Our little Jolly lending library is restocked again and ready and waiting for you to borrow a book or two throughout the coming week…

We know you’ll all have so many books at home already, but sometimes it’s nice to mix it up a little and share a new one together!

Please feel free to borrow the accompanying toys and puppets too… Will the Big Bad Wolf capture your little one’s attention as he huffs and puffs? Will Elmer enjoy being wheeled around your house meeting all your little one’s cuddly toys? Will they end up having a colourful tea party together? Will the Bunny get extra snuggles as you share ‘Guess How Much I Love You’?!

Please, please, please borrow any books and toys that you would like to truly bring stories alive at your house. All we ask is that once you’ve enjoyed sharing them you bring them back and pop them on the shelves again ready to bring other Jolly friends’ imaginations alive too.

Enjoy happy, snuggly, exciting story-sharing times together xxxx

February is the month of love and we definitely love our families, our Jolly Family, our friends, our wonderful village and we just generally LOVE life!!!!

Here’s to amazing times with our nearest and dearest and holding them close and cherishing their love, as it definitely makes the go round and our days just that bit brighter!! Xxxx

…….. Learning through well-planned, purposeful play, it’s just the Jolly way!! Xxxx

Even our youngest babies like to give things a go for themselves… this little one started to get to grips with the spoon and persevered as they were determined to be independent!!

Lots of prior scooping and filling in the messy tray, lots of shape sorter play, lots of tackling of insert puzzles, lots of manipulation of construction and a wealth of other carefully-planned, purposeful play all build the hand/eye coordination, the spatial awareness, the hand strength, the fine motor manipulation which all lead up to being able to fill a spoon and successfully get the spoon and its contents to our mouths… xxxx

It was off to the beach for Imogen and her little friends recently… their boot was packed with all the essentials, but the children were mostly focused upon ensuring they had packed the snacks!!! xxxx

Our children love their key person here at Jollies and they are the first person who helps them settle into nursery life and they are the extra special person who is there for both them and their parents/carers.

Yet in a short space of time they usually have a bond with ALL the lovely Jolly grown ups within their room as each room is like a little family within our larger Jolly Family and they become very close with everyone!

Once they leave a room ready to journey into the next they encounter a new key person and these bonds quickly form and grow again and they are very lucky as each member of Team Jollies brings something slightly different into the mix and it is wonderful to see where their Jolly journey will take them to next as they learn through their play with their very special people xxxx

Ellison’s excellent close observation of her children playing in the role play area led to her following their interests and developing their physical fine motor skills and manipulation of tools…

She spotted them trying to chop up the Velcro fruit in the role-play kitchen, but struggling, so she supported their play with demonstration and guidance through effective communication to enable them to do this in the most effective way possible.

She then went on a hunt and located the very special young children’s safety ‘knives’ that we have and later her children were spotted putting their newly-acquired skills to the test when they chopped up some real water melon for their own snack!!

Lots of concentration and determination was seen on our children’s faces and they were VERY proud of their achievements!! xxxx

Jade and Tia-Mae’s children have been loving the babies in their room and it turns out they have all been taking very good care of them too.

Following their interests another element was introduced when they brought a baby bath with bubbly water into the room to create a fun bath time for the babies.

They added flannels and towels and they were then good to go!! Quite a few children needed a little demonstration initially about how to gently wash and care for their babies rather than just dunking them under!!

Lots of lovely communication and demonstration inspired their play and soon our babies were having the happiest, bubbliest, giggliest bath times ever!! xxxx

Learning should be fun and turning it into a game and setting challenges is just the perfect way to engage our children.

Free-Flow learnt all about colours and sorting (and counting!) them and raced and chased to do it in the speediest of ways too.

Turns out their colour knowledge is fantastic and that they are also VERY competitive!!!! Xxxx