When your baby, toddler or under-five child first starts at nursery, it can be a time of apprehension for both parent and little one. It’s such a huge milestone when they first spend time away from home; they’re incredibly young and, until then, have usually spent most of their time around close family at home. When they first start at nursery, it’s a new, often unfamiliar setting for them and many questions may trouble the mind of any parent or carer at this time. Are they going to like it? How will they fit in? Will they make friends? What are the nursery staff like? Will they eat enough? Will they be warm enough? Will they cry when they’re left there? There are potentially so many questions and concerns! With that in mind, today’s post is all about how to help children under five settle into nursery. If you’re a parent or carer whose child is just starting at nursery, take a look.
Before Making Your Final Nursery Choice…
Draw up a short list of possible settings for your child, having first whittled down the choices by appraising reviews, Ofsted ratings, recommendations from other parents, and so on. Then comes a crucial step — visit each nursery on your final shortlist with your child to see if they are a good fit. Requesting a full tour is highly recommended and, indeed, good nurseries like Little Acorns in Hindley Green encourage parents/carers to bring their child along on such early visits. By so doing, we can welcome both prospective parents and their children to the nursery and give them a free guided tour. Both parent and child can then get a real feel for the setting, its staff, atmosphere, rooms, play equipment, outdoor areas, facilities and more. It’s by far the best way to see how well your child may fit in — before committing.
Make Early Friends & Arrange Play Dates
If your child already has a friend or neighbour of a similar age who will also attend your chosen nursery, it can be very useful. Both children will then have a friendly face to play with from Day 1. If not, it should be easy enough to ask around to find out about other local children who will start at the nursery when your child does. Arranging play dates for them in the weeks running up to the start date will help each child familiarise themselves with one another, so they each have a friend or two at the nursery right from the start. It’s a great way of settling them in.
Settling-in Sessions to Familiarise Your Child With the Nursery
Even better are settling-in sessions and any good nursery should offer these (Little Acorns does — see below). Once you have chosen a nursery and a place has been confirmed for your child, settling-in sessions are a really beneficial step for your child. By spending time at the nursery on a normal day, before they officially start, they will be able to familiarise themselves with the new setting, other children attending, part of the setting’s daily routine, toys and facilities, and staff who will look after them. Settling-in sessions are a great way to introduce all these new things to children so they don’t feel so ‘new’ and unfamiliar once they fully start at the setting.
Settling-in Sessions at Little Acorns Nursery, Hindley Green, Wigan
Aside from the initial guided tours undertaken, we schedule 2 formal settling-in visits for children once a place has been offered. These hour-long settling-in sessions usually occur in the week before children are due to start at the nursery formally. They are both free of charge. Here’s how they are approached:
- During the first visit, a parent stays with their child for the full hour. This allows the child to explore the environment and make their acquaintance with new and any existing friends. It also gives the attending parent an opportunity to fill in any relevant documents and get to know the staff who will be looking after their child.
- During the second visit, parents leave their child for an hour and we can then all see how they manage, away from their parents, with the staff members. If everything goes well, children will be fine to continue with their intended start date. However, if children struggle during the hour-long settling-in sessions we can extend them and, if necessary, move back the start date until they’re ready.
Such an approach is a great way for children to feel more at home, right from the moment they start nursery.
Get to Know the Nursery Staff & Build a Rapport
It will help your child settle in if you get to know nursery staff and proactively build a rapport with them. By doing so, you’ll be able to have good two-way feedback. You’ll get to know more about your child’s day and how they’re settling in and nursery practitioners will be able to glean valuable information that only a parent would know about a child, for example, likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, and so on. Even a tiny detail of shared knowledge may make all the difference to your child’s happiness and well-being when they’re a new starter at a nursery.
Smartphone Apps Enable Regular Updates for Parents Virtually in Real Time
Many nurseries and childcare settings also have a smartphone app that is a perfect mechanism for two-way feedback between nursery staff and a child’s parent or carer. At Little Acorns Nursery in Hindley Green, for example, parents have access to a proprietary smartphone app called FAMLY (that’s FAMILY without an “i” by the way). Such an app is a perfect way for parents to communicate with staff and for nursery staff to send photos and any commentary or updates about children to their parents. By enabling everyone to keep in the loop virtually in real-time, children will benefit from the very best oversight to help them settle, know they’re safe, and feel well-cared for.
“I get photos and updates and this really helps settle my mind when I’m at work.” — Ashley G (Mother of Child) April 2024
Reassure & Communicate With Your Little One
Reassuring your child will also help them settle into nursery – so communication is key. This is true both before they start and once they attend, particularly at the beginning. Before starting, it’s important to ensure they know that changes will soon happen, what to expect when the time comes, and that it’s going to be a big adventure with lots of fun! Encourage questions and answer them sensitively. They also need to be reassured that you will always be there, behind the scenes, looking out for their best interests. And, of course, it’s crucial for them to know you’ll be there to pick them up at home time (don’t be late!).
Encourage Independence & Social Skills
As we said previously in our 20 Ways to Prepare Under-5s for Nursery post, encouraging children to be as independent as possible will stand them in good stead once they begin at nursery. Not only is an element of independence a good skill for children to master, but it will also help them feel more self-confident around the nursery children and staff. A few examples include ensuring, where age-appropriate:
- that they know how to put on or take off jackets, zip or button clothing, and fasten footwear;
- that they know how to feed themselves and use eating utensils;
- that they have good hygiene, e.g. know how and when to wash their hands;
- that, ideally, they are potty trained. If they’re not yet ready for that, ensuring they at least know how to pull up undergarments/clothing is a good first step on the way to becoming more independent with toilet training;
- that they have practised their social skills, so that they’re confident to engage with peers and childcare practitioners at the nursery.
Get Them Used to the Daily Routine
Once they start at nursery, it’s going to be tiring for them. With all the nursery activities, play, and extra focus that they’ll require, they’ll need to be on top form from the word go. That’s why it’ll benefit them to be used to the timings before they begin. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to match their bedtime and morning awakening in the preceding weeks to the same timings they’ll encounter once they’re attending nursery. By doing so, their body clocks will already be adjusted by the time they start and they should not get so tired.
Celebrate Successes
Encourage children by celebrating their successes at the nursery. Whether it’s the successful completion of their first day, the first tear-free day, the making of a new friend or any other accomplishment, ensure you congratulate your child. This will give them a sense of achievement, reassure them that they’re doing well, and encourage them to keep attending and building on their progress.
Nursery Staff Will Nurture Children Too
With children sometimes taking as many as 2, 3, or even 4 weeks to fully settle into a new nursery, it’s also important for staff to closely monitor and nurture them. That’s indeed exactly what we do at Little Acorns Nursery in Hindley Green. We ensure the setting is a home-from-home environment for children as much as possible. Children will feel valued, loved, listened to, and well cared for at Little Acorns. We’ll reassure them when they need it, communicate well with parents/carers, discuss any challenges and work to address them speedily and in the most effective ways. We have children’s best interests at heart, so parents can rest assured that their little ones are kept safe, happy and well and, even if not immediately, they’ll grow to love being at the nursery. A couple of recent testimonials prove the point beautifully (hover over them to pause):
The point about the favourite toy in one of the testimonials is a good one. So, if your toddler has a favourite soft toy or comforter that might benefit them when they first start at nursery, ensure it’s brought to the nursery so they have access to it. It’s a great way of helping them feel more at home and to reassure them, particularly when they first join a new setting.
Little Acorns Nursery, Hindley Green, Wigan
A Place for Your Baby, Toddler or Child Under Five at Little Acorns Nursery
If you live in the Hindley Green area or near Wigan, consider a nursery place for your child at Little Acorns. Rest assured that we will nurture your child, make them feel at home, bring out the best in them and set them up to absolutely thrive. We’re rated officially as a good nursery by Ofsted and support many free childcare schemes, making it more affordable for eligible children. Click a button to get started on an application or guided visit for your child:
We are a nursery and preschool in Hindley Green, Wigan, and may also be suitable for those living in nearby places like Bickershaw, Leigh, Atherton, Westhoughton, Ince-in-Makerfield, Platt Bridge, Tyldesley, Bolton and the Greater Manchester region.
Starting nursery or pre-school is a real milestone for children and parents alike. As well as being exciting, though, transitioning to nursery or pre-school can be daunting for the little ones. The researching of childcare settings, checking Ofsted reports and appraising recommendations from friends is all very well, but that’s only the first step. The transition will be smoother for the children themselves if a few golden rules are followed. That’s precisely where today’s guide comes in, with our 20 Ways to Prepare Under-5s for Nursery. Take a look.
Arrange a visit of your chosen or short-listed nurseries/pre-schools. Good settings (like Little Acorns Nursery) will be happy to give you and your child a guided tour. It’s best to go during an actual session, so that you can both see the setting in action on a standard day. Bear in mind that it can also be a chance for your child to become more familiar with the setting. If they later go on to start at the nursery, they will then already be aware of what the rooms look like, where the toilets are, who their carers are, and so on. Show them the play areas inside and out and let them see the other children having fun.
There are several things you can also do around preparing your child for eating at nursery/pre-school. For starters, get your little one used to eating in a group of other children — perhaps with friends or related children at first. Also practise cutlery skills with your child, so they’re more able to eat independently when they start.
Pre-joining visits and settling-in sessions are a great way for children to make friends at the setting, but parents can also orchestrate this outside of the nursery or pre-school. For example, by finding out which friends and neighbours send their children to the setting, they can then suggest some play dates with those children. Little ones will then see one or more friendly little faces welcoming them, right from the outset, once they start at the setting. It’s a good opportunity for children to learn the art of socialising. It’s also good for parents to network in this way, so they can compare notes and perhaps pool information they might otherwise have missed.
Whether your child is potty/toilet trained or still in nappies, teach them to help themselves in this type of area. If they are not yet toilet trained and are ready for it, begin to teach them. It’ll stand them in better stead once they start at nursery/pre-school. If they are newly toilet trained, though, reinforce that accidents do happen and that the childcare staff are used to it and will help change them if so.
A little independence will go a long way for them once children start at nursery or pre-school. Personal hygiene and toilet training is just one of many things they can help themselves with if they’re shown how.
Childcare providers are more than just babysitters or a crèche. Settings like Little Acorn Nursery and many others offer a full early years education too. It’s very high quality, covering pretty much every aspect of early years learning and development and the all-important 
In the month or weeks leading up to your child’s start date, it’s a great idea to try to mimic the timings at the nursery, so that the routine is pre-embedded. So, try to get them used to getting up and getting dressed etc. at the same time as the nursery and they can even have a restful nap at the same time as nap sessions at the setting. An appropriate bedtime routine is also important, so that your child is energised and not tired once they begin at the nursery.
Ensure that you are familiar with the pick-up and drop-off times as well as the nursery’s security arrangements should someone else be picking your child up instead of you.
When the big day arrives for your child, don’t let on if you’re anxious or sad otherwise your child may pick up on it and become upset. So, keep it casual and don’t make a fuss when you drop them off for the first time. Staff and any friends they’ve previously made as part of your planning above are sure to welcome them. Chances are, they’ll run off into the nursery with a friend and have great fun right away anyway!
