Welcome to the Squirrels Room!

A very warm welcome awaits your little one to the Squirrels—our cosy and nurturing nursery space specially designed for children aged 2 to 3 years.
At this exciting stage of early development, your child will begin exploring the world around them through play, creativity, and gentle routines. In Squirrels, we focus on building strong relationships, encouraging independence, and supporting early language, social, and motor skills in a safe, stimulating environment.
Our caring and experienced team is here to help each child feel secure, happy, and ready to learn, at their own pace. From messy play and story time to songs and outdoor adventures, every day is full of fun and discovery!
We look forward to joining you on this special journey and creating a warm, welcoming start to your child’s nursery experience, or as a transition up from the Hedgehogs baby room.
How we learn through play in Squirrel's…
In Squirrels, we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, with a strong focus on the three prime areas of development: Communication and Language, Physical Development, and Personal, Social and Emotional Development. These areas are at the heart of everything we do, as they form the foundation for children's future learning, wellbeing, and success.
Physical development
  • Gross motor skills (e.g., running, jumping)
  • Fine motor skills (e.g., using utensils, writing)
  • Health and self-care (e.g., hygiene, nutrition)
We promote physical development in Squirrels by:
  • having our very own bespoke-designed outdoor area, which provides rich opportunities for physical development. It encourages children to explore, climb, balance, run, and engage in active play that supports both their gross and fine motor skills.
  • offering a range of materials like playdough, chunky crayons, and building blocks to strengthen fine motor skills,
  • encouraging activities that involve coordination and balance, such as obstacle courses, dancing, and ball games,
  • supporting self-care routines like handwashing, feeding, and toileting to promote independence and body awareness,
  • modelling and encouraging safe movement and spatial awareness during both indoor and outdoor play,
  • ensuring a safe, stimulating environment that allows children to take appropriate physical risks and build confidence in their movements.
Personal, Social and Emotional
  • Self-regulation and behavior
  • Building relationships
  • Developing self-confidence and self-awareness
We promote Personal, Social and Emotional Development in Squirrels by:
  • building warm, trusting relationships through consistent key person interactions, helping children feel safe and secure,
  • encouraging turn-taking and sharing during play to develop social skills and cooperation,
  • supporting children in naming and understanding their emotions using simple language and visual cues,
  • modelling positive behavior and gentle conflict resolution,
  • promoting independence in self-care tasks such as tidying up, choosing activities, and feeding themselves,
  • celebrating individual achievements to build self-confidence and a sense of belonging,
  • providing comfort and reassurance during moments of upset, helping children learn to self-regulate over time.
Communication and Language
  • Listening and attention
  • Understanding
  • Speaking
We promote communication and language in Squirrels by:
  • engaging in frequent face-to-face conversations with children during play and daily routines,
  • narrating what we and the children are doing to model rich vocabulary,
  • using songs, rhymes, and simple stories to build listening and speaking skills,
  • giving children time to respond in conversations and valuing all attempts at communication,
  • using visual aids, gestures, and sign language (if applicable) to support understanding,
  • encouraging turn-taking in conversations and group activities,
  • repeating and expanding on what children say to build sentence structure and vocabulary.
A day in Squirrel's looks like…
Routine
Settling in Children arrive and begin the day with free play, giving them time to settle in, explore the environment, and engage in activities at their own pace.
Song Time Once everyone is settled, we start the morning/afternoon by singing "Good Morning/ Good afternoon" to our friends and teachers, helping to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere and build a sense of community. Followed by some much loved nursery rhymes such as "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" and "Wind the bobbin up".
Free Flow Children have access to both the indoor and outdoor areas, freely exploring the environment at their own pace. Enhancements are carefully planned by our key person, based on the children’s individual interests, to promote their development, curiosity, and overall well-being.
Story Time
During story time, we come together and settle down for a story of interest, helping to develop a love of books, listening skills, and imagination.
Meal time
We offer a small, nutritious snack at 10:00am and again at 3:00pm to keep little bodies fueled and focused. Snacks vary daily and may include a selection of fresh fruit, crackers, breadsticks, cheese, yoghurts, toast, pancakes, or crumpets, providing a balanced and enjoyable experience for all children.
Lunch Children have the choice to bring a packed lunch from home or purchase a meal from the school canteen, where meals are freshly prepared by our very own school chef. This flexible approach ensures every child enjoys a nutritious and satisfying lunch.
Communication with home
We use Tapestry to keep you up to date with your child’s learning and development here in the Squirrels room at Woodland’s. Through Tapestry, we provide you with photographs and sometimes videos of the activities your child has participated in, offering you a window into their day-to-day experiences.
Additionally, we send out weekly newsletters to keep you informed about all the fun and learning your child has been involved in each week.
Things to Provide from Home
During rest time, we offer children a calm and cozy environment with a small mat if they wish to sleep. We kindly ask parents to provide a bottom bedsheet and a blanket for their child to help make rest time comfortable and personal.
Nappy Changing
We ask parents to supply their child’s own nappies, wipes and barrier cream. These can be given to a member of our team and will be stored safely within our spacious nappy changing area to ensure they are readily available when needed.
Everyday Bag Items We kindly ask that you provide your child with a labelled backpack containing plenty of spare clothes. We love to get creative and messy in the Squirrels room, so having extra clothes on hand helps keep your child comfortable throughout the day.
If your child is toilet training, please provide an adequate change of clothes in case of accidents. We are committed to working closely with you to support your child’s potty training journey in the best way possible.
Additionally, please provide a named water bottle filled with water to help keep your child hydrated throughout the day.
If you wish to know more about 'Squirrels', or want to call in for a chat, please contact us on 0151 329 3164 to arrange a visit.