Little Green Rascals Minster Yard

Our story began in a railway station — with one simple idea: create a place where people feel at home.
That idea still guides us today.

The Old Station Nursery | Once Upon a Time We grow good humans — little and big — and the communities they hel...

Stepping outside and extending your child’s learning is full of benefits 💚
It’s often closer than you think- in your garden or out in your street, a park nearby or a walk in the fields on the outskirts of York…so much to see and talk about - building on your little ones language and knowledge of the world and environment around them.

The buildings around, the wildlife, the flowers, trees and grass. The smells, textures and colours. The people. The bricks, the cobbles and pavements. The hills, the big open spaces and the big blue sky (or with clouds!)

Wherever you have access too, it’s out there and so much learning is there in your reach 💚

Here are some of the things close to my home I thought I would share with you! What sort of things could you talk about?

We would love to see your adventures and things you and your little ones enjoy too, please feel free to share!

Benefits of Outdoor play
Little Green Rascals appreciates and understands the importance of outdoor play and learning, regardless of the kind of weather. Alongside our forest school at Minster Yard wherever possible we will spend as much time as we can outside! We are lucky that some of our rooms have free flow access to the outside spaces, giving our rascals the choice of where to play.

The benefits include:-

Emotional health and well being

Being outside can help to develop self esteem, confidence and independence. As well as building resilience and develop a sense of awareness of boundaries. Being outside in the open and exploring nature through gardening, digging or bug hunting enables children to new explore new activities.
It helps lift the mood, reduces fatigue and aids in generally feeling good.

😄 Health and fitness

When they play outdoors, children have fun and benefit from:
* running and chasing which can develop good physical fitness, agility and stamina
* jumping and running which can develop bone density, large muscle groups and stability
* climbing which can develop coordination, balance and strength
* time away from busy routines and time-tables
* freedom to shout, make noise and let off steam

Being outdoors is good for eye health too. Spending time outdoors reduces short-sightedness (myopia) in children and young people.

Future health and well being

Making time for outdoor play is really important for future health and well being. Being active reduces the chances of illnesses in later life such as risk of obesity, cancer and getting diabetes.

The NHS recommend that children should be active for a couple of hours a day. Doing this when they are younger instills future good habits.

☀️🌧️Some ideas for outside play 🏕️

- Home made obstacle course
- Hopscotch
- Chasing games
- Digging
- Climbing
- Dancing
- Playing football or catch with a large ball
- Crawling, wriggling and rolling underneath legs, tunnels, chairs etc
-splashing in puddles
- going for a big hunt
- going for a walk around your local area
So spend sometime this weekend enjoying outside time with your little ones!!

We’ve grown—and our look has too.
But the care, connection, and community you know? That’s exactly the same.
Come and discover our new chapter.

The Old Station Nursery Group | Our Journey --Who we are: The Old Station Nursery Group was established in 2...

Our special guests this week have been two of our school leavers from last year, who very kindly came in to spend some time with our preschool children 💚
It honestly was the cutest thing we have ever seen! They shared reading some of their school books, talked about their teachers and answered questions some of our preschool children had about starting school!

We are so lucky to have been able to share links with our school leavers from 2025 and give our rascals the insight into their next chapter!

A big thank you - you were amazing! 💚

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1J7TfiEDwv/?mibextid=wwXIfr

How can parents help their early years child develop the self-regulation skills they need to manage their emotions, thoughts and behaviours? Annette Rawstron...

During the hot week ahead why not try some cooling 💦 water play with your little ones?

We love nothing more than a tuff tray with a couple of cms of water as a base!

Then pick your activity choice-

Dinosaur swamp- You can add green paint and a bit of cornflour and you have a lovely dino swamp ready for you dinosaurs to explore 🦕 🦖

Baby baths - if you add bubble bath sponges and babies you can have a fun cooling activity which supports personal development and self care.

Potion Making - If you add a range of spoons and bottles and dishes, have different colours for water add some flowers and you have a potions making activity which supports physical development.

Adding ice cubes to the water will always give opportunities to develop language and exploration as the melt in the water tray.

Hope you have lots of fun!!

Parenting can be an amazing and wonderful experience and watching your little ones grow can be so rewarding. However it’s always fun and can be extremely challenging too. Behaviours in our children can tax and play on our last nerve.

So we thought we would share an article which we thought might be really helpful. It is from The BBC CBeebies website which as some helpful parenting tips, videos and advice and ideas for home learning. It’s really user friendly and looks at different ages, developmental advice and supports parents through many different things.

We looked at how to speak to children about behaviour as it is often something parents will ask us about at pick up and drop off times. We hope you find it helpful!

Should you need any further help or support then you can always talk to your rascals key person or the room leader we are always happy to help. As always thank you for your continued support!

Telling children off: How should we speak to children about their behaviour? We've all experienced tantrums as parents of toddlers, but what's the best way to speak to children about their behaviour and help them to learn about their feelings and emotions?

We thought we’d share this link to CBeebies website which is full of ideas, activities and positive information about all things parenting and child development! So much information to explore.

Telling children off: How should we speak to children about their behaviour? We've all experienced tantrums as parents of toddlers, but what's the best way to speak to children about their behaviour and help them to learn about their feelings and emotions?