Inspired by the 30×30 Dubai Fitness Challenge launched by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Ladybird Nursery innovates its Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum by adopting physical development activities that positively impact cognitive development and decrease anxiety in young children. The engaging fitness activities are proven to enhance focus, and improve sleep and energy levels in early learners.
Ladybird Nursery implements the Montessori approach to its EYFS curriculum, ensuring its young students are introduced to real-world learning outcomes from a young age, effectively invoking a structured routine for physical development for the curious young minds using ‘Practical Life’ exercises.
Supporting parents to create a structured routine at home, Ladybird Nursery shares appropriate daily exercise time and activities that are easy to implement. Parents are encouraged to keep their babies – between the age of six months to one year – active throughout the day, encouraging supervised floor-based activities with a baby gym mat and 30 minutes of tummy time. Children between the ages of one and four years are encouraged to spend approximately three hours exercising per day.
As the summer heat settles in, bathtub water-play or taking children to indoor swimming pools is a viable option. Dance is a great way to grab early learner attention and songs such as ‘Baby Shark’ or ‘Freeze’ will pique their interest. Invoking their inner Lionel Messi by kicking a ball or playing catch supports motor development.
Collaborative family-fun activities include online workout sessions or online yoga videos, which parents can participate in as well, such as the Joe Wicks workout or Cosmic Kids Yoga videos. Invoke your child’s inner builder or master chef through building blocks and Playdough for modelling and cooking at home – teaching them important life skills such as weighing, pouring and mixing.
Monica Valrani, Montessori Directress and CEO of Ladybird Nursery says, “Just 30 minutes of exercise daily has an immensely positive impact on children’s cognitive and motor skill development. The challenge arises in exciting early learners and creating the curiosity to live a healthy lifestyle. These values need to be instilled from a young age. At Ladybird Nursery, we have adopted a unique approach by tailoring children’s interest to collaborative play activities and structuring a healthy routine.”
The bespoke EYFS curriculum offers the ‘Kidz Fit’ programme that involves ball skills, aerobics, parachute games and hula-hoop activities. These fun physical events encourage and empower children to care for themselves and become independent self-carers.
The ball skills activities include a multitude of fun courses that stimulate children’s creativity and fine motor skills, including throwing and catching, bucket races, kicking balls to knock down pins, mini-golf, and more. Ladybird Nursery’s aerobics exercises have proven to offer children a better chance to grow up as healthy adults with less risk of chronic diseases. The early learners follow a healthy regimen of jumping jacks, squats, boxing in the air, run-around between cones, and the world-famous, ‘Simon Says’ (hop, jump, touch toes) game.
Parachute games develop the early learners’ collaborative skills and teach them the importance of teamwork and cooperation, while increasing their strength, agility, coordination and endurance at the same time. Hula-hoop activities reduce their anxiety levels by strengthening muscles and improving coordination skills, enabling children to reduce their stress levels through a fun musical game of jumping in and out of the hula-hoop.
In addition, Ladybird Nursery also offers a customised Splash Pad where children can move freely and explore water-play through physical and sensory experiences such as a planting garden, mud kitchen, sand play area and customised bicycle track for the little ones.
Its two Dubai based campuses – in Jumeirah and Jumeirah Village Triangle – provide a theme-based summer camp inspired by their early learners. The programme is customised to include arts and crafts, storytime, music and movement, languages, and various areas of play. The seasonal camps will also be available in the soon-to-open Ladybird Nursery in Al Barsha – set to open its doors to its first cohort of little learners for the start of the 2022-2023 academic year in August.
About Ladybird Nursery
Founded over 25 years ago, Ladybird Nursery has established itself as one of Dubai’s leading British nurseries for children aged between 6 months and four years, with an outstanding reputation for the high quality of its childcare and education.
Experienced and dedicated staff, complemented by a low student-to-teacher ratio, ensures youngsters enjoy a warm, friendly and nurturing environment in which they can play, learn, have fun and evolve during their early years.
Ladybird Nursery follows the UK’s Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum in a Montessori setting, to provide an enriching and well-balanced programme of activities covering learning areas such as personal, social, emotional and creative development, communication, language, literacy, problem-solving, reasoning and numeracy.
The purposefully designed classrooms are equipped with the latest educational equipment including Montessori materials, educational games, a vast selection of books and interactive digital smart boards. Additional facilities include spacious indoor and outdoor play areas over and above enhanced weekly activities such as singing, music and movement, Arabic, arts and crafts, water play, a customised fitness programme and a mini chefs cookery club.
Ladybird Nursery is located in Jumeirah 1 and Jumeirah Village Circle. Both locations operate in a ground floor only settings thereby ensuring greater safety for their children. The Jumeirah Village Circle location is purpose-built and holds a LEED Gold certification.
The EYFS curriculum-based nursery will open its newest campus from the 2022 – 2023 academic year, as the world’s largest LEED Gold Certified campus. Located in Al Barsha 3 and in close proximity of Saudi German Hospital, the 64,000 sq ft campus will open registrations for the new academic year in May 2022.
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a health advice. We would ask you to consult a qualified professional or medical expert to gain additional knowledge before you choose to consume any product or perform any exercise.
