Banana Moon Day Nursery

Technology plays an important part in our everyday lives. From having a smart speaker that can help with shopping lists to robot vacuums in our homes...there's tech for every eventuality!

This is no different for the childcare sphere, where embracing technology can enhance security, improve nursery-parent communication and can also be used in early years learning. But it can be a controversial topic, with some parents fearing that increased screen time will eclipse traditional learning tools and activities.

So, how can nurseries strike the perfect balance? We delve deeper into this topic in our latest whitepaper – download your free copy here: https://bit.ly/4ehWFWV

Join us as we venture behind the scenes at Banana Moon Bishop's Stortford... 👀

We're delighted with the progress of the nursery, which is coming soon to families in the South East.

Keep an eye on our social pages for more building updates 🙌

If you’ve thought about starting your own business, have any of these concerns crossed your mind?

At Banana Moon, we know that these are key things that will play on people’s minds. When an individual franchises with us, we want to ensure they’re running a successful business, with all the support they need ready and waiting!

Learn more about what franchising with us means here: https://bit.ly/4dpZWlH

Jack may say he’s getting in on the fun, but we really have Heatons to thank for these branded cupcakes they shared with us last week.

We promise it’s not a requirement to bring cake when you come to the Franchise Support Office…honestly! 😅

With our ‘Little hearts, bright futures’ initiative being such an important one to all of us here at Banana Moon, Claire was more than happy to take the reins from Emma in delivering the next lifesaving defibrillator to the network.

Here she is at Banana Moon Day Nursery in Harlow with Sian Burton and Helen Essery ❤

There’s nothing like a little competitive spirit now, is there…

Following Josh’s red velvet cake, Mark couldn’t help but get involved to be our star baker with his homemade blackberry and apple crumble – with apples from his garden and the blackberries picked with his own fair hands!

Hands up if you want a trip to the Franchise Support Office to try what our bakers keep whipping up 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️

In celebration of , we wanted to highlight our work in the community for each of our nurseries as part of our ‘Little hearts, bright futures’ initiative to provide lifesaving defibrillators to each of our locations.

We pride ourselves on providing a safe place for our children to grow and learn, and this is something we’re incredibly proud to support.

Could we have a new contender for Culinary Star of the Year at this year’s Midnight Moon Awards?

Look at this masterpiece that Josh brought into the office the other day – and it tasted even better than it looked!

Who will be giving Josh a run for his money for the title?… Let us know in the comments!

Last week, Emma headed to Banana Moon Day Nursery in Walsall to supply them with their lifesaving defibrillator ❤

We’re so proud of our ‘Little hearts, bright futures’ initiative and the safeguarding this provides for the little ones in each of our communities!

It’s been a very special week for us here at Banana Moon, as we've welcomed a new location to the family!

All will be revealed on Monday, but in the meantime, do you have any guesses as to where we might be?…

Many people dream about starting their own business, but when it comes to going it alone, these are some of the common fears that people have that will stop them in their tracks…

A way to ease these fears is to think about franchising, where you get support with all of these elements and have a support system for your business from an experienced team!

Take a look at our website to find out more about what franchising can mean for you: https://bit.ly/4dJBqNJ

With today being , we couldn’t help but share some photos of our two office mascots.

Do you think Nessie and Beau enjoy their days with us? Even if Moon isn’t always so keen…

Special delivery! 📦

Emma’s continuing her mission to deliver lifesaving defibrillators to each of our nurseries – this time, she’s at Banana Moon Day Nursery.

Our ‘Little hearts, bright futures’ initiative demonstrates our commitment to safeguarding the little ones in our care, as well as serving the wider communities we operate in.

As a franchise, knowing that we’re prepared to handle emergencies gives everyone extra peace of mind. Together, we’re creating the safest, happiest place for our children to learn and grow 🌱

Less than three weeks to go until the government funding kicks in for eligible 9-month-old children!

So why not help your local parents apply? We’ve put together some handy tips for them to get started…

We had a meeting on-site today at our new location in Bishop's Stortford to see the progress and measure up for our bespoke signage, which will be installed by the team at Warwick Signs.

Thanks Bruce Lovelock of The School Renovation Company for the hard work in helping the space to take shape – we can’t wait to see the finished product!

Thinking about going into franchising but aren't sure what the right avenue for you is?

Here’s some handy information to be aware of…

If you want to find out more, head over to our website today: https://bit.ly/3YtQD0j

What better way to start the month than decorating the desk of Debbie Redfern, one of our Early Years Support Officers?

When she’s not busy tending to her garden, she’s partial to watching a Wolverhampton Wanderers FC match!

But although Wolves may be her choice on the pitch, any guesses to what her favourite animal is…?

The countdown is officially on until 1 September, when the funding begins for eligible 9-month-old children!

Not only do we want to ensure that children across the country have the best early years education, but we want to ensure that parents are able to access funding to support them!

Here’s some key information you need to know – or find out more here: https://bit.ly/3kXBoYE

A variety of activities in the Full moon's room. 😀

Preschool is all about energy and curiosity, which is perfect because preschool is all about learning through movement and play!

So much fun in the baby room! 😃

Our babies have been exploring sand using different kitchen toys. We encourage them to touch and feel the sand using their hands as well as starting to explore the different toys.

Sand play promotes many areas of children’s learning such as the physical development. It can help strengthen their large muscles as children use these muscles to pour and scoop the sand. 😀

Teenies show a keen interest in water play! They have been learning about the different animals and where they live!

This activities are liked to the areas of learning by promoting hand-eye coordination, enhancing concentration and focus, developing motor skills and sensory exploration and also building social and communication skills while they interact with each other.

Identifying and recognizing different shapes!

We encouraged our children to match the magnetics on the correct piece of paper and talked about the names of each shape and their different colours.

This activity is linked to Mathematics! The learning intention was to encourage children to develop sorting and classifying, or categorizing skills.

⭐️Sorting and classifying is a skill that requires children to put objects into categories ased on their similarities or differences!

Pre scholers joined us for a storytime in the Mini Moon's room! It was fun and the children really enjoyed to spend some time together.

Storytime has many benefits for children other than promoting early literacy and language development. It can help develop their concentration, social skills, communication skills, and encourages their imagination and creativity!

Does your children enjoy having a storytime with you too? 😍

Exploring real leaves while using the scissors to cut them in small pieces. We will use them for a collage later!

This activity links to their Physical development where we encouraged them to practice their cutting stills. Cutting activities help develop fine motor skills, in particular the muscle strength and dexterity of the child.

Did you know that in addition to fine motor skills, cutting activities can also help develop bilateral coordination and visual motor integration? This involves using both side of the child’s body, one hand to hold the leaf while the other holds the scissors!

Teenie Moons have been exploring the colours of spring through a variety of activities. Teenie Moons really enjoy messy play where they can all get a bit messy. 😀😀 They have been learning the colours through painting, sticking, stamping, exploring textures...
This type of activities are liked to areas of learning such as Communication and Language, Expressive Arts and Design and Physical Development.

Did you know that messy play is really important for young children? It encourages them to learn and develop skills including gross and fine motor skills, co-ordination and concentration! It allows children to explore, discover, negotiate, take risks, create meaning and solve problems.

Mini Moons have been interested in exploring wet textures and mixing things. During this activity we encouraged our children to touch and feel the foam with their hands or using a wooden stick. They showed interest in using their own hands to mix the texture and then make some marks on a piece of paper. After their art work has dried, we all sat down to touch it again and feel the difference. It was dry and fluffy!

How do you feel about touching different textures? Our children really like it!

Even during rainy days, our children have the opportunity to explore outdoors in our lovely garden. We have a covered space and a closed shed where they can play without getting wet.

While playing in the garden we focus in practicing the children's physical development by encouraging them to join in activities that promote good balance, physical confidence and muscle strength. We believe this will support them to understand how important it is to have a healthy life style by adding exercise into our routines!

Have you done any exercise today? 😄

Mini Moons have been learning about shapes! Following their interest of playing with little magnetics, we then set up this activity to extend their learning. This challenging activity links to few areas of learning such as Mathematics, Literacy and Communication and Language!

What do you think about our strategy of using some of our children's favourite toys to extend their learning in different areas? They absolutely love it!

Imaginative play using wooden blocks to build houses for our little animals!

Baby moons have been learning about colours.
We collected few boxes to make this activity more fun. Each child had a box to decorate, having also the choice of painting the paper instead. They enjoyed using the brush or their own hands to make those colourful marks!

Our most recent tuff trays in the Mini moon's room! Our toddlers have been showing interest in sensory play where they can explore using their hands to feel different textures.

Following our children's interest of getting their hands messy we are now exploring muddy animals!
Learning their names and the sounds they make! Our children had lots of fun using the little animals to make some marks on their paper. We observed the different marks each animal can make while walking on mud!

Having fun and enjoying the warm weather in our garden!!!