this as an opportunity to extend learning and took a trip to the museum to explore and of course we practiced our sign along the way!

We saw the museum and explored the gardens, where we saw some statues and a water fountain!

The museum even had its very own vegetable garden which we were kindly allowed to help ourselves to! Zoe picked us some fresh raspberries off the bush, and we gave them a try! 🍓

We had such a great time learning our museum sign and exploring the gardens!

30/09/2026

This morning our preschoolers took their colour monsters on an adventure to Dalbeattie Forest 💛🩷

During circle time, we chatted about each monster and the emotions they represent. The children shared their own ideas and thoughts:

W “I feel happy playing with my friend L.”
A “I feel loved with cuddles from mummy.”

Afterwards, the monsters mysteriously “escaped” so we headed off on a monster hunt through the forest! The children searched high and low, working together, spotting clues, and giggling as they found each one.

We had a fabulous morning of forest fun! 🌳

26/09/2026

🐞 Ladybird Curiosity in Babies & Toddlers

This week our babies and toddlers have been absolutely fascinated by the ladybirds in our garden and with so many of them around, it’s no surprise their curiosity has taken off.

We’ve been exploring ladybirds through lots of messy, hands‑on experiences: painting, printing, play‑doh creations and plenty of opportunities to look closely at their colours, spots and tiny movements. The children then helped to make their very own bug house, using natural materials to create a cosy space for our new garden friends.

When we returned the next day, the excitement was huge, the bug house was full of ladybirds, and we even spotted some that had hatched from their eggs. The children watched with such wonder, noticing the different sizes and colours and sharing their discoveries with each other.

It’s been a lovely week of sensory exploration, early science, and lots of joyful moments sparked by the tiny creatures living right outside our door.

25/09/2026

A little update from our forest adventures…🐛🦋

Last week the children created their very own caterpillars using sticks, leaves and wool. This week we headed back into the forest to revisit their creations and transform them into butterflies.

We explored how caterpillars change and grow, and the children shared their ideas about how we could recreate this using natural materials. There was lots of talk about going round and round, up and down, over and under with the wool offering brilliant opportunities for hand‑eye coordination, fine motor skills and problem‑solving.

We also spent time thinking about how we keep safe in the woods. The children confidently shared all of our forest rules with Derri and showed just how much they understand about looking after themselves and each other outdoors.

It’s been a lovely couple of weeks watching their creativity unfold and seeing their caterpillars turn into beautiful butterflies among the trees.

23/09/2026

Our babies and toddlers have had such a lovely day.

We spent time outdoors enjoying the autumn sunshine ☀️ splashing with water and practicing using our hand eye coordination pouring water from the jugs as well as painting pictures. Indoors, the children enjoyed playdoh activities that supported their fine‑motor development.

We also continued practising our sign language, helping our youngest learners build early communication skills and strengthen their sense of connection with the adults around them.

20/09/2026

Our babies and toddlers have been busy little explorers this week, enjoying a day filled with books, bugs, and big conversations. 💛

We started with a walk to the library, where the children chose their own stories, coloured autumn pictures, and worked together on Lego and jigsaws.

Their voices filled the room:
“We need to find the purple piece!”
“Come colour K** I need your help!”
“Pick a book… hmmm…”

Then it was off to the park for a ladybug hunt! 🐞 With magnifying glasses, the children counted spots, searched under leaves, and shared their discoveries with excitement.

On the way there and back, we talked about traffic lights, and Steph taught everyone a new song “Twinkle twinkle traffic lights…” 🚦the children told us that they knew:
“Green means GO”
“Red means STOP”

A simple day, full of curiosity, teamwork, and joy.

These are the moments we treasure.

Address

89-93 St Michael Street
Dumfries

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 6pm
Tuesday	8am - 6pm
Wednesday	8am - 6pm
Thursday	8am - 6pm
Friday	8am - 6pm

Telephone

+441387279300

Website

http://www.kidsahoy.co.uk/

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