February 2025 Events
2nd February 2025 – National Hedgehog Day
It is a day to remember that UK hedgehog populations are shrinking, and most children have never seen a live hedgehog. Lets use the day to celebrate all things hedgehog – why not make hedgehog bread with 2 snacks Max for snack time, or go on a walk with Active Azra to collect leaves and make hedgehog leaf pictures.
3rd – 9th February: Children’s Mental Health Week
Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week will take place, with the theme of My Voice Matters. It was set up by children’s mental health charity Place2Be and shines a spotlight on the importance of children and young people’s mental health. It aims to look at reflecting on how children are given a voice and how we listen and respond to them. It aims to look at the importance of good mental health for children and young people and the importance of sharing thoughts and feelings with trusted others. Physical activity is a great way to boost mood, why not try different types of dancing as a way of expressing emotions e.g. high energy dancing or ballet dancing and link in 180 Katie.
7th February: Wear Red Day in line with National Heart Month 2025
Wear red day is a fundraising and awareness day to support children and adults born with congenital heart disease. It’s really easy to take part as all you need to do is wear something red. Why not take this opportunity to use 180 Katie to talk about the importance of a healthy heart and how to make the heart go Boom Boom Boom. It’s surprising how many children do not know where their heart is so this is a great opportunity to talk about the heart and its role in our body. If you can get hold of a stethoscope and listen to their own hearts that will make it all the more exciting and real for them. Remember the need to do 180 minutes of activity daily to keep our hearts healthy.
7th February: NSPCC Number Day
The NSPCC runs a maths focussed fun and fundraising day each year and provides a range of downloadable resources and ideas to help you have fun from dressing up as digits or wearing clothes with numbers or maths themes on through to going on a number hunt. The resources are suitable from children in nursery right through to schools. The idea behind the event is to celebrate maths whilst any funds raised go towards helping to protect more children from abuse. Could you set up your own maths number hunt with Active Azra – remember to make them search high and low both indoors and outdoors or try making healthy sandwiches and counting the toppings as you slice and add them, how many triangles/squares do you have? A reception recently shared with us that counting down from 10 is a key area that children are struggling with – why not try some number rhymes that count down instead of up.
11th February: Safer Internet Day
Active Azra wants you to think about the use of technology in your setting but also at home. We know children are using technology for longer and from a much earlier age even though Government guidance recommends no screen time for under 2’s. Why not use this day to make parents aware of safe internet messages, recommended screen time and alternative activities they could be doing to keep them active like Active Azra.
14th – 21st February: National Nest Box Day
Did you know that there is a shortage of nesting sites for birds? Do you have an area in your outdoor provision that you could add a nesting box? It is a great opportunity to explore nature with the youngest of children and to get them interested in learning about wildlife and a focus on our birds. Can the children help to make bird boxes with Sammy Skills and hang bird feeders in your outdoor areas.
14th February: Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day, is celebrated on February 14 to show your love to your partner but in recent years this has grown in popularity and people often use it to celebrate their love of their family and pets. Valentine’s Day is often associated with sugary sweets and chocolate but check out our Winter Pinterest board for alternative healthy ways to celebrate it in your setting. Or try our recipe for our heart shaped Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies. It’s also a great time to look at the importance of keeping your heart healthy with 180 Katie.
15th-23rd February: Real Bread Week
This is a great opportunity to make and explore bread with the children and talk about it being an energy food for our bodies. Try making bread or having flour play in your tuff trays for exploration with our younger children. Why not have a bread tasting session at snack time and try different varieties or another favourite of Startwell’s is bread painting using food colouring. Remember to link in 2 Snacks Max and maybe even Micky Me Size so we don’t eat too much.
20th February: National Love your Pet Day
This event is a great opportunity to start exploring the needs of others and empathy. You can start to look at what do living things need and maybe even turn your role play area into a Vets or a Doggy Day care. Remember to talk about the use of outside and the movements that animals make – can the children act out the animal movements? Why not link in Sammy Skills and use a range of animal Yoga poses. Check out our Yoga with Sammy Skills cube game and Sammy Skills’ board on Pinterest for extra ideas.
26th February: Tell a Fairy Tale Day
Launched in the US several years ago Tell a Fairy Tale Day has become really popular in the UK. It provides the perfect opportunity to spend time reading fairy tales and enjoying favourite childhood tales
A fairy tale is a short story that typically features fantasy characters and magic. Fairy tale collections are among the first books read and introduced by parents. But have you seen the mixed up fairy tales range? Why not look at reading these and it is also a great opportunity to make up your own fairy tales with the children or change traditional tales to link them to your setting. Try turning the fairy tales into active stories, we have made Run Gingerbread man run into an active story follow the link and have fun trying it out in your setting.
