Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery Grange Road - CB3 9DU

15/09/2026

15/09/2026

🎉 A huge congratulations to Hana on completing her Level 3 qualification! 🎓

We are so proud of you! Your dedication, hard work and endless new ideas make such a difference to our team. 🌟

At Monkey Puzzle Grange Road, we’re proud to support our staff in gaining qualifications while working, building their knowledge, skills and confidence along the way

09/09/2026

In preschool, children participated in a STEM activity designed to explore sensory feelings. We created a sensory walk by setting up a tray filled with various sensory materials such as playdough, rice, pasta, tissue paper, wooden circles, sand, and water. The children were invited to walk through the sensory experience. As they stepped on each material, we encouraged them to describe their feelings by asking, "How do you feel now?" Many children described playdough, sand, and tissue paper as soft, while others noted the bumpy sensation of stepping on rice and pasta. When they stepped on the wooden circles, some remarked that it felt hard. Finally, when they dipped their feet into the water, they all exclaimed that it felt cold. This activity helped them understand their sensory feelings by exploring different textures and also contributed to the development of their fine motor skills. Furthermore, they actively engaged with each other, communicating their feelings and thoughts about the experience.

02/09/2026

Today in the forest, we noticed that the beans were ripe for picking, so we set out to do just that. The children carefully searched for hidden bean pods before using their dexterity and strength to open them. Children discovered a clever technique: by pushing the side of the bean pod, it would almost open on its own, allowing them to use their nails to slide it apart.

This activity transforms a straightforward real-world task into a rich, multi-sensory learning experience. Physically, the act of pulling open the pods significantly refines the pincer grip essential for early writing, while handling the shells promotes bilateral coordination and hand-eye integration. It enhances cognitive and early mathematical skills, as children naturally engage in sorting, counting, and problem-solving to tackle tougher pods. Additionally, this hands-on exploration deepens their understanding of the world, connecting them to the origins of food and the life cycles of plants through diverse tactile textures. Lastly, the focused and repetitive nature of shelling beans helps to build attention spans, fosters independence, and instills a genuine sense of pride and accomplishment in young children.

28/08/2026

🌊🐠 Exploring the World Beneath and Above the Sea! 🐚✨

Sensory play plays a crucial role in babies’ learning and development, providing opportunities to explore, investigate and make sense of the world through their senses.

Today, our babies were on an exciting under-the-sea adventure, exploring the world both above and below the water. They discovered a variety of textures, colours and objects, encouraging them to touch, feel, observe and investigate.

As they explored, we introduced and reinforced new descriptive vocabulary such as smooth, spiky, bumpy, soft and rough, supporting early communication and language development.

27/08/2026

💫Meet the team! 💫
Hello
My name is Mathieu
I am from France and I have been working in England since 2003.
I also travelled to the Republic of Ireland

I have been a pastry chef and a chef for 29 years. Working in various settings from fine dining restaurants and Manor Houses to Cambridge colleges, care homes and nurseries.
Besides my career as a chef, I have coached children football teams for 3 years.
I also enjoy playing and recording music .

19/08/2026

Today in the toddler room, the children had a fantastic time exploring space! They learnt about the planets, including the sun and the moon. We got creative by decorating the planets to discover different colours and practised counting from 1 to 5. While using green and blue for planet Earth, the toddlers showed great enthusiasm. One little one pointed to the rocket, which inspired us to sing "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, we're going to the moon." We finished with an exciting countdown from 10!

18/08/2026

We’re excited to invite our families to a free three-part webinar series with Dr Morvwen Duncan, Founder and Lead Clinical Psychologist at The Lotus Psychology Practice, created in collaboration with Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries.

Parenting can leave us with lots of questions. Why does my child react so differently to other children? Why do small things sometimes lead to such big emotions? Why won’t they listen, even when I know they understand me?

Across three live webinars, Dr Morvwen will draw on developmental psychology and neuroscience to help us look beyond what we see and better understand the why behind children’s development, emotions, and behaviour.

Understanding Your Child’s Development
Thursday 20th August | 7pm
Explore why every child develops differently, why development isn’t always a straight line and what shapes your child’s individual developmental journey.

Join/Register for the Development webinar
c8528342-f2a4-4c95-b141-f2f723a94da5@990701ee-2cec-47ba-8cb5-491519901e8e?utm_source=chatgpt.com" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/c8528342-f2a4-4c95-b141-f2f723a94da5@990701ee-2cec-47ba-8cb5-491519901e8e?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Understanding Your Child’s Emotions
Thursday 3rd September | 7pm
Discover why young children experience such big feelings, how emotional regulation develops and practical ways you can support your child through those overwhelming moments.

Join/Register for the Emotions webinar
3dea62f6-27e9-46d5-91c9-c95aab92f7b6@990701ee-2cec-47ba-8cb5-491519901e8e?utm_source=chatgpt.com" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/3dea62f6-27e9-46d5-91c9-c95aab92f7b6@990701ee-2cec-47ba-8cb5-491519901e8e?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Understanding Your Child’s Behaviour
Thursday 17th September | 7pm
Explore why behaviour happens, what your child may be trying to communicate and practical strategies for navigating more challenging moments.

Join/Register for the Behaviour webinar
fccd61a8-d5bd-4442-90f5-6b8c0b85d390@990701ee-2cec-47ba-8cb5-491519901e8e?utm_source=chatgpt.com" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/fccd61a8-d5bd-4442-90f5-6b8c0b85d390@990701ee-2cec-47ba-8cb5-491519901e8e?utm_source=chatgpt.com

There will also be an opportunity to ask Dr Morvwen your questions during the live Q&A at each webinar.

Have you discovered our quiz yet?

Our webinars are just one part of Monkey Puzzle’s new Understanding Your Child campaign, created to give families free access to expert advice and practical support throughout the early years. You can take our Understanding Your Child Quiz to receive personalised insights and activities, explore expert articles from Dr Morvwen and access practical resources to try together at home. Take the Understanding Your Child Quiz & explore the campaign

We hope you find the resources useful and would love to see lots of our families join us for the first webinar this Thursday!

14/08/2026

Today, we set up a water play area inspired by the famous artist David Hockney. We transformed the swimming pool art into a representation of Tower Bridge for our toddlers in the garden. Tower Bridge is an iconic landmark in London. In this hot weather, our children enjoyed splashing around in the cold water. They played with a toy London bus and had fun with the paper boats we made for them. When the Tower Bridge model broke, the children used their fine motor skills to reconstruct it, carefully placing the tyres one on top of the other. They engaged with the vehicles, placing toy figures inside the bus, and excitedly declared that they were going to London.

12/08/2026

What a special day celebrating our wonderful graduates! We are so proud of how much you have grown, learned and achieved during your time with us.
We wish you all the happiness and success as you take your next big step into school.

Keep shining, little stars!🌟🎓