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mumofone
04-09-2015, 06:21 AM
I think some people may have asked similar questions but I have a mindee that I pick up from pre school at midday. We then have 3 hours max before we need to go and get my after schooler. At pre school my mindee already has singinging time, story time and playing plus an adult ked activity like baking or something and some outside play. When they come to me we have lunch which takes us to 1pm so then we have 1.5-2 hours realistically together and I'm unsure what I can really provide during this time or what's expected of me?

bunyip
04-09-2015, 07:57 AM
I've had very similar as I was doing 'after pre-school' care until very recently. As with after-school care, much will depend on how much energy they have left.

There's no harm in repeating or doing similar things to what they've done at preschool. Children who like painting, singing, etc. will seldom object to doing them twice, three or even 20 times in a day. (I have a sudden flashback to Thames TV's Rainbow, which ran the entire programme content twice in a 20 minute slot: :) I digress.)

Anyway, given the attention span, 2 hours gives time for a dozen different activities: at least it would if you can keep up with them better than I ever can. :p

One thing you can do every day is to talk about and review what they did at preschool. Do it over lunch if you like. This is a good social and communication activity and helps 'fix' their preschool learning. It can lead naturally into what you then do after lunch. Frinstance, when my mindees came home from preschool and said they'd been learning to cross the 'road' (as chalked out in the preschool yard) we toddled off and practised it for real using zebra and pelican crossings - and the lollipop man when school came out.

The child will be benefitting from the combination of your'home' setting and the preschool's slightly more 'formal' setting. Plan activities to make the most of that. Do some things that preschool can't do so easily: library, shops, play-park, nature walk, helping around the house - according to what's practicable given your location and available time.

Liaise and communicate with the preschool key worker. This ticks a big 'partnership working' box for Ofsted, but is mainly a matter of maximising the benefit to the child. You should be able to achieve a balance between activities which contrast with the preschool experience and those which compliment the preschool experience IYSWIM. If preschool plan to a weekly theme, ask for the list of themes for the term or at least a week ahead. You needn't stick rigidly to their theme, but it can help you think up ideas to fit in, or even as simple a thing as choosing suitable storybooks from the library.