Hopscotch aims to always where possible promote the benefits of physical play and activities in helping support health and well-being in children but also by developing positive associations and habits for later life.
The UK Government advises that for children between 1-5 years they should be aiming for at least 180 minutes a day of physical activity and for children under 1 year for at least 30 minutes of tummy time each day. More information is available in this infographic included as Appendix 5: Physical Activity for Early Years.
Hopscotch aims to achieve these goals through a range of different activities. These include:
- ‘Personal Training’ sessions including running, jumping, skipping
- Scootering and Bike Riding
- Dance time
- Yoga
- Messy Play
- Outings to parks and other locations like the beach
We also have well equipped gardens with climbing frames, bikes and scooters and other equipment. In addition, all our nurseries have soft-play areas which help support physical play and development.
When children are in the garden or outside areas, the following guidelines must be adhered to:
- Staff must ensure that all areas of the outside areas are safe before the children enter
- All gates must be closed or locked as appropriate and fences secure
- All areas must be free of hazards (which may have appeared overnight or throughout the day), for example animal faeces, stagnant rainwater and litter.
- Outside toys must have been checked to be safe and useable. Any broken equipment must be removed immediately and referred to the Nursery Management Team.
- Staff must ensure that all the learning areas and equipment have been set up as appropriate, ready for the children.
- Staff must ensure that children are appropriately dressed when outdoors depending on the weather. For example: coats, hats and wellies when the weather is cold and wet, and sun cream and sun hats on sunny days.
- Spare sets of clothing should be available at the nursery setting in case of accidents, or children being cold or wet.
Staff should try their best to avoid leaving a room or garden area, unless there is an urgent need to do so i.e. they need to take another child to the toilet or there is an unexpected situation.
Where possible should remember to be organised and plan ahead in order to reduce the chances of them needing to leave the room whilst they are with children i.e. ensuring they have everything they need for their planned activities already arranged and set out.
If a member of staff does need to leave the room or area, they should try to ensure children are temporarily organised to mitigate the impact of them leaving the leave the room. This might include rounding up children to sit or undertake an orderly activity with the remaining member of staff.
Before deciding whether they should leave the room, staff should explore whether they can signal to or contact another member of staff in the nursery who might be able to assist them i.e. using gestures or hand signals or calling out for them if that is effective. Otherwise, the Nursery Manager should assess whether staff should be equipped with an internal telephone or walkie-talkie which will allow staff to easily and effectively communicate with colleagues inside. This measure will reduce the need for staff to leave an area if presented with the need to do so.
If a member of staff needs to leave the room or garden, for example, to collect something from the kitchen, then the member of staff remaining in the room must be a level 3 qualified member of staff – the member of staff leaving should be the least qualified person.
At all times the safety of the children is paramount and legal supervision ratios must always be adhered to. It is the Nursery Manager’s responsibility to ensure this is the case and it is staff’s responsibility to ensure this is properly implemented at all times. These are legal requirements and failure to do so could result in disciplinary action being taken.
Before any play activity commences the Room Leaders and Lead Practitioners and other staff present should:
- Ensure that there is adequate supervision for the play activity and children taking part in the activity.
- Refer to and adhere to child specific Risk Assessments as required e.g. if a child has a broken arm, allergy etc.
- Ensure that all toys and equipment are in good condition and suitable for the age range and ability of children.
- Ensure that all materials used are suitable for the task and play is not going to increase the risk of harm to children or staff.
- Where appropriate refer to specific Risk Assessments or ensure that a risk assessment is conducted.
As per any activity, before carrying out the activity, staff must ensure that the appropriate equipment is at hand and adequate supervision is planned for and available.
When emptying and filling water trays, staff must use buckets or other suitable containers. When the activity is finished, the sand tray should be covered, and all standing water emptied. Stagnant standing water should never be used for any kind of activities.
Any sand that has spilled should be cleared up by sweeping up or placing in external refuse bin. It should not be poured down the sinks or drains.
After use toys must be removed and the sand raked through.
Sand must be replaced regularly and / or sanitised as necessary.
When necessary wet floor signs should be used to denote wet areas or spillages.
Diligent care must be taken to avoid using any food in play that could cause an allergic reaction if a known allergic child is present in the area of play. The Medical Conditions & Allergy Boards should be referred to as required.
Any spillages should be cleared away immediately and Wet Floor signage used if food could cause a slip hazard. Children must be supervised to prevent them eating the play food.
Play food should be disposed of regularly.
Further information can be found in the Hopscotch Food Safety Management System.
All messy play must be risk assessed to ensure it suitable for the age group, establishing the hazards present and the risk of harm being caused. Suitable control measures must be implemented to ensure the risk of harm is minimised. The learning outcomes of the activity must outweigh any risk.
Diligent care must be taken to avoid using any food in play that could cause an allergic reaction if a known allergic child is present in the area of play. The Medical Conditions & Allergy Boards should be referred to as required. Messy play must be supervised at all times.
Resources which are NOT permitted in any circumstance:
- Raw jelly cubes
- Marshmallows
- Popcorn
- Dry pasta
- Dried beans and pulses
- Aquabeads / Waterbeads
Resources used with conditions:
- Rubbers must be full sized and disposed once they become a choking hazard
- Soil must be purchased and not brought in from the garden
Items permitted following risk assessment approval for the relevant age group:
- Wiggly eyes
- Buttons
- Foam shapes
- Beads
- Pompoms
- Ice
- Cellophane - only at Christmas
- Sequins - only at Christmas
See Appendix 2: Messy and Creative Play Resources for more information. This should be displayed in all areas where messy activities take place in the nursery. More information is available in the Hopscotch FSMS.
Interactive Whiteboard use.
The Interactive smartboards are great teaching tools that help children understand technology concepts and broaden their knowledge through apps, activities and games, benefiting all learning areas. However, it's important to promote active participation to keep children fully engaged in the learning process. When children passively watch screens for extended periods, it can affect their ability to focus and maintain attention. It would also be beneficial to only use the Whiteboard for set periods of time, so that children also engage with physical resources and activities.
To help ensure better outcomes for Hopscotch children by keeping them engaged and active during learning activities, I have put together this list created by our Teacher Committee.
Famly
- You can encourage the children to sign themselves in
- Show and Tells from their Home Observations
Twinkl
- Have many original and traditional eBooks, which are great for large group story times.
- PowerPoint activities that often link to these stories
- Cosmic Kids Yoga
- Kids Zumba
- Mindfulness
- General dance (Using Kids Spotify account)
Research topics
- BBC Bitesize
- Google; check results first
Paint applications:
- Copying patterns and letters on a large scale
- Drawing pictures to print
- Story mapping, familiar stories
- Who, What, Where, When collaborative stories
Websites:
Hopscotch allow:
- Cartoon videos
- Music videos
- Constant background music
- Passive watching for more than a few minutes
- ‘Story’ videos and audio books; our staff are better story tellers
It is important that items for play, or which are used for childcare, safety and transport are maintained in a safe condition. Staff must observe the following:
- All play equipment and toys must be checked on a daily basis for condition, cleanliness and safety.
- Any damaged or defective items are to be removed from use immediately.
- Cots, pushchairs, highchairs etc., must be checked each time before use to ensure they are complete, correctly assembled and safe to use.
- All bikes, scooters, trikes or similar must be fitted with handlebar covers to protect children from falling onto exposed metal edges. If any are found without covers, they should be removed immediately until handlebar covers can be fitted prior to reintroduction into the nursery.
- Nursery Managers are responsible for the above, but the Hopscotch Maintenance Manager can assist as part of their site duties. Hopscotch Head of Operations will advise on any such matters.