Buttons and Bows Nursery

Are you having battles with your child cleaning their 🦷?

Jo our FSP has created a borrow bag to help make tooth brushing fun 😃 Pop into the hub and see Jo if you would like to borrow this. If you can make it fun it’s half the battle 😃

You can start brushing your baby's teeth as soon as they start to come through. Use a baby toothbrush with a tiny smear of fluoride toothpaste.

There are three main themes in good dental health:

Keep sugary and acidic food and drinks to mealtimes
Brush teeth at least twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste
Visit the dentist regularly

There are lots of toothbrushing songs & videos to help your child with their 2 minute brushing , click on one of the links below👇

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oStaJTHgHMU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X4Udn7lbuY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4wDITXrvrc

Introducing your baby to free-flow cups from 6 months can help avoid tooth decay. Stop using baby bottles from the age of 1 year.

At nursery we strongly encourage the use of open cups at snack time & lunch. The children enjoy being independent with pouring their own water or milk 🥛

Visit Start for Life for more tips and advice. https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/how-to-take-care-of-your-baby-or-toddlers-teeth/

📔World Book Day📘

Thursday 6th March is world book day 📚 We are going to have book themed activities throughout the day in all rooms.

We champion the fun of books and stories, because it seriously improves lives. Reading for fun is the single biggest indicator that a child will grow up to enjoy a happier and more successful life😃

But here’s the challenge, it’s at an all-time low, with only 1 in 3 children now saying they enjoy reading. We believe children are more likely to read if they enjoy it, so we’re on a mission to encourage them to explore more books as an entertaining, social and fun thing to do. We want more children to grow up with a life-long, life-changing habit of reading for fun, and all the benefits this brings.

Children will be very welcome to bring in their favourite stories form home and we can read with them.

We will have a book swap box in the hallway for not only childrens books but adult books too 😁 So please bring in any unwanted books and swap for new ones.

Children are welcome to dress up as a book character if they would like but for us the importance of world book day is to promote reading and grow the love of reading at a young age which will be our aim not only on world book day but everyday📓

Please visit GET Free Books Ipswich in the town for all genres of books 🤩including children's. The nursery also has a small library in the Hub, so please catch Jo if the Hub isn't open.

Happy Reading 😉

Today the toddlers and preschoolers learnt how to make felt art with Heather🤗

The purpose of this activity was to learn a whole art process from start to finish but also to focus on our fine motor skills.

In the children had to use a pincer grip to pull out small pieces of wool onto their mat and create their design. They then sprayed it with water and soap solution. After this they rolled up their mat and their design and applied pressure through rolling and squeezing. The fabrics then fused together to create a design.

Several of the children were able to then repeat the whole process independently and share with their friends the next steps.

The children made some incredible designs either experimenting with colour or setting out to make a specific pattern such a “ rainbow” or a “tree”. When these are dry, we hope to use them for an art installation near the entrance 👌🏻

It started with a sprout😊

During a Jake & Tizzy activity the week before, the children used a feely bag to feel food that was hard and soft. One of the items inside was a sprout. Some of the children had never seen a sprout or even tasted one, so Jo said she would go shopping and bring a sprout stalk in for the children to explore and even taste 😄

Jo brought in the sprout stalk Friday for the children to explore and continue their learning from the week before. Jo explained how the sprout stalk was grown from a tiny seed and let the children see the seeds. The children were keen to use their fine motor skills twisting and pulling the sprouts off the stalks and peeling some of the leaves off, ready to be cooked alongside some potatoes 🥔. Once the vegetables had cooked the children used their muscles to mash the potatoes ready to serve up with the sprouts, with a splash of gravy. The sprouts were a hit and the children said they actually tasted nice 😁 and they even went back for seconds 🤗

To continue the learning process, the children went on to plant some sprout seeds in the Hub and will be able to watch them grow before planting out in the allotment in the spring🌱

📣Free event in May but book now to avoid disappointment at 😃🐑

🌟 The Big Day Out is BACK! 🌟

Missed out on tickets for our Spring Family Farm Day? No worries! You can now grab your tickets for the Big Day Out 2025! 🎪

📅 Saturday 10th May | 10:00am - 4:00pm
📍 Suffolk Rural Campus

Bring your family and friends for a fun-filled, free day out packed with exciting activities, farmyard fun, and plenty to explore! 🚜🐑

🎟️ Tickets available now! https://www.suffolk.ac.uk/events

Don’t miss out - book today!

Looking for a day out the whole family will love 🐷

Check out Hollow Trees Farm February Half Term for a fun packed Farm Trail adventure bursting with extra fun activities - All are included in your ticket price at no extra cost!

📖Farm Tales Story Time – Sit back and enjoy enchanting stories in Harvey’s Barn (no booking needed!).
🤩Cresta Run Sledges – Zoom down the hill!
⚽Football Golf – Challenge your family to a game and show off your skills!
🐐Goats in the Kidding Barn – Meet our soon-to-be mama goats (and maybe some adorable newborns too!).

🎟️ Tickets: https://bit.ly/3XjjFxA
Pre-book online for just £6.50 (ages 3+).
Walk-in tickets are £7 (subject to availability).
Under 2s go FREE!

🕒 Farm Trail Hours:
Trail opens at 10:00 am
Last entry at 2:00 pm
Closes at 4:00 pm

Buy Farm Trail Admission Tickets online - Hollow Trees Farm View Farm Trail Admission from Hollow Trees Farm.

📚Books books & more books 📚

There can be few things as powerful as regularly reading to a young child. It has astonishing benefits for children: comfort and reassurance, confidence and security, relaxation, happiness and fun. Giving a child time and full attention when reading them a story tells them they matter. It builds self-esteem, vocabulary, feeds imagination and even improves their sleeping patterns. Sad fact, fewer than half of 0–2-year-olds are read to every day or nearly every day by their parents.

Let’s get reading as part of our daily routine, to ensure reading with children is an enjoyable and productive experience, in a quiet and relaxed environment that works best, with few distractions😄

Looking for a new book not only for your child but you, head over to GET Free Books Ipswich and pick up some fun reads for over half term 😄

Don’t forget we have 3 book areas within the nursery😃 So if you have some books at home your child is getting bored of, bring those in and swap out for something new 📕

Let’s keep the love of reading alive for children 😌📖

We need your help! 😊

We have had so many donations this week, that we are struggling to fit them on the shelves and are in danger of disappearing behind the pile! 😂

We'd love it if you could come and visit us next week with your children/friends/family/colleagues and choose some books to make more room to put these away 🙏🏼

We are hoping to be open for a few extra hours during the week as it's half term - hours to be confirmed over the weekend.

See you soon! 😊

Free Baby groups for 0-15 months 👶

There are four locations to choose from, please take a look below 👇 All run by Let's Talk Reading 📚

Half Term Fun 🤩

Chantry Library has some fun and creative activities running next week 😃Please see below 👇

🌈We have lots going on at Chantry Library over Half Term Week!🌈

We also have a Woodland Creature scavenger hunt throughout the Library all week long in honour of our Forest of Stories Reading initiative! You can also still pick up a Forest of Stories starter pack!

🌈These are as well as our usual services and groups!🌈

🌟 Date for the diary

Just a reminder that next week is half term. This means there will be no care for term time only families, but open to all year round and stretched funded families. If you have any queries please speak to member of the team they will be happy to help 🙂

📚Book Library 📚

You may have noticed our book swap basket located in the lobby where you can bring a book from home and swap it for something different📕. Not to leave our parents out but we also have a small selection of adult fiction and non fiction books for you to borrow or swap, we have more books in the Hub so if the door is open please help yourself to a book or two 📚

Jo our FSP also has some books on weaning, growing your own vegetables, recipes for babies and toddlers, family cookbook on a budget, lunch box ideas for loan too 🤗

We know that reading daily to young children, starting in infancy, can help with language acquisition, communication skills, social skills, and literacy skills. This is because reading to your children in the earliest months stimulates the part of the brain that allows them to understand the meaning of language and helps build key language, literacy and social skills.

We have popped a nice rocking chair in the lobby so you can share a story together while you wait 👀📚

Happy reading 😁

We would like to wish a huge congratulations to Kelsey on completing her Level 2 qualification in childcare. Kelsey has worked extremley hard over the last year studying while gaining her experience with us and one of our sister nurseries. Kelsey has become a strong part of the toddler room team and has great bonds with the children. Kelsey has gained so much knowledge and is a great support to the children and staff 👏🌟💐 Well done Kelsey 🤩

This week, our Preschool children have been having the best time out in our allotment making the most of the fine weather🍂🪴The children have learnt about the life cycle of a flower bulb and learnt some new words along the way. We noticed some of our bulbs had some root growth and shoot emergence🪴

The children enjoyed exploring the natural environment by digging in the compost and exploring the feel of the bulbs with their hands. Jo taught the children and demonstrated how to plant them, which the children were extremely interested by. Look out for our newly planted bulbs 👀

It’s a joy to watch the curiosity in the children’s faces while they connect with the natural world 🪴

Preparing food safely🫛🍎

Reduce the risk of choking

For babies and young children, food can be a choking hazard, especially when they do not chew their food well.

Choking can happen with any foods, but firm foods, bones and small round foods can be more risky.

When preparing food for your child, remember to follow these steps:

*introduce solid foods from around 6 months
*think about the size, shape and texture of food – cut it into narrow batons, and avoid round shapes and firm foods
*use a highchair – make sure babies and young children are alert and seated safely upright in a highchair while eating
*always supervise babies and young children while they're eating
*role model chewing and swallowing – encourage babies and children to chew and swallow food properly, and not to rush eating

Small fruits🍇

Cut small round fruits like grapes, cherries, berries, strawberries and cherry tomatoes into quarters (4 small pieces).

Pips or stones in fruit🍑🍒

Always remove hard pips or stones from fruit.

Large fruits and firm fruits 🍉🍍

Cut fruit like melon and apples into slices instead of small chunks. For very young children – try grating, mashing, steaming or simmering firm fruits.

Cheese🧀
Either grate cheese or cut it into short, narrow strips.

Raisins and other dried fruits

Do not give whole raisins or dried fruits to babies under the age of 1. Always cut them into small pieces.

Foods to avoid
Do not give babies or young children the following foods.

Snacks and sweets
Babies and young children should not have:

popcorn
jelly cubes
marshmallows
boiled sweets (or any hard, gooey or sticky sweets, including cough sweets)
peanut butter by itself
chewing gum
ice cubes
These are all choking hazards.

Sugary snacks can also cause tooth decay and should be avoided. You don't need to add sugar to your baby's food either.

This information was taken from the NHS website but for further information on choking, please follow the link below
https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/weaning/safe-weaning/choking-and-gagging-on-food/

Thank you to All our parents who attended last nights parents evening 😁 It was a great opportunity for you to meet your child’s key person and find out how they are progressing with their learning & development. If you missed it for any reason , please speak to your child’s key person so they can arrange to meet with you.

If you need any support for your child around behaviour, potty training, weaning, healthy eating & fussy eating or dummies, please pop along and catch Jo G our FSP in the Hub. Jo has some school ready, potty training & new baby borrow bags to loan out😊

Allotment Tidy 🍁🍂

This afternoon some of the preschool children got on their gardening gloves & got stuck into clearing all the leaves in the allotment. The children worked really hard demonstrating great gross motor skills with sweeping, shovelling & using those muscles to tip the leaves into the brown bin. The children said they were on a mission, the Clean up mission💪🏼. Being in the allotment sparked lots of “ why” questions. “Why do we need to clear the leaves up?” Was the biggest question. We explained to the children that the seedlings we plant out in spring, won’t be able to push through all those leaves to grow.

We are looking forward to spring when all our planting will begin 🌱🫛🪴

✨WE ARE HIRING!

Here are the roles we have available –
✨Early Years Educator
✨Deputy Manager - teaching and learning focussed

To view our vacancies, take a look at Indeed 😀

Please share our post ➡️