Setting up for Stay & Play
A weekly meet up/stay and play offers an invaluable way to begin to build on your relationships and continue to meet new people while exploring, testing and demonstrating ideas for the nursery you want to build together. It is a great no pressure way for families come and see what the project is all about without the initial worry of a commitment.
Questions to consider:
When will you operate? We researched local activities and spoke to parents. It quickly emerged that there were days and times when there were no activities on offer for local families and a regular stay and play session was developed. We spoke to local parents and mapped out when things were going on so that we weren’t competing with other sessions. We checked in with people to discuss if a morning or afternoon slot worked best for people and tried to be realistic about our own capacity to deliver high quality sessions. Parents told us it was useful to run the sessions on the same day and time each week to make it easier for them to build us in to their regular schedule and to coming along.
How will you structure your sessions? We ran morning sessions, opening from 9.30 to 12. The start time was to help parents come along straight after dropping off children at school. Parents who arrived early helped to set up. We generally structured the sessions with open play activities and some structured play between 10 and 11.30, followed by a tidy-up (where everyone helped) and snack time. After snack time we had a circle time with songs and/ or stories followed by a last tidy up as people left around 12. We found having some structured activities was useful for people attending for the first time or for parents who didn’t know anyone at the sessions.
What equipment needs to be in place to run sessions? We started with a fairly empty space, aiming to use the stay and play sessions as an opportunity to develop parents ideas about what equipment the setting needed. Some parents questioned whether the space was too empty, but open ended resources like old fabric, tubes, etc enabled the children to begin to develop their own play and started useful conversations with parents. Over time we accepted donations, such as jigsaws, books with diverse characters and play blocks but tried to keep these in line with the play ethos that was developing at the nursery (so avoiding gendered items, too much noisy plastic, etc)
What policies and insurance needs to be in place to run sessions? We purchased insurance and useful guidance from the early years alliance that supported us to develop plans for our sessions. They also included clear risk assessments and policies to support us to run high quality sessions safely. We needed to ensure the space was fire safe and that everyone signed in with a register. We also asked parents to complete photo permission forms before taking any photos at sessions. https://www.eyalliance.org.uk/how-start-baby-and-toddler-group
Who will the sessions be for? Initially we expected the sessions to be for local parents but we quickly realised that they were also useful for local childminders. The childminders were also able to bring in their skills and experiences - such as play guitar at our circle time sessions. And they shared the message about the nursery with the families they worked with. You may find that there are local childminders keen to use your space to run their own sessions, to support childminder networks, or to reach more families. We kept the sessions free so that there wasn’t a financial barrier to parents attending and we actively leafleted in the local community which led to some parents coming who had never come to a stay and play session before.
What role will parents play in sessions? Initially we led on setting up and delivering the stay and play sessions. However as quickly as possible we invited parents to play a more active role. In some cases this was helping to set up the equipment, some parents took on the role of welcoming new people and explaining about the nursery, others led on preparing snack time and ensuring everyone took part in tidying up. We also welcomed parents to lead some or all of the circle time activities, using this as an opportunity to benefit from the different music, rhymes and language that parents could share. Inviting people to take on roles and lead activities and valuing all contributions whatever the size is an important part of this process.
How will the stay and play sessions link to the development of the nursery? We had materials up around the stay and play to explain our plans for reopening as a nursery. We ensured there were parents able to talk about the plans at each stay and play session so that new people attending could find out. We also had leaflets and flyers available to give to people. We took a register at every session and asked people if we could keep updating them as our plans developed. This helped us to grow a database of local parents. We also asked all parents who came to the sessions to join a Whatsapp group. This was mostly run by parents who shared lots of useful local information. The group also gave the opportunity to provide information about what was happening at the nursery and share photos from the sessions. We encouraged the parents who attended to pass on information to other parents they knew and to add them to the Whatsapp group.
Summary
Stay and play sessions can be an important element in enabling you to link up with local families and open your space to the local community. There are safety and capacity issues you need to consider before starting sessions. You will need to include some budget too. When running sessions it’s important to make sure they link in to the wider conversation about reopening the nursery as much as possible, even if the people attending the sessions won’t all be signing up to use the nursery.
Questions to consider:
When will you operate? We researched local activities and spoke to parents. It quickly emerged that there were days and times when there were no activities on offer for local families and a regular stay and play session was developed. We spoke to local parents and mapped out when things were going on so that we weren’t competing with other sessions. We checked in with people to discuss if a morning or afternoon slot worked best for people and tried to be realistic about our own capacity to deliver high quality sessions. Parents told us it was useful to run the sessions on the same day and time each week to make it easier for them to build us in to their regular schedule and to coming along.
How will you structure your sessions? We ran morning sessions, opening from 9.30 to 12. The start time was to help parents come along straight after dropping off children at school. Parents who arrived early helped to set up. We generally structured the sessions with open play activities and some structured play between 10 and 11.30, followed by a tidy-up (where everyone helped) and snack time. After snack time we had a circle time with songs and/ or stories followed by a last tidy up as people left around 12. We found having some structured activities was useful for people attending for the first time or for parents who didn’t know anyone at the sessions.
What equipment needs to be in place to run sessions? We started with a fairly empty space, aiming to use the stay and play sessions as an opportunity to develop parents ideas about what equipment the setting needed. Some parents questioned whether the space was too empty, but open ended resources like old fabric, tubes, etc enabled the children to begin to develop their own play and started useful conversations with parents. Over time we accepted donations, such as jigsaws, books with diverse characters and play blocks but tried to keep these in line with the play ethos that was developing at the nursery (so avoiding gendered items, too much noisy plastic, etc)
What policies and insurance needs to be in place to run sessions? We purchased insurance and useful guidance from the early years alliance that supported us to develop plans for our sessions. They also included clear risk assessments and policies to support us to run high quality sessions safely. We needed to ensure the space was fire safe and that everyone signed in with a register. We also asked parents to complete photo permission forms before taking any photos at sessions. https://www.eyalliance.org.uk/how-start-baby-and-toddler-group
Who will the sessions be for? Initially we expected the sessions to be for local parents but we quickly realised that they were also useful for local childminders. The childminders were also able to bring in their skills and experiences - such as play guitar at our circle time sessions. And they shared the message about the nursery with the families they worked with. You may find that there are local childminders keen to use your space to run their own sessions, to support childminder networks, or to reach more families. We kept the sessions free so that there wasn’t a financial barrier to parents attending and we actively leafleted in the local community which led to some parents coming who had never come to a stay and play session before.
What role will parents play in sessions? Initially we led on setting up and delivering the stay and play sessions. However as quickly as possible we invited parents to play a more active role. In some cases this was helping to set up the equipment, some parents took on the role of welcoming new people and explaining about the nursery, others led on preparing snack time and ensuring everyone took part in tidying up. We also welcomed parents to lead some or all of the circle time activities, using this as an opportunity to benefit from the different music, rhymes and language that parents could share. Inviting people to take on roles and lead activities and valuing all contributions whatever the size is an important part of this process.
How will the stay and play sessions link to the development of the nursery? We had materials up around the stay and play to explain our plans for reopening as a nursery. We ensured there were parents able to talk about the plans at each stay and play session so that new people attending could find out. We also had leaflets and flyers available to give to people. We took a register at every session and asked people if we could keep updating them as our plans developed. This helped us to grow a database of local parents. We also asked all parents who came to the sessions to join a Whatsapp group. This was mostly run by parents who shared lots of useful local information. The group also gave the opportunity to provide information about what was happening at the nursery and share photos from the sessions. We encouraged the parents who attended to pass on information to other parents they knew and to add them to the Whatsapp group.
Summary
Stay and play sessions can be an important element in enabling you to link up with local families and open your space to the local community. There are safety and capacity issues you need to consider before starting sessions. You will need to include some budget too. When running sessions it’s important to make sure they link in to the wider conversation about reopening the nursery as much as possible, even if the people attending the sessions won’t all be signing up to use the nursery.
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