what does your 9-12 month old do at nursery?

[sunglasses]

Just wondering. My dd has started recently she is just 11 months. she is in a baby room with around 5-6 other babies of around the same age, some a bit younger and a few around 14 months. the reason I ask is that the nursery policy is that the day should be fairly unstructured apart from lunch and tea times, i.e no scheduled play times- the babies are just allowed to roam freely and play with whatever they want, whenever they want but my daughter seems quite unhappy when she is there. she was fine for the settling in period but this was just an hour a day and so it was probably a novelty for her being somewhere different. however now I cant help thinking that she is actually a bit under stimulated and bored. I never see anyone reading or singing or playing itsy bitsy spider or peekaboo games with any of the children whenever I go round to collect her and i was interested to know what other peoples experiences are. She has only been there full time for two days last week and one day this week so maybe she is taking time to adjust. Please tell me it will get better!

[cjmummy]

my ds is at nursery and has been full time since he was 6 months old. he was in the baby room until recently but had a structured day with definite activity play times. the day is completely planned out with meal and snack times set, nappy change times, and different activities on a daily basis like water play, singing, dancing, cereal play, finger painting .. and making father's day cards etc interspersed with free play. i think that there are government guidelines as to the types of things that they have to achieve.

[JiminyCricket]

the baby room at dd1 and 2's nursery is less structured than the toddler and pre-school rooms, but still fully planned e.g. they will plan activities with large play items (slide, trolleys etc) then small play items/more sitting don games, plan singing sessions or musical instrument sessions. They will go outside at least once a day (only early morning or late afternoon in the heat...younger babies go outside in the prams or sit on blankets), occasionally they go for a walk in the pushchairs down a small local lane). They have a cosy corner and will play in there, getting out different fabrics or different textured materials. They do painting too, stuff like hand and footprints. They've got into puppet shows recently. I'm sure there is a fair bit of just unstructured, lets get all the toys out stuff, because that's what little ones like, but they always plan it and keep written plans to say what development needs they are aiming to meet through the activity. Sorry you have concerns about the nursery - my advice would be to ask lots about what activities your daughter has enjoyed each day, and to ask for regular meetings to discuss how it is going. A decent nursery manager or staff member will be more than willing to hear your concerns. Alternatively, is there a parent representative you can more easily share concerns with?

[sunglasses]

Thanks for that- i believe they are following the birth to three matters but I just dont see a lot of communication and interaction. I dont know if there is a parent representative but i will share my concerns with the manager if i dont see an improvement. I am trying to wait a while so I can give it a fair chance. They are supposed to keep records ( i thought they gave you written daily reports, in fact i am sure thats what they told me before she started, however now it seems they have a file you can look at anytime you want) - will have a peek tomorrow to see what they have written.

[vix1]

They have to keep a daily record, to record their feeding times and what they ate and nappies etc.
Where I worked the baby room didnt have a routine really, they did singing when they thought they would enjoy it, did activities when they could. It depends on the staff in the room, its an important thing to discuss, especially if they get to go in the garden each day.
Could you ask when your child will be moving up a room and subtly mention that you are concerned that there may not be as much of a routine for her in baby room?

[Cakehead]

My DD is in a baby room and our experience has been much the same as yours, sunglasses. Depressing, isn't it? In the four months that she's been going, three days a week, I've only walked in their twice to see her being interacted with. Normally she and the other four and just crawling about and playing with toys on their own. I've gone to see another nursery recently and there's much more structure - 20 mins singing, then 30 mins with playdough; free play; water play, garden activities; paint, etc. It's all timetabled in every day and the activities change by rota. I'm changing nurseries now... I had no idea that things were done so differently elsewhere.