Twinkle Toes Day Nursery

🚔💙 PEOPLE WHO HELP US! 💙🚔

What an exciting visit we had from our local police officer! 👮‍♀️✨

As part of our People Who Help Us topic, the children had the opportunity to learn all about the important role police officers play in our community and how they help to keep us safe. 🛡️👮‍♀️

The children loved exploring the police car 🚓, discovering some of the equipment police officers use, having the opportunity to try on parts of the police uniform 👮‍♀️, and listening to engaging stories 📚.

🌟 What did we learn?
🗣️ Developing communication and listening skills
👀 Building curiosity and encouraging children to ask questions
🚓 Learning about police officers and their role in our community
🛡️ Developing an understanding of safety and how people help us
💪 Building confidence through real-life experiences
📚 Developing vocabulary through stories, discussions and new experiences
❤️ Understanding that there are trusted adults in our community who are there to help us

These real-life experiences provide such valuable opportunities for children to explore, investigate, communicate and make connections with the world around them. 🌍✨

A huge thank you to our wonderful police visitors for taking the time to come and spend time with us! 👮‍♀️💙🚓

🚔✨

🚒🔥 People Who Help Us – West Midlands Fire Service! 🔥🚒

What an exciting visit we had from the West Midlands Fire Service! 👩‍🚒👨‍🚒

As part of our People Who Help Us topic, the children had the fantastic opportunity to meet some real-life firefighters and learn all about the important work they do in our community. ❤️

The children explored the fire engine 🚒, discovered some of the equipment firefighters use and even had a go at shooting the hose! 💦

Our visitors also shared some really valuable fire safety information, helping the children to understand how we can all stay safe, as well as answering lots of questions about their jobs and what happens when they are called out to help people.

It was a brilliant hands-on learning experience, bringing our People Who Help Us topic to life! 🌟

A huge thank you to West Midlands Fire Service for taking the time to visit us and make learning so exciting! ❤️🚒

🎉 WE CAN FINALLY SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS! 🎉

We are absolutely delighted to share some very special news with you all! 🌟

As many of you will know, on 18th June we welcomed Ofsted to Twinkle Toes for our inspection. We are incredibly proud to say that the day went so well, and it was a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase our setting, our ethos, and, most importantly, the passion and dedication we have for supporting every child to learn, develop and grow at their own individual pace. 💕🌱

We are now thrilled to share our Ofsted report with you! 📖✨

The report truly highlights the hard work, commitment and care that goes into everything we do at Twinkle Toes. Most importantly, it reflects the incredible team we have behind us — each and every member of our staff plays such an important part in making Twinkle Toes the special place that it is. 🥰👏

But we also want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to every parent and carer who took the time to speak with our Ofsted inspector during the inspection. 💗

We are genuinely overwhelmed by your kind words, wonderful comments and the support you showed for our setting and our team. 🥹❤️ Hearing how much you value the care, support and experiences we provide for your children means more to us than we can put into words.

Your feedback is a true reflection of the amazing partnership we have with our families, and we feel incredibly lucky to have such a supportive Twinkle Toes community around us. 🌈🤝

We couldn’t be prouder of our wonderful team and the nurturing, welcoming environment we provide for our children and families every single day. ❤️

Please take a moment to read our Ofsted report for yourselves and see just how amazing our Twinkle Toes team truly is! 🌟

📄 Read our Ofsted report here:

https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/16/EY487918

A heartfelt THANK YOU to our incredible staff, our wonderful children, and every single one of our amazing families. You all make Twinkle Toes what it is. 💖

What an achievement — and what a team! 🥳🌟

🟣 Pom-Pom Sorting Fun! 🟣

Learning through play is one of the best ways to build important early skills! 💜✨

Our little learners explored a colourful pom-pom sorting activity, using tweezers and cups to sort by colour while strengthening their developing muscles and problem-solving skills. 🌈
This simple activity supports:
🖐️ Fine motor skills
💪 Hand strength and pincer grip
👀 Hand-eye coordination
🧠 Sorting and categorising
🎯 Focus and concentration
💬 Language development as children talk about colours, sizes and patterns
🤝 Turn-taking and sharing resources
The children loved using the tweezers to carefully pick up each pom-pom, making learning both fun and meaningful! 💜

What looks like play is actually helping build the foundations for future skills such as writing, independence and mathematical thinking. 🌱

💜✨

🌿🦁 Small World Play: Big Learning Adventures! 🌊🐘

Our preschool children have been exploring an exciting safari and ocean-themed small world play experience, where imagination and learning go hand in hand! 💚

Small world play is so much more than just playing with toys—it provides endless opportunities for children to develop across all three Prime Areas of the EYFS. 🧸✨

💬 Communication & Language – Children created their own stories, used new vocabulary, described different animals and habitats, and worked together to share ideas and solve problems.

❤️ Personal, Social & Emotional Development – Through cooperative play, children practised taking turns, sharing resources, negotiating roles, and developing confidence as they explored together.

🤸 Physical Development – Picking up, moving and positioning the small world animals and natural resources strengthened fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and finger control, all of which are essential foundations for early writing.

🌊 Sensory exploration continues to play an important role, even for our 3–4-year-olds. Exploring different textures such as sand, rice, shells, foam and natural materials encourages curiosity, supports language development, enhances problem-solving skills, and helps children make sense of the world through hands-on experiences. Sensory play also promotes focus, creativity and independent thinking. 🌿🐚

At our setting, we love creating invitations to play that spark children's imaginations while supporting their learning through meaningful, child-led experiences. Every adventure, whether on land or under the sea, helps prepare children with the skills and confidence they need for their next stage of learning. 🌍💙

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🌱✨ Growing, Learning & Getting Ready for School! ✨🌱

Our Preschool children have been exploring the much-loved story of Jack and the Beanstalk, using the story as inspiration for a range of exciting activities that support their development as they prepare for their next big adventure—starting school! 📚💚

🌱 Growing Our Own Beans
The children loved getting hands-on by planting their very own bean seeds. As they filled their pots with compost and carefully planted their beans, we talked about what plants need to grow, including sunlight, water, soil and time. ☀️💧🌿
This activity helped develop their Understanding of the World, encouraging them to explore the natural environment and observe how living things grow and change over time. Over the coming weeks, they'll enjoy watching their beans sprout and grow—just like they are! 🌱💚

🔢 Maths Through Play
Our beanstalk number matching activity challenged the children to carefully count and match the correct number of beads to each numbered leaf. 🍃
This fun activity supported:
🔢 Number recognition
🧮 Counting with one-to-one correspondence
🍃 Matching quantities to numerals
💭 Problem-solving and mathematical thinking
By learning through play, the children are building strong early maths foundations while developing confidence with numbers.
🎨 Creative Development & Early Writing Skills
Inspired by the towering beanstalk, the children created their own beautiful paintings using long upward brush strokes, swirling vines and leafy details. 🌿🖌️
While these paintings encouraged creativity and self-expression, they also supported school readiness by developing the early skills needed for writing. Holding and controlling a paintbrush helps strengthen the muscles in children's hands and wrists, improves pencil grip, and encourages the left-to-right and top-to-bottom movements used when forming letters. These mark-making experiences are an important stepping stone towards confident writing. ✏️📖

💚 Just like Jack climbed the beanstalk towards new adventures, our Preschool children are continuing to grow in confidence, independence and curiosity every day. We are so proud of how far they have come and can't wait to watch them flourish as they take their next exciting step towards school! 🌱🎒✨

🌱💚

🟢🎲 Building Strong Hands, Strong Minds & Confident Mathematicians! 🎲🟢

Learning through play is at the heart of everything we do, and this simple playdough activity is packed with opportunities to develop essential skills for school and beyond.

Using a giant dice, the children rolled a number and carefully counted out the correct number of playdough balls to match. This fun, hands-on activity encouraged number recognition, counting with one-to-one correspondence and matching quantities to numerals, helping to build confidence in early mathematical concepts through play. 🔢✨

As the children rolled, pinched, squeezed and shaped the playdough, they were also developing their physical skills. These actions strengthen the small muscles in the hands and fingers, improve hand-eye coordination and develop the control needed for everyday tasks such as using scissors, fastening buttons and holding a pencil correctly. 💪✋

Playdough is one of the best resources for developing pre-writing skills. By manipulating the dough in different ways, children build the strength, dexterity and coordination needed for writing. These early experiences help children develop a secure pencil grip, improve hand control and prepare them for forming letters and writing with confidence when they start school. ✏️📚

At our nursery, we are passionate about giving children the very best start in their mathematical journey. That's why our staff are currently taking part in a Maths Champion course, developing new knowledge and strategies to support children's mathematical confidence and understanding from an early age. By embedding maths into everyday play and experiences, we are helping children become curious, capable and confident learners, ready for the transition to school. 🌟➕➖

Sometimes the simplest activities provide the richest learning opportunities. Through play, our children are building confidence, independence and the essential skills they'll carry with them into their next exciting chapter. 💚

🚦🚸 Road Safety, Communication & Learning Through Play 🚸🚦

We were delighted to welcome the Dudley Road Safety Team into our nursery to deliver an engaging and interactive road safety session for our children.

Through storytelling, role play and practical activities, the children learned how to cross the road safely and why it's important to stop, look, listen and think before crossing. Everyone had the opportunity to take turns being pedestrians, cars and even the lollipop person, making the experience memorable, exciting and meaningful. Learning through active play helps children build confidence while developing a real understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe.
To extend the children's learning, we also enjoyed a vehicle threading activity, inspired by our children's current interest in cars, emergency vehicles and transport. Threading the string onto the vehicles encouraged children to strengthen their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and concentration, while also supporting early mathematical development through sorting, categorising and discussing different types of vehicles.
Alongside this, our small world sensory play gave children the opportunity to explore vehicles in different environments, encouraging imaginative thinking, storytelling and problem-solving. Small world play is an important part of early childhood development, helping children to develop:
✨ Communication and language skills through conversations and storytelling.
✨ Social skills by sharing ideas, taking turns and playing cooperatively.
✨ Creativity and imagination as they create their own scenarios.
✨ Understanding of the world by making sense of everyday experiences.
✨ Fine motor skills through manipulating and moving small objects.

These activities also support our WellComm Communication Tracking, encouraging children to develop their vocabulary, listening skills, understanding and confidence when expressing themselves through play.

At our nursery, we believe that following children's interests creates the richest learning opportunities. By combining road safety, mathematical thinking, communication and imaginative play, we're helping our children develop the essential skills they need for everyday life—all while having lots of fun! 🚗🚓🚑🚶‍♀️💛

🌍♻️ Learning Through Play – Exploring Our World! ♻️🌍

Our 3–4-year-olds have been busy exploring how we can all help to look after our planet through a fun, hands-on recycling tuff tray activity! 💙💚

Using coloured sensory rice and recycling categories, the children sorted different materials while learning about where everyday items belong. This engaging activity encouraged lots of discussion, curiosity and problem-solving as they worked together to care for their miniature world. 🌎

Through this activity, the children developed:
🌱 Understanding of the World – Learning about recycling and caring for the environment.
🧩 Problem-Solving Skills – Sorting and matching items into the correct recycling categories.
🗣️ Communication & Language – Talking about different materials, asking questions and sharing ideas.
🤝 Personal, Social & Emotional Development – Taking turns, working together and building confidence.
✋ Fine Motor Skills – Scooping, picking up and placing items with care.
At our nursery, we believe that the best learning happens through play. By introducing environmental awareness from an early age, we're helping our little learners understand that even small actions can make a big difference. 🌍💚

What simple ways do you encourage recycling at home? We'd love to hear your ideas in the comments! ♻️💬

🎓💜 Class of 2026 – We Couldn't Be Prouder! 💜🎓

Today we celebrated a very special milestone as we said goodbye to our wonderful Class of 2026! 🎉✨
Watching each and every one of you grow, learn, laugh, and flourish has been such a privilege. We've loved being part of your learning journey, celebrating your achievements, and watching your unique personalities shine brighter every day. 🌱📚💕
Although it's hard to say goodbye, we know you're ready for your next exciting adventure. We have no doubt you'll continue to learn, grow, and achieve amazing things. 🌟
We will miss your smiling faces, your laughter, your curiosity, and all the wonderful memories we've made together. ❤️
From all of us, we wish you every success, happiness, and confidence as you begin your next chapter. Keep believing in yourselves, be kind, be brave, and never stop reaching for your dreams. 🌈🎓✨
Congratulations, Class of 2026! We're so proud of you all! 💜🎉

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