Hygge Case Study: Pack Away Setting
Task 1 - Hygge board
I have started with the Hygge board which displays the changes we have made within the nursery. On my display I have shown how we have adapted to new activities and changing our environment to give it that Hygge feel. This board has helped all staff understand the Hygge approach and given them inspiration for new activities and ideas for their rooms, for the children and for the staff. This starting point has had a positive impact on the children and staff within the setting, everyone has benefited from this as it has helped provide such a calm and nurturing environment for all within the setting. We have also had lovely comments off parents and carers on the appearance, the day to day running of the nursery, the calmness and the approach we use here at Mumbles Day Nursery. Each time we have made improvements, this is added to the Hygge board with pictures and a description for evidence. We also discuss the intent of our picture, how we have implemented this and what the impact of this has had. We will continue to use this board to display our positive changes.
Our Environment
- To begin with, I asked all staff to complete an environmental audit on their rooms and the different areas, taking into account the Leuven scales and how engaged the children are in these areas. This made a good focus point for our staff and helped them research their room effectively whilst personalising this to the children. Here is a copy of the audit document that was given to staff to complete.
Baby Room - Bumble Room
We are located in the centre of lovely village called Sandon on the outskirts of Stafford, we are also a pack away nursery meaning we do sometimes struggle to create an environment that is amazing for our children yet easy enough to pack away on certain nights of the week. Looking back at our environment before we had started the Hygge Accreditation it shows that our room were incredibly busy and often didn’t have a purpose. Our baby room has always been quite colourful and bright. We had a lot of things hanging off the ceiling, our walls were covered in work and pictures that the children had done. Reflecting on this as a group we have all agreed that this was a very busy atmosphere for our children.
In the picture below we had just had our new laminate flooring put in, as you can see from this picture, we have a lot of hanging things such as pictures, lanterns and paintings on the walls making it look very cluttered.
Our planning was not working effectively and we have since created a new way of doing this meaning we now have more time with the children, we are able to spend more time on their level which has really helped us get to know our children so much better. Instead of having weekly next steps to complete as well as planning constant activities to be out throughout the day we have agreed to try a new approach which is working very well. We have now decided to focus on 1 next step per month including 1 ‘wow moment’ and at least 1 piece of art work to go in their ‘learning journey’ folder. We have found this to be much more achievable and less pressure on us as practitioners and on our children to be constantly achieving within the EYFS framework at a pace that does not work for them. This is something that has been done throughout both of our settings.
We have focused on all areas of our rooms throughout the past year, researching and coming up with personal ideas that will work for our children.
Our Cosy Corner - this was such a busy area that was not a space where the children could go for a bit of quiet time, it was very bright with rugs and cushions that were not calming or even cosy. The ‘my Family’ pictures on the radiator have been taken down and made into a book which is more accessible for our smaller ones that aren’t able to sit up or crawl yet. We have also added ‘My Family’ pictures of the staff in our Baby Room for the book for the children to see their key workers. We find that the ‘My Family’ pictures provide comfort and a talking point for our children. We have removed the brightly coloured cushions and rugs and we now have a large grey rug which covers our Cosy Corner. We have added a range of neutral coloured cushions and a basket of knitted blankets which are on the children’s level and accessible for them to use. We have also added some calming yellow toned lights around this area including a tree branch with yellow toned fairy lights to provide a calming and interesting environment for our children. We have removed all hanging items and pictures from the ceiling and the walls and started with a blank canvas. We have found it better to keep our walls minimalistic bringing focus to the other areas of our room.
Our Role Play Area - we have added wooden items and loose parts in this area to allow the children to use their imagination, we also have everyday items such as ladles, spoons and jugs. We have also added pictures of the children helping at home in this area and also pictures of the children playing in the role play area at nursery. Adding some real plants to our Role Play area has created a homely vibe and the darker greens have added a bit of colour. We have also added an ‘image of the child’ display which is in the form of a hoop. On each child’s picture it has some personal words that relate to that child.
Exploration Area - This has been a great area to work on. Loose parts is something we have focused on for quite a while. We have great parent partnerships with our families so we have had a lot of donations over the last couple of years. We have boxes, baskets and shelving containing different loose parts items such as see-through coloured blocks, curtain hoops, mug stands, wooden log slices and many other natural items. These items are added to our activities to promote imaginative play and exploration.
2-3 Trundle Room
Our Trundle Room was also very busy with many things hanging from the walls and ceilings, we have made many changes to this area. Since going into lock down due to the pandemic, we have split the hall into two sections, this was split into pre-school and 2-3 year old’s. This has worked very well and given more of a structure to each age group, providing the groups with stimulating activities and areas to their given ages.
Cosy Area - the display has been edited to re create the children’s favourite book - ‘The Gruffalo'. The children love spending time in this new area with their cosy blankets, their reading books and comfy cushions. We have seen an increase in the well being and the involvement in all of our cosy areas throughout the nursery.
Art Wall - we have added some hessian hoops with the children's work hanging off this with pictures of them creating their art work, the children like looking at the art work they have created.
Role play area - We have added a home-made wooden bench to this area for the children to use, adding natural resources, real life items, plants, soft lighting and pictures of the children at home and at nursery playing in this area. Following on from the changes made, We have seen a great change in the children’s engagement during activities, their well - being throughout the day and the atmosphere within the room.
Pre-school Room
Our pre-school room lacked the ‘wow factor’. Over the past year we have found a passion in Hygge with our new Forest School leader and room leader, who joined us a year ago. Her forest school activities link in so well with the Hygge approach and they both incorporate nicely in the daily provision of the room.
Maths- We have incorporated maths into all areas of the room, for example, scales in the role play area, wooden log slices and bags to hang on the log slices to add value to the number of the log.
Role play area - we found this area very limiting as we could only allow a certain amount of children into the house at one time. Since removing this and adding tables and chairs, cook books, real life items, loose parts, plants and natural lighting to this area we have seen a great improvement in the engagement within this area.
Nature Table - linking in with Forest School sessions and the Wunderlust Programme - the children have enjoyed learning about their outdoor environment, focusing on their interests which is currently all about hedgehogs. The children collect items around our nursery grounds and they are also provided with explore bags which allows the children to collect items when out on walks and exploring the outdoors near their homes.
‘Look what we have made’ station - this has been made for the children to place their creations whether they are completed or not, with a label and description with what they have made. The children have the option of adding their own description for their work or they could use the tablet to take a picture which would then be printed to add to it - this is a great way of incorporate technology into the room. This is something the children are always really proud of when showing their friends and practitioners what they have done.
Overview
Our rooms are constantly changing and adapting to the needs and interests of our children, therefore we are always researching and keeping up to date with the EYFS curriculum to ensure that we are providing the best outcomes for the children within our care. The changes we have made so far have been very positive and this shows through observations - especially when linking this to our Leuven scales. We have taken into consideration the information we have learnt about enabling environments, tuning into the children and making it a ‘home away from home’ for them. The children in our care are confident, thriving and engaged throughout the days they are with us, this has had a positive impact on their development and the social interactions they get with us at Mumbles. We aren’t just here for our children, our parents are such an important part of Mumbles Day Nursery, this is why we plan for our parents too. We have regular parents evenings that we provide on a weekend to allow all our parents to attend. During lock down we have provided our families with zoom calls where they can speak with their key worker and also watch their child play. Monthly newsletters with pictures of what we have been up to, useful tips and upcoming dates are sent out and we also have a voting station outside which asks parents for their opinions on different weekly topics.
Within all of our rooms we have seen the children have a new found love for yoga and enjoying quiet activities that allow a little wind down time. We have found the suggestions on the Hygge Accreditation have been very beneficial to the staff and children. When completing sections of the Accreditation, I have been adding this to slide shows and our ‘discussion group’ for all staff. This has been great for educating the staff here at Mumbles about calmness and mindfulness. The key elements set out by the Hygge Accreditation have had a positive impact on all and it shows through the vision, the atmosphere, the daily running of the room and the positivity and attitudes of the staff, this also has such a positive impact on the children within our care and shows that when our staff are feeling happy and our room is calm, it ensures our children feel the same way.
- Here is a screen shot of the Hygge training I have provided staff with to ensure we all share the same vision. All key information that has been provided through the accreditation has been shared with staff through the power point presentation.
After observing the staff in each of their rooms, we discussed how we could allow the children to get the most out of their activities, training was given on how we can tune in, provoke imagination, spark curiosity and provide high quality, open ended interaction between the children and the staff. We have worked hard on creating enabling environments that promote this, thinking about the interests of the children and how we can push this further - children learn best when they are interested! We have found that this is so true! When doing observations we have been able to link the majority of the EYFS areas and many of their statements. We have also ensured that each area of learning is available in each room. Sustained shared thinking was a big part of observing each staff member. After discussing this in the Hygge training I provided, I have seen a positive change in this, the staff are promoting sustained shared thinking which has a great impact on the children. It has given the opportunity to ask, observe, share ideas without doing it for the children, we have seen a great rise in independence and this is something we will continue to promote. To ensure this continues we will be observing each other through activities and daily routines through peer observations.
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