Category: The Treehouse Club

The results are in…The Treehouse Club is incredibly proud to announce that we have won the Best Out of School Hours Childcare/Club award in the Essex Mums Awards 2022.

We pride ourselves on providing first class care for children aged 5-11 years at our before and after school programmes and holiday clubs, giving those children a fun-packed, forest-school based adventure.

Our before and after school club at Norsey Woods, Billericay is unique to any other setting. The before school club commences with breakfast, and provides children with the opportunity to socialise with their friends or join in with one of the morning activities before being safely escorted to school.

Our after school club starts with our club children being safely escorted from school by The Treehouse Club professional staff by minibus, car or walking bus before getting stuck in to a variety of fun activities.

Whilst our holiday clubs provide children with an action-packed adventure throughout the school holidays at either our Norsey Woods, Billericay setting or Thriftwood Scout Camp, Brentwood setting.

Activities Include:

• Team building, sports & outdoor activities
• Forestry activities & uncovering wildlife
• Arts & Crafts
• Wide range of activities
• Healthy Homemade Meals
• Meet new friends
• Ideal for Busy Parents
• Strong links to local schools
• Conveniently located to train stations & transport links
• Open all year round with holiday clubs during term times

We’ve already covered you with a checklist for primary school readiness, but when it comes to the link between what your pre-schoolers are doing in their classrooms, and the learning potential there is to continue that process at home, we’ve got a few ideas up our sleeves. We know here at The Treehouse Club that parents play a critical role in supporting little one’s learning journeys, and that trajectory should begin from a young as age as possible. By sharing your own enthusiasm for diverse learning opportunities and encouraging an early learning environment at home, this can have a hugely positive outcome for your children. To help with that Early Years learning progress at home we’ve come up with tips to help…

Make Sure Your Child Has All They Will need

From a sun hat to colouring pencils, a water bottle to a book bag, make sure your child has what they need every day before they head off to pre-school (and primary school when the time comes). By paying plenty of attention to these details you are showing your child how important their education is, and having the things they need will help reduce their anxiety and give them peace of mind when it comes to the class schedule each day.

Ask Your Child How Their Day Was, And Discuss It With Them

You sent them off fully prepared for their day, but when they get home make sure you spend time talking with them about their day. Ask about their friends, their teachers, and what they did that day.
By validating their day you are showing them that their accomplishments (and their disappointments) matter to you.

Help Them Become More Independent

Work on basic but essential self-help skills at home including:

• Self-feeding  
• Independent dressing (including buttons, zips, etc)  
• Hygiene and toileting 
• Helping with daily chores such as picking up toys and setting the table.

Implement Visual Timetables And Routines At Home

Understanding the passage of time can be tricky for some children, so visual timetables that your child can interact with a great way to build positive routines into a little one’s daily life. Routines can help children feel safe, develop life skills and build healthy habits for all round success.

Get Busy With Learning Through Play Activities At Home

Try learning games, basic phonic programmes, pre-school science experiments (making slime, etc) and make plenty of noise turning saucepans into musical instruments! There are so many fun activities you can try at home to enrich those sponge-like minds with positive learning experiences. Mud pies, counting clouds, mixing paint colours, building dens in the forest: it all counts!

Now You’re All Set…

Of course there are no hard and fast rules to how to help your curious little learners at home, but we hope these tips help with ideas to point you in the right direction. If you are also keen to enrol your little one into a pre-school that has a successful school readiness programme as well as a nature based, child-led curriculum then do get in touch with our Admissions Team to find out more about The Treehouse Club.

Here at The Treehouse Club we love implementing our learning through discovery ethos with a sensory-packed Tuff Tray activity! If you too are looking to add this child-led activity to your adventures at home, then this is just the blog for you.

When Is My Child Ready For Tuff Tray Play?

Typically, the best time to begin your Tuff Tray activities are when your child is around two years old. This is the perfect stage of development whereby they can use their gross and fine motor skills well enough to see, touch and engage with their Tuff Tray investigations. At this age children are also able to more effectively listen, learn and adapt which means they will get the most out of collaborative Tuff Tray play. It is also worth noting that between the age of around two and through to primary school age, imaginations really begin to soar. Imagination is very important when it comes to Tuff Trays!

What Are The Benefits Of Tuff Tray Play?

• Teamwork and collaborative play are important for group work and classroom or preschool settings, and Tuff Tray play encourages excellent sharing and social skills.
• Both listening and language skills are boosted thanks to the need not just to listen to instructions, but in children using their language skills to explain what they are doing and how they are doing it to their friends, teachers and parents.
• Creative expression is definitely a huge part of Tuff Tray play and all that sensory, tactile fun will really fire up imaginations and creativity.
• Spontaneity is another skill learned via Tuff Tray play as with this activity anything goes!
• Tuff Tray play also provides endless opportunities for learning through play activities. No matter what kind of themes you use in your trays, there’s aways scope for teaching children words and facts relating to what they’re doing. Whether you create a land of dinosaurs or an ocean, a building site or a forest, children will pick up lots of knowledge and language skills along the way.

Our Favourite Ideas For Tuff Tray Play Set-ups

With the benefit of having the forest literally on our doorstep, we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to natural materials we use for this child-led learning opportunity, including:

• Mud – Sometimes slimy, sometimes dry, always fun!
• Leaves – Sometimes crispy, sometimes soft, natural and enriching.
• Twigs – Not sticky, but definitely textured and unique every time.
• Sand – Firm when pressed quickly, soft and yielding when gently pressed.
• Water – Cool and wet to the touch, it glides fast and hugs your fingers.
• Hay – Coarse yet flexible. Wonderful smells of autumn!

We also love incorporating sensory materials such as:

• Foam – Feel for it and it’s almost not there!
• Bubbles – Always fun, requires the gentlest touch not to burst.
• Pasta – Crunchy and rough, but quickly softened by water
• Rice – Similar to sand but more easier to manage.
• Paint – Gloopy, colourful, messy, the best!

Give Your Child The Gift Of Outdoor Inspired Play

Get In Touch Today

Keen to know more about how our nursery and pre-school schedules include learning through discovery, STEM-focused activities daily? With our EYFS curriculum and hands-on approach to teaching children to be engaged, keen, curious, life-long learners we would love to invite you to come and see for yourselves how successful our programmes are.

We have settings dotted around the Essex countryside in Billericay, Wickford, Brentwood and Ingrave and we are always happy to answer any questions you may have about The Treehouse Club.

Get in touch today with our Admissions Team to find out more and to arrange to come and visit us!

It feels like it happens so quickly, in the blink of an eye your child has gone from being a tiny new-born to having started their first day of pre-school! Where did the time go? And then, again, it will not be long until primary school soon begins to loom on the horizon.

This move, from a smaller pre-school to a larger Primary School, can prove to be a worrisome and anxious time for some children, but it can be much less so if they are suitably prepared, with many even looking forward to the new challenge and experiences it will bring.

School Readiness Through EYFS Learning In Natural Settings

Here at The Treehouse Club, preparing a child for these big changes in their lives is an integral part of our teaching ethos. Our focus on a nature-enhanced EYFS intuitive learning curriculum is proven to build confidence and social ability through discovery & play, achieved via a wide range of outdoor activities and lessons delivered in beautiful and stimulating surroundings.

So, how exactly do we define school readiness? Here’s what we look for in our club members in order to know that we’ve done our jobs in preparing them for their big September adventure.

10 Checks For A Child Being Prepared For Primary School

1. The Child is comfortable being separated from their parent or main carer.
2. Can recite their name, age and other key factors pertaining to their lives such as family members, pets, etc.
3. Can coherently vocalise needs such as thirst, hunger, feeling poorly, and needing the toilet.
4. Are able to follow age-appropriate instructions via verbal direction,.
5. Shows an interest in a variety of subjects, and be able to pay attention appropriately when it comes to the activity they are taking part in
6. Can express their needs, feelings, thoughts and ideas using vocabulary and language.
7. They should be able to interact with other children and adults in an age-appropriate way. This includes being able to share, play, take responsibility for their actions and to understand the consequences of them.
8. Are able to observe and discuss their environment and experiences They should also be able to explore their own ideas and be able to discuss their learning.
9. They should be able to understand and act within boundaries set by friends and adults.
10. Are able to understand how to keep themselves safe and healthy in their typical day to day environment

Additional Considerations For Primary School Readiness

The above are the 10 most important things that every Treehouse Club member is able to do when they leave our pre-school. But never ones to accept just ‘ready’ we ensure our children are prepared to excel. As such, here are some additional things we feel are vital in making them more than ready for the Primary School transition.

Physical Skills:

• Children should be able to lead active and fulfilling lives and so should be able to dress themselves correctly for the occasion / activity.
• Quite importantly, they should be able to eat and drink as independently as possible, then later when needed visit to the toilet and go independently.
• As well as these, we can’t forget the fun stuff! Physical skills for play are also very important and including typical activities such as riding a trike, using interactive toys, climbing small obstacles, casual running, and being able to kick a ball in a co-ordinated manner.

Fine Motor Skills

• Age-appropriate fine motor skills such as turning the pages of a book, undoing a bottle top, or using a pencil and sharpener
• Basic art skills such as colouring and drawing as well as being able to cut with scissors. These as well as being able to paste and glue are all integral to being ready for big school classrooms.

Social skills:

• Obviously, every child is unique and comes with their own set of social, emotional and behavioural needs all of which need to be considered when it comes to school readiness.
• This is something that should always be discussed between parents, carers and your nursery or pre-school settings so that a plan can be put into place. We are proud to be a fully inclusive pre-school, and we have dedicated staff who can advise and support when it comes to worries you may have regarding your child’s unique school readiness challenges

When Is The Right Time To Enrol Your Child In Pre-School? How Long Do They Need To Be Prepared For Primary School?

A successful learning journey starts with a love of learning which is why it is crucial to enrol your children into a nursery or pre-school ideally by the age of two to three years. Children enter a critical stage of brain development at this time which allows them to learn more rapidly than at any other time in their life, so the earlier the better.

How Can I Enquire About Enrolling My Child At The Treehouse Club?

If you want to know more about how a more natural learning environment can help your child’s development and prepare them for Primary School, then reach out to us today.

We are here to answer any questions you may have about the enrolment and intake process and we look forward to telling you about how The Treehouse Club will be a great option for giving your child a fantastic start in life.

Call now on: 01277 656 921

Email today at: adventure@thetreehouseclub.co.uk

Message on Social : facebook.com/TreehouseForestryClub