Play, learn and grow
with Monkey Puzzle

Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery New Cross

3 days ago

🐛🍎 Our Hungry Caterpillar Adventure! 🍓🍃

What a wonderful week our little Discoverers have had exploring the much-loved story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar! 📚🐛

Throughout the week, our toddlers have enjoyed listening to the story and getting involved with the different parts of the adventure. They’ve been working hard to remember all the delicious foods the hungry caterpillar munched his way through — from apples and pears to strawberries, oranges and lots more! 🍎🍐🍓🍊

Our amazing Early Years Practitioners then took the learning one step further by creating a very hungry caterpillar of our very own! 🐛💚 The children were so excited to have the opportunity to feed their caterpillar themselves.

Sitting together in a lovely circle, the children took turns choosing a piece of food to feed to the caterpillar. It was fantastic to see them practising their turn-taking, sharing, listening and communication skills while having lots of fun at the same time! 👏🥰

There were lots of excited smiles, enthusiastic conversations and plenty of opportunities to revisit the story and recall what happened next. 📖✨

We love seeing our little Discoverers learn through play, imagination and hands-on experiences — and we think our hungry caterpillar certainly had a very tasty week! 🐛😋🍃

#EarlyYearsFun #LearningThroughPlay #HungryCaterpillar ... See MoreSee Less

Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery New Cross

4 days ago

✨🎙️ Our Key Person Boards have had a VERY exciting revamp! 🎙️✨

Two out of our three Key Person Boards have now had a makeover, and we couldn’t be more excited about our newest addition! 🥰🌈

Alongside our lovely photos of our smiling children and dedicated team members, we now have sound buttons featuring the voices of our very own children! 🎉

Some of our wonderful children have recorded themselves saying the names of their key adults, meaning that when we press each button, we can hear their little voices saying the names exactly as they pronounce them. 🗣️💕

We absolutely love this idea because it makes our Key Person Boards much more interactive, personal and child-led. It gives children the opportunity to see and hear themselves represented within their environment, helping them to feel that their voices, ideas and contributions are truly valued. ❤️

But there are lots of learning benefits too! 🌟

👂 Listening and attention: Children are encouraged to listen carefully to familiar voices and sounds.

🗣️ Communication and language: Recording and saying familiar names provides meaningful opportunities to practise speech, vocabulary and clear communication.

💪 Confidence and self-esteem: Hearing their own voices played back can give children a wonderful sense of pride and achievement.

🤝 Relationships and belonging: Key Person relationships are so important in the early years, and this interactive board helps children recognise and connect with the adults who are there to support them.

🌈 Child-led learning: Most importantly, the children themselves have helped to create something that is now part of their environment, giving them a real sense of ownership and belonging.

It’s such a simple addition, but it has already brought lots of smiles, giggles and excitement! 🥰🎶

And we’re not stopping there… 👀

🍼✨ We can’t wait to give our Babies’ Key Person Board a revamp next! We’re looking forward to making it just as interactive, meaningful and special for our youngest children. 💕🌟

#EarlyYears #CommunicationAndLanguage #ChildLedLearning ... See MoreSee Less

Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery New Cross

5 days ago

A huge THANK YOU to all the wonderful parents who joined us for our Breakfast To Go this morning! 🥐☕️💛

We hope you enjoyed your breakfast treats on the way to work as much as we enjoyed welcoming you into Monkey Puzzle New Cross and giving you a little insight into what our mornings look like here! 🌟

Our morning routines are such an important part of the children’s day. From warm welcomes and settling in, to breakfast, conversations, play, and exciting learning opportunities, these early moments help children feel safe, secure, confident and ready to learn. 🧸✨

Events like Breakfast To Go are also a lovely opportunity for our families and practitioners to connect. Building strong relationships between home and nursery helps us work together to support each child’s individual needs, interests and development. 💕 It also gives parents a chance to see a little glimpse of the fun, care and learning that happens here every morning!

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy morning to join us — your involvement means so much to us and, most importantly, to your little ones! We loved seeing so many happy faces and sharing a special part of our nursery routine with you. 🥰

We’re already looking forward to our next family event! 🎉

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Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery New Cross

6 days ago

🌈✨ Our Baby Room Calm Corner has had a magical makeover! ✨🌈

We are so excited to share our beautiful new Calm Corner with our little ones! 💛 We have created a warm, inviting and nurturing space where babies can pause, explore, regulate their emotions and enjoy some peaceful moments throughout their day.

Our refreshed space now includes:

🧸 New soft furnishings – creating a warm, comfortable environment where babies can feel safe and secure.

🌈 Colour Monster theme – helping us introduce and explore different emotions in a simple, age-appropriate and engaging way. The Colour Monster provides a lovely starting point for conversations about how we feel.

😊 Emotive toys – encouraging babies to recognise facial expressions, emotions and social cues while developing early communication and emotional understanding.

👣 Sensory mats – providing opportunities to explore different textures, colours and patterns, supporting sensory development, curiosity and early physical skills.

📚 Interactive story books – encouraging shared reading, listening, attention, communication and a love of books from an early age.

🪑 Cosy reading chairs – creating the perfect little space for quiet cuddles, one-to-one interactions and those special moments of sharing a story together. ❤️

A calm and thoughtfully designed environment can support emotional wellbeing, self-regulation, sensory exploration, communication and early relationships. For our babies, it is not simply a cosy corner—it is a space where they can feel secure, connect with their grown-ups, explore their emotions and learn at their own pace. 🌟

We absolutely love how our new Calm Corner has come together, and we can’t wait to see our little explorers enjoying every part of it! 🥰🌈📚

#BabyRoomMagic #EarlyYears #EmotionalWellbeing ... See MoreSee Less

Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery New Cross

7 days ago

🌊🐠 Under the Sea Day! 🐙🪼

Our Discoverers had a fin-tastic time diving into an ocean of exciting activities! 💙

From creating colourful fish and jellyfish 🐟🪼, to exploring our Rainbow Fish sensory tray 🌈🐠 and splashing around in the garden with lots of ocean animals, our toddlers have been busy discovering, exploring and having lots of fun!

It’s safe to say they’ve had a whale of a time! 🐳✨

#UnderTheSea #ToddlerAdventures #LearningThroughPlay ... See MoreSee Less

Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery New Cross

1 week ago

What an AMAZING adventure our Inventors had today! 🌟🚌🚆🐾

We headed off on an exciting day trip to Surrey Docks Farm, travelling by bus, train and bus again! 🚍🚆 Along the way, we stopped by the River Thames to enjoy the beautiful views and capture some lovely memories. 📸🌊

Once at the farm, we enjoyed our lunch before meeting the wonderful animals — goats, ducks, chickens, pigs, sheep and ponies! 🐐🦆🐔🐷🐑🐴

The highlight of the day was definitely feeding the goats and sheep! Our Inventors showed such gentle, caring hands as they fed the animals and watched them happily munch away. 🥰🐑

There was learning around every corner too! The children practised their counting skills by counting the trains we travelled on during our journey. 🚆🔢

What a fantastic day filled with adventure, animals, exploration, learning and LOTS of fun! 💚🌟 Our Inventors have made some truly wonderful memories! 🐾

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