Bright Stars Pre-School

The final stage of the life cycle complete! Five beautiful butterflies released into the meadow area last Friday afternoon. Our children were in awe as the butterflies sat on their hands before flying off! 🐛🦋🌺

🌞With temperatures soaring in some parts of the UK, are you worried your child isn't drinking enough?

Children should drink 6-8 glasses of water-based fluid every day.

Drinking water is important for good bowel and bladder health, and for tackling daytime wetting, night-time wetting and poo problems like constipation, but we understand it can be hard to get kids to drink enough.

Here are a few tips on how to encourage your child to drink more:

🔵Make ice lollies using well-diluted squash. Don’t add sugar and avoid using blackcurrant squash, which can irritate the bladder.
🔵Jazz up their water with ice cubes, umbrellas and slices of fruit.
🔵Buy or customise your own funky straws.
🔵Let them choose their cup and fill it themselves.
🔵Make sugar-free jellies that contain the equivalent of one cup of water.
🔵Use our Wee Checker colour chart to see if your child is drinking enough. Print it out and put it on your bathroom door so that your child can learn to spot the signs of dehydration and be motivated to have another drink.

Find more tips on how to encourage your child to drink more on the ERIC website: https://eric.org.uk/childrens-bladders/how-to-get-kids-to-drink-more-water/

Let us know your tips or tricks for encouraging children to drink more in the comments!

With SchemaPlay Community Interest Company – I just got recognised as one of their top fans! 🎉

Yesterday was ‘World Bee Day’! We have been learning all about bees and how important they are to our eco system. The children played in sensory trays, made bee hats and collages. This morning we used honey to make some delicious biscuits.
Adam from Blue Light Bees and Ongar Honey kindly brought along some resources to teach the children some fascinating facts about bees!

🐝Did you know that bees have five eyes? 🐝That they cannot see the colour red?
🐝We also learnt how they make honey in one of their two stomachs and that they like to keep their hive clean.
🐝Their wings beat super fast which is what makes the buzzing sound.

The children also enjoyed tasting the honey that Adam’s bees had produced. We even got to meet the bees! 🍯🐝🌼🪻🌺

𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬’ 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤. We would like to hear your views too, Whether your child is chatting easily, or has some level of difficulty in learning to talk, please take a few minutes to complete this short survey so we can better our support for young children and their families.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/N2VGWQW

Two newly hatched butterflies yesterday and some very excited children! 🐛🦋

We are feeling inspired after attending the Essex Early Years Conference today. It was a thought-provoking day full of fresh ideas, meaningful discussions and valuable reflections on practice.

We were reminded how there is a strong connection between an adult’s emotional regulation and that of the child. The way we respond, regulate, and model emotions has such a powerful impact on the children we support every day.

A workshop around schemas highlighted that recognising and supporting a child’s schema can truly empower their learning. When we understand the patterns and drives behind children’s play and exploration, we can create richer opportunities that build confidence, curiosity, and deeper engagement.

Thanks to Essex County Council Early Years for the opportunity and for supporting us in helping our children to thrive.

Exciting times over the last few weeks as our teeny, tiny caterpillars have very quickly grown into big, fat caterpillars! 🐛

The children have loved checking in, seeing the changes occurring. This week they have started to form their protective chrysalis’ so in a week or two we should be releasing some beautiful butterflies! 🦋🌺

✨🦌 Magic in the Making! 🦌✨
Our children had the most wonderful time mixing up special reindeer food for Santa’s team! The wonder and excitement coming from them at this time of year is what makes Christmas feel truly magical. 🎄💫