Fozzie’s Room

Fozzie’s Room

When the children move upstairs, we are actively working towards preparing them for their inevitable move to school.  We know that starting school, and all other transitions are big steps for our children so aim to support them wholly.  Giving them more independence and control of their play, more opportunity to make choices and decisions around mealtimes and caring for their own personal care needs all contributes to our children moving onto each new room and finally school ‘their’ school ready.

Fozzies room is the first of our upstairs room and we understand as key workers in this room what a different environment to downstairs it is.  Children in Fozzies room are loved and cared for, the child’s experience is always central to our thinking.  We take time to introduce children slowly into the new way upstairs. It means children can make those special bonds using their key worker as a secure base to come back to when visiting the other rooms accessible to them. Children in Fozzies room are starting to enjoy the company of others and want to play with them.  It is important to us for the children to mix with different age groups and access a wide variety of provision, so, we help children to show their individual interests by allowing them to choose which room and activities they would like to play with, children’s learning is driven by their interests. We promote independence in daily routine by giving children the chance to dress/undress and toilet by themselves with key workers nearby for security. The children have access to activities that promote executive function skills and self-regulation.  We work pro-actively with the children as part of our everyday routine to encourage good choices.  We are good role models.  We consistently provide high-quality care.

Fozzies children are always encouraged to use their language when communicating with us, so they understand the power their words have. We introduce lots of new rhymes to children regularly giving them opportunity to learn new words and use them in play. We help children in Fozzies to be involved in stories by choosing the books they want, copying repeated phrases, and using props and puppets which again encourages communication but also their love of books and reading.  Children are given the opportunity to develop pretend play.  Communication and language are promoted to help children in Fozzies room to understand simple questions and instructions. We encourage early mathematical skills by providing opportunities to practise counting, exploring shapes, positional language and comparing in everyday activities and play.

Fozzies children are such keen explorers of the outdoors and take these opportunities to build on hand eye coordination and muscle strength. To promote this, we play ball games such as football and basketball which help with kicking, throwing, and catching skills. We challenge the children to tackle the climbing equipment independently and provide obstacle courses to challenge them further. To continue building muscles and fine motor skills for when the children are ready to write we provide lots of activities such as tweezers and small objects, tap ‘n’ shape and elastic band boards. When children leave Fozzies room they are confident to interact with children of all age groups, independently choose toys and activities which interest them and use language as a powerful means of communication.