TEY 13.2

SETTLERS, MOVERS & SHAKERS Set up group activities for children to choose as they settle in, move around, and explore. Create a “settling station” with drawing, picture/audio books and music, and provide a home corner for children suffering from separation anxiety. Create a “making faces” activity in a tuff tray for the “movers”. Cut circles out of cardboard, make three or four holes around the top, thread pipe cleaners into each hole, and secure. Let children thread coloured beads or cereal “O”s onto the hair. For the “shakers”, provide small milk containers or plastic pots with lids alongside materials to fill them, e.g. beads, dry beans, lentils/rice, and buttons. VISUAL TIMETABLES Many children like to know what the day ahead will bring and find it helpful to see a list or timetable of the day’s activities. Some may start by using it simply as a reference to count down until home time. Share laminated pictures you are going to use with the children so they become more familiar. At the beginning of each day or session, point out the list and invite children to say what they think is going to happen. Perhaps the order could be changed sometimes to see if they notice, or invite the children to use the pictures to compile their own schedule! USING BOOKS Books are brilliant resources for supporting children through significant transitions, such as moving rooms at nursery or settling in at “big” school. First Day at Bug School by Sam Lloyd is a reassuring rhyming story that helps soothe anxieties; the children can sing with the crickets, count spots on ladybirds, and try jumping like fleas in PE. Alternatively, share the classic Starting School by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, which takes children from the very first day to the end of the school year. WELCOME WORLD Encourage the children to self- register when they arrive at the setting. Can they find their own photograph or picture to stick onto a circular “Welcome World” board or peg onto a washing line? Magnetic photos of the children are also fun for children to use and sort into “here” and “away” groups on a metal board. Encourage them to use the “Welcome World” to check if their friends have already arrived, so they feel more confident about the day ahead. WELCOME SONGS Invite children to sit down together using a song: Come and sit down on the carpet/in a circle (x3) / Let’s all sit together. (Tune: “What shall we do with the drunken sailor?”) If the children have regular places to sit, help them find them. Try a singing register. Use the two “cuckoo” notes, G and E, and sing: Hello [child’s name], hello [child’s name], hello [child’s name] / Welcome to school today. (Tune: “It’s raining, it’s pouring”) Can children play the two notes on chime bars or a xylophone for each “hello”? WELCOME PIE Invite the children to sit in a circle. If some find this tricky at first, let them watch from a safe distance! Pass a pie dish around the circle as you sing these words using the “cuckoo” notes: I, I, me oh my, how I love my welcome pie. Whoever has the pie at the end can choose a new flavour for it, e.g. apple, chocolate or even spiders! Alternatively, write the children’s names on small pieces of paper and put them in the dish. Choose a name, welcome the child, and everybody waves hello to them. These simple ideas will help you help those just starting at your setting to feel at ease, says Jude Harries … First-timers SETTLING-IN ACTIVITIES It’s good to see you here! New arrivals 26 Teachearlyyears.com