April 2024 Events
1st April – 1st May: National Pet Month
This is a great opportunity to learn about pets with the children in your care and how to look after them. Think about changing your role play area into a vets and link in Sammy Skills, use his Pinterest page to link in some animal yoga poses or pretend to be the animals in your vet area. You could also link in Worlds Vet Day on 29th April. Check out our Sammy Skills Pinterest page here.
10th March – 9th April: Ramadan
Ramadan is observed by Muslims and is a month-long period of fasting, prayer, and spirituality. During Ramadan, followers fast/pray in a bid to cleanse their souls and strengthen their connection to God. Families come together to eat and pray during non-fasting hours. Traditional Asian food can sometimes be high in fat depending on how it is prepared and cooked. If you have families celebrating in your setting why not try Startwell’s healthier Balti recipe or any of our other healthy recipe ideas.
1st – 7th April: Community Garden Week
Community garden week is all about exploring outdoors and having a go at a range of gardening activities. It is a great time to get back into the garden and give it a tidy up and overhaul. Why not involve the children in cleaning, sweeping, and tidying the garden and setting up new areas for them to explore. This will keep the children active like Active Azra. It is also the perfect time to introduce a range of skills with Sammy Skills through from digging, weeding, and planting and remember to link in Fay 5 a day if your growing fruit or vegetables. Check out our website for gardening tips and information. Check out our Spring Pinterest Activities for more ideas.
2nd April: International Children’s Book Day
International Children’s Book Day is a day to promote and celebrate reading and books with children. The great thing is all you need to celebrate this day is a good book. Why not use this opportunity to read a story with a healthy wellbeing theme? Having a story book box that is filled with stories and props to act them out is a great way to get children interested and engaged with reading/books and using their imagination. Remember Active Azra likes us to undertake active stories as well as ones that we sit down for. Don’t forget to contact us if you want another copy of our “I’ve had enough” books and link in Micky Me Size. This year’s theme is ‘the small is big in a book’.
2nd April National Autism Awareness Day
Autism Awareness day raises awareness about autism and how it affects not only those who have it and their families but other people around them as well. This year’s theme for 2023 is colour. Action.org.uk states that “Autism is a condition which means a person’s brain works differently to other people’s and affects the way they experience the world around them. (Autism spectrum). Raising children’s awareness that we are all unique and “It’s good to be me” is a great theme. Why not use coloured scarfs and allow the children to dance and move in whatever way they want to a range of music and explore different people’s musical tastes/ favourite genres. Remember to link in Suzy Startwell and Active Azra.
7th April: World Health Day
This year the World Health Organisation (WHO) is shining a light on the ethos of Health for All and the theme is My Health, My Right. World Health Day is the starting point for many other health awareness days that you can support in your setting. This year’s theme was chosen to champion the right of everyone, everywhere to have access to health services, education, and information, as well as safe drinking water, clean air, good nutrition, quality housing, decent working and environmental conditions, and freedom from discrimination. This is an opportunity to promote all of Startwell’s key messages as research says that eating well and exercise are important for supporting health and wellbeing. For inspiration, please visit our Characters Pinterest boards
13th April: Vaisakhi
Vaisakhi is the Sikh harvest festival; it is one of the most significant holidays in the Sikh calendar. Vaisakhi is focussed on community spirit and practising spiritual and physical integration. Celebrations are usually held in the Gurdwara’s and on the streets, which are colourfully decorated with orange flags and banners and feature marches and processions. Why not hold your own Vaisakhi procession in the nursery where children can dance and move as they move through the procession. Remember to link in Active Azra or 180 Katie if the activity is making their hearts go boom.
16th April – 24th April: National Parks Week
National Parks Week is dedicated to raising public awareness of Britain’s national parks. Why not do a local map of parks in your area that parents and children can visit. Remember to link in Active Azra and encourage families to walk and keep their belly buttons on the move as they explore their local area. Remember to take some water and fruit to snack on with 2 snacks Max for the long walks.
22nd April:
Earth Day
Earth day is designed to raise awareness of changes to the environment. It is a great opportunity to focus on learning through the environment. Why not have natural resources play day or a learning outdoors day? This year’s theme is ‘Planet Vs Practice’ and aims to raise awareness of the importance of removing and reducing single use plastics in our environment. This is a great day for getting Active Azra involved and keeping those belly buttons on the move as you play, learn, and explore. Bob the Builder tells us to “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”.
22nd – 28th April: Allergy Awareness Week
The topic of Allergy Awareness Week 2024 is ‘Childhood Food Allergy, with a focus on the weaning journey for parents of babies with food allergies. If you need support with your weaning menu please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Startwell team.
All settings must be compliant with the EU and UK allergen laws. All nurseries need to make sure that they have a written menu for the food and drink they serve and a list of recipes for the food. Each ingredient needs to be checked to see if it contains one of the 14 most common allergens. Nurseries need to have the allergen information on view for parents to see or somewhere it can be easily accessed. For more information visit the ‘Allergen Information’ page on the Startwell website where you can download the ‘food allergen table’ which can help you document the allergens on your menu. You could also access our food and mealtimes training – we are running a session on the 12th March from 1.00-2.45pm! See our training dates here.
23rd April – St George’s Day
Use active storytelling to teach children the tale of St George and the Dragon. Try incorporating the following action movements during the story:
• Dragon – flying (running with arms spread out and moving in an up and down motion)
• St Georges horse – galloping
• St George – sword and shield movements
• The King’s army – marching towards the dragon and running away from the dragon
• Princess – dancing and twirling when she returns to the village
Follow this cbeebies link for 2 short clips on how children can celebrate St George’s day. This is a great story to get your 180 minutes in and make Katie happy. Challenge children to make the movements in the story high intensity (how fast can they gallop) to work towards the 60 minutes of high intensity movement over 3-year-olds need each day. Fore more on St George’s Day click here.
24th April: National Asparagus Day
Did you know that Asparagus has its own day? 24th April signifies the start of the season for this vegetable, and it normally runs until around June. Asparagus is a vegetable that we don’t often see on nursery menu’s so why not take this opportunity to do an exploration and taste session with the children. Asparagus is not only packed full of vitamins and minerals, but also rich in antioxidants so it is healthy. It’s also high fibre and easy and quick to cook as it is best served steamed. Did you know there are over 200 edible varieties? Remember to link in 5 a Day Fay.
24th April: Beep Beep! Brake Road Safety Day
Beep Beep Day is focussed on learning about road safety for young children. It aims to support parents, carers, and children to learn about safety rules when out near a road. Brake provides a free action pack for all settings that take part, and the packs are designed for children aged 2-7 years old. Going for walks in your local area is a great place to start learning about road safety and perfect for getting those belly buttons moving with Active Azra. Follow the link to access your pack
24th April: Stop Food Wastage Day
Days of the Year.com states “Roughly one-third of the food produced globally is either lost or wasted every year.” When I complete mealtime observations in settings it always amazes me how much food is wasted and thrown away. With homes and settings affected by the cost-of-living crisis ensuring food waste is reduced is important. This is the perfect time to reflect on Micky Me Size and remember how much food is needed so we stop over cooking and having too much waste. This day also helps us to reflect on what we throw away before it’s even cooked due to use by dates and buying too much.
29th April: International Dance Day
International Dance Day is a fantastic day to look at the genres of music that you play in your setting. Try playing a range of genres to see how the children react to different types of music. Why not link in 180 Katie and see if you can raise those heart rates and make your heart go Boom Boom Boom!
