Leading Montessori Infant Care in Balmoral
A typical day in the life of our Nido children
Our Nido, or ‘nest’ (in Italian) is the perfect nurturing environment for children aged 2-17 months. In these formative years, their mind is like a sponge, soaking up huge amounts of information from their environment. This is when children develop their sense of self and their sense of their place in the world.
Our Teachers follow flexible routines that are created to allow your child to feel confident and safe while learning and having fun every day! These routines ensure a consistent and high-quality Montessori education that supports your child’s learning, development, and identity.
So what does a day in the life look like for our Nido children?
As parents and children arrive at our House on the Hill – Balmoral School, our Teachers welcome them and help with each child’s transition into the day. As you wave goodbye to your child, their Teacher will take them to the room to put their bag in the cubby hole with your child’s name on it. A nutritious snack is served at 8:30 am to kickstart the day to give them lots of energy!
The morning is a time to explore new ideas together
After a snack, the children participate in group sharing sessions and creative development. Group sessions add to children’s sense of belonging and typically feature a thematic topic (examples of Thematic topics include: sensory play, all about me and feelings). Children are then invited to explore a range of engaging, interest-based activities designed to build each child’s development. These activities are carefully planned by our experienced Teachers and often include creative arts, music and movement, and storytelling. After this session, the children move on to the next activity.
- For our children aged 2 to 12 months
It’s tummy and gym time. Supervised tummy time is important because it helps to: Strengthen your baby’s neck, shoulder, and arm muscles so your baby can start to sit up, crawl, and eventually walk on their own. This will help improve your baby’s ability to move and control their muscles to complete various actions (sometimes called “motor skills”). We also make sure our children spend time in the outdoors exploration time too.
- For our children 13 to 17 months
It’s movement, games, and outdoor exploration to develop their motor skills. This is an exciting time for our children and provides an opportunity to explore, discover and appreciate the natural world, as well as be active, strengthen fine and gross motor movement skills, test physical limits and get messy. Time spent in the outdoors is an important part of the daily program for all our children, including infants.
The mid-morning, where everything is possible
It’s time for their routine care with bottle feeding, creating a calm and relaxing environment for feeding. The Teachers will spend some time cuddling and bonding with your child after feeding. Next, it’s time to change your child’s diapers to freshen up your little one. While doing this, the Teachers will talk to your child and sing songs to keep them entertained during the diaper change.
The rest of our morning is spent learning and exploring together!
The Teachers begin the children’s Mandarin lesson where they talk to the children in Mandarin to build a solid foundation in their listening skills. We strive to instil a love of the language in each child by making it fun! Our teachers approach lessons with a sense of adventure, using animation, and lots of body movement to keep students engaged.
Next, the children engage in Montessori activities which include:
- Practical life activities are at the core of the Montessori philosophy. They introduce children to the concept of education as an aid and a preparation for life and assist them in developing a sense of order, concentration, independence, and coordination. Examples of practical life activities include transferring, pouring, opening and closing bottle caps activities.
- Working with the Montessori learning materials such as the object, permanence box, imbucare box, ball tracker.
In the middle of the day, time for lunch and a well-needed rest
Respectful mealtimes are an important part of our day. Our bespoke menu plan was developed by a world-renowned nutritionist and is freshly cooked and nutritionally balanced. We often share a family-style meal where our Teachers take the opportunity to connect with the children and share thoughts and ideas. This is also an opportunity for older children to practice self-help skills. Children are encouraged to feed themselves with the assistance of our Teachers.
Following lunch, the children have the chance to rest. After a stimulating and busy morning, rest time is an important opportunity to rest physically and unwind emotionally. For the older children rest occurs in the middle of the day, for younger children rest time varies depending on their needs.
For children enrolled in the half-day session, the Teachers will get them ready for collection.
The afternoon is an opportunity to learn and connect
When children wake up from their sleep or finish their rest, some exciting new activities will be waiting for them. The afternoon is a time to transition back into learning and play.
Teachers will set up new educational activities that will often follow on from what has been taught that morning, to create continuity of learning.
We have some time to share afternoon tea before your child participates in group-sharing sessions and creative development. We have another group session where the children review the thematic topics learnt in the morning session and explore a range of engaging, interest-based activities including creative arts, music and movement, and storytelling.
The next activity is outdoor playtime which is child-driven play in the outdoor playground and mud kitchen. Child-driven play is when your child will have the freedom of choice to choose the outdoor materials that they like to play with. Child-driven playtime helps improve your child’s well-being, development, and motor skills development.
In the late afternoon, we make the most of our time
As the day draws to an end the children enjoy a late snack before participating in free play experiences. Free play is an important part of the day, and children spend time connecting with Teachers. Free play helps children build a range of skills and is a vital tool for achieving holistic development. Our Teachers encourage free play and ensure the children can freely engage in their own self-driven play.
At House on the Hill, we curate the very best for your child with a purposeful learning experience. To read more about our Nido programme at House on the Hill – Balmoral School, click here.
