Snack Time

[playgroup1]

We have two special helpers each day who help to get snack ready and ours is a self service snack. Its a good opportunity to pair up children who would not usually work together. Our two children with special needs are special helpers too and we use the time for counting, language and social development with them.

I'm interested in Finleysmaid post about how little staff supervision is needed. I'm always trying to get the member of staff in that room to step back but they always hover around "in case there's a spillage" etc. I shall be more insistent from tomorrow and their time could be better used with the other children in the room.

[finleysmaid]

if you are getting lots of spillage you need to ask why? is there too much liquid in the jugs or do children need to have more pouring practise? if this is the case for us we put out pouring activities so that they can have a go in an easier environment. (their favourite is when i put the tea cups and teapots out with water !) the children clear up their own mess if they make it!

[Mouseketeer]

3.5hrs later I'm back, turned into a furniture moving and repairs exercise but all set up....just left to inject some enthusiasm and hope for not to too much negativity :-/

[woodlands1997]

Sorry a little off topic but good luck with how it goes Mouseketeer! Just wondering if any of you require children to drink whilst with you? We do as have quite a few children who suffer from constipation and they would go all day (8-6) with out drinking if they had a choice! So when they have a snack or meal they have to drink a drink of whatever they choose/ parents want - adults drink with them too! We just wonder whether this is a little harsh sometimes but feel it's for their own good? If they are here all day will have a drink at breakfast, in the morning sometime, lunch, pm and tea! We did measure cups after reading an article in nursery world I think it was saying toddlers should have roughly 8 cups of around 140mls a day. Ours have five at a minimum of a similar amount ( depending on how full they fill their cup!!) and obviously more if they want. Can anyone share how you feel about this?x

[playgroup1]

Thanks Finleysmaid. I did buy some smaller jugs which should just get topped up with a small amount to make it easier for children. I don;t know that we do get many spillages - the last one was the member of staff moving the table without moving the water jug and sending it flying! Its more about staff letting go of 'doing snack', letting the children manage for themselves and them supporting others in the room.

[woodlands1997]

It's amazing how good they are at pouring we have clear ikea jugs with red lids and find them perfect!! Just don't fill them to the top!x

[sunnyday]

Sorry a little off topic but good luck with how it goes Mouseketeer! Just wondering if any of you require children to drink whilst with you? We do as have quite a few children who suffer from constipation and they would go all day (8-6) with out drinking if they had a choice! So when they have a snack or meal they have to drink a drink of whatever they choose/ parents want - adults drink with them too! We just wonder whether this is a little harsh sometimes but feel it's for their own good? If they are here all day will have a drink at breakfast, in the morning sometime, lunch, pm and tea! We did measure cups after reading an article in nursery world I think it was saying toddlers should have roughly 8 cups of around 140mls a day. Ours have five at a minimum of a similar amount ( depending on how full they fill their cup!!) and obviously more if they want. Can anyone share how you feel about this?x

Not 'harsh' at all - as a parent I would hope/expect that my child was being encouraged to drink - if you have a wee google you will (almost certainly) find lots of info re hydration/dehydration in children......

My sessions are only 9 -12 but I encourage children to drink - sometimes this might form part of their individual planning if they are 'reluctant' drinkers :1b

[sunnyday]

3.5hrs later I'm back, turned into a furniture moving and repairs exercise but all set up....just left to inject some enthusiasm and hope for not to too much negativity :-/

Good luck! :1b

[woodlands1997]

Thanks sunny day that's reassuring! We have always done this but had someone question it recently and it does make you doubt yourself and what you do! It's nice to know others agree :-)

[mps09]

We are thinking off changing oue snacktime. We currently have a set time at 10am all children have to come and sit at that time whatever they are doing and i kind of feel that it sometimes disturbs their play. and a few children refuse to come at all one member of staff makes it into a big issue that they have to come at that time.

 

I'm propsing that we change it to a cafe style area and open up! at say 10am until 10.30ish and they can choose when to come during that time.

 

Last night we had a huge move around in the setting, all the furniture and tables and now when its snack time they have had to start moving the water tray/sand tray out of the way to get a large enough table for every child to sit down... (this has not gone down well with the problem member of staff!)

 

I just wondered what everyone else did in their settings

We do a mixture of both sit down and cafe depending on children's needs and how we feel! When we do cafe style we lay a plastic tablecloth over the water tray and then use it for the table so don't have to move anything around.

[Mouseketeer]

I did buy some smaller jugs

I'd quite like smaller jugs too if i could afford them :blink:

.......but on a serious note how do the other staff not on snack duty get a drink ? does that person make them all one ? do the staff change around so all staff are supervising (ish) snack table at some point when its open ?

[playgroup1]

I got the smaller jugs on amazon not too expensive. Only need one each for water and milk as they get refilled from bigger jugs.

My staff work 3 and a half hour sessions. They do not get a coffee break. I did away with it after a few years of 'inheriting them' from the previous owner. I was not happy that we were organising the children around staff coffee breaks and they were not entitled any way with the hours they worked. Some of them used their break to chat to another member of staff who was supposed to be working with the children. That makes me seem really mean and I expect there was some moaning behind my back but hey ho!

[woodlands1997]

We have a drink, one person makes it and we have at snack time but we have snack altogether or in groups with different staff members so this makes it possible!

[starsdance]

We do a rolling snack but with a member of staff sitting at the table with a few children at a time as we were really criticised by the LA for doing a whole group sit down snack. She felt that some of the children were sat at the table for too long and after a few false starts we changed to rolling snack which works very well. We don't have a regular snack maker, it's whoever decides to do it that day (even me!), we make the snack and clear a table. The children wash hands and use their names from the self registration board to say they want to come. We only have room for 3 children at a time and even the smaller ones are adept at looking and recognising when there is room for them. We find it a nice opportunity for the staff member to sit down and talk to the children individually and as a small group. We only have 3 members of staff but it seems to work really well. Children clear cups and bowls at the end of snack and washing up is done at the end of the day.

We have those thermos mugs with closeable lids which enables us to have a hot drink whilst around the children. This way we all get a reasonably warm drink (they burn your mouth if you drink too soon but can keep drinks warm for about 45 minutes-ish). The children all know which mug belongs to which member of staff and will tell others to 'mind that drink, it belongs to starsdance'.

Osted were impressed with how it worked as we didn't make the children tidy anything up and would store things that they were creating so they could go back to them after.

[Mouseketeer]

Very pleased with how well it went for first attempt

[fimbo]

We have a breakfast bar for 20 mins in the morning- the children can help themselves to toast and a drink if they wish to ( we started this as we used to have a CP child , they were not getting fed properly at home , eating out of the bin ect - so we fed them as much as we could! ) the children really enjoyed their 'breakfast' so we kept it going.

We also do a more 'formal' snack- we all sit down together and eat, chat about our morning, etc. we also use this time to talk about healthy eating, we count out our pieces of fruit, we learn to recognise some numbers etc.

After snack we all go outside on the field / playground for the rest of the morning.