Watoto Parents & Families: Growing Happy, Healthy Children

Working Together to Support Your Child at Home

Children’s Welfare & Wellbeing

Watoto Preschools gentle tips for children’s screen time use

Young children learn best through play, talking, and exploring
Keep screen time short and choose calm, age-appropriate content
Watch or play together when possible and talk about what you see
Avoid screens at mealtimes and before sleep
Balance screens with outdoor play, books, singing, and social play
Adults are role models – children copy what they see
Screens should not replace comfort, cuddles, or communication

Curriculum and Teaching

Supporting Your Child’s Learning at Home

Children learn through play, talk, and everyday activities
Reading, singing, counting, and playing help your child growth in all areas of development
Praise effort, encourage independence, and listen to their ideas

Working with Your Child’s Key Person

Share what your child enjoys or is learning at home
Ask your child’s key person for simple ways to support learning at home
Working together helps your child feel confident and happy

Supporting your child’s Behaviour, Attitude and Routines

1. Use kind and simple words

Speak gently
Say “thank you” and “well done”
Tell your child what to do in simple words

2. Have regular routines

Do things like eating, playing, and sleeping at the same time every day
Let your child know if plans change

3. Show good behaviour

Be kind and patient
Praise your child when they behave well

4. Remind kindly

Say rules clearly and calmly
Use simple phrases like “Please walk” or “Quiet voice”

5. Give simple choices

Let your child choose between two things, like “Red or blue shirt?”

Helping Your Child Make Healthy Choices at Home

1. Offer healthy foods

Give your child fruit and vegetable
Choose water or milk instead of sugary drinks

2. Encourage regular meals and snacks

Have meals at the same time every day
Offer healthy snacks like fruit, veg, or yogurt

3. Be a good role model

Eat healthy foods yourself
Show your child that you enjoy being active

4. Get moving together

Play outside, walk, or dance with your child
Limit screen time and encourage active play

5. Teach simple hygiene habits

Remind your child to wash their hands before eating
Help them learn to brush their teeth

Working Together to Support Your Child at Pre-School

We believe eating well is very important for children’s health and all-round development. A healthy enjoyable snack and lunch give children that energy they need to play and learn. As a Pre-School it is our responsibility to support children in healthy eating. It is not only part of our policy but is also a statutory requirement that we need to maintain.

Watoto Pre-School is an accredited Sheffield Healthy Early Years setting, this award recognises our efforts in supporting our children’s health and wellbeing.

We prepare a nutritious breakfast which is free for children who attend the breakfast club, and we have light snacks available for a small charge throughout the day.

Pre-School lunches are purchased from Byron Wood Academy who have a large kitchen on site, please see the rotating menu below.

Any Dietary requirements will be catered for, we are happy to discuss individual needs on entry.

IF YOUR CHILD HAS AN ALLERGY TO ANY FOOD, WE MUST BE INFORMED

Spring 26 Menu

Healthy Snacks & Pack Lunches

We understand that providing a snack and or packed lunch can be difficult, therefore we have produced the leaflet below with lots of ideas and extra guidance on what to include, to ensure your children's snack and lunch bags are healthy, balanced and nutritious.

We would like to encourage parents to be more aware of the foods going into snack and lunch bags.

We discourage crisps, chocolate, cakes and squash and would prefer to see fruit, yoghurts, vegetables or healthy alternatives.

Healthy Eating Leaflet

Supporting Good Oral Health in Day-to-Day Practice

We provide all our children with nutritional and healthy snacks and lunch throughout the day, which limits sugary snacks. We also ensure that the children have access to fresh drinking water all day.

We provide children with milk between mealtimes, and encourage children to use open cups or free flow beakers from 6 months old, as prolonged bottle use can cause bottle tooth decay.

Each term we gift all children tooth paste and brushes supplied by NHS Sheffield.

Around the preschool, you will find oral health posters which helps us promote good oral hygiene habits to both the children within our care and our practitioners. We have also produced an information leaflet for parents, see link above.

As an Early Years provider, it is important to us that the activities the children engage in help to further extend their development in all areas of learning. Below we have outlined how our oral health related activities benefit our children across the areas of learning:
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
The children can build on their relationships by coming together to carry out activities. This could be during many activities such as dentist role play, sharing their experiences through circle time and other group activities. They will learn about feelings as they consider how visiting the dentist can make them feel. We carry out our oral health activities to help the children gain self-confidence when brushing their teeth or visiting the dentist.

Physical Development

Supervised tooth brushing sessions have been temporary put on hold due to COVID 19. The practitioners will help them to gain an understanding that oral health is an important part of their daily hygiene routine. We also teach the children about healthy and unhealthy foods and provide food activities that allow them to taste healthy options.

Communication and Language

We encourage the children to speak about their experiences when visiting the dentist, which is great for their listening skills, understanding skills and speaking skills. The children also enjoy asking each other questions and listening to what their friends have to say. Younger children will learn new words and be able to match the words to objects with context, for example, toothbrush and toothpaste.

Literacy

The children have the opportunity to enjoy occupational themed books that are both fiction and non-fiction. This gives the children the opportunity to gain an understanding of oral hygiene routines and some fun facts about teeth. They can also listen to stories about taking a trip to the dentist which will help them understand what to expect as well as put their mind at ease. Some of the older children will also practice their writing skills as we encourage mark making in role play.

Mathematics

In the over 3s room children enjoy using the set of large teeth to count how many teeth are in their mouths. This is quite a high number so they often need support with this, but it’s still a great way for them to gain an awareness of number names, which they will often repeat. The children also learn how much toothpaste they need to use on their brush. We encourage the children to use the 2-minute sand timer when role playing or brushing the large set of teeth.

Understanding the World

Children are encouraged to explore the role of both the dentist and the patient through their role play , which they always enjoy. We teach the children what a toothbrush is and what it is used for. The children can also use technology to watch videos about the dentist as well as enjoy some interactive stories. The children are encouraged to share their experiences of trips to the dentist, which will often involve them talking about the people who are close to them.

Expressive Art and Design

Children can role play dentist and patients which they always enjoy. This encourages them to play alongside each other and to use their imaginations. We teach children new songs, one of which is about how to brush your teeth. The children also engage in lots of mark making activities relating to oral health and healthy eating and will enjoy exploring different textures as they do!