Do Children really get bored in nursery?

[Receptionprep]

I have seen it said on here that kids will get bored at reception if they already know stuff?

Is this really true?

I have a nearly 4yo and he’s going to be young in the year (end of April birthday).

I have been trying to get him ready for school and he really enjoys it. But now worried have we taught too much - bearing in mind we still have 6 months to go? If we continue at this current pace he will be streets ahead.

What do teachers and parents think? Is it really a thing?

Quite embarrassing to say it started because he moved from a private nursery (feeder to a top prep). And we kept in touch with his friends. They were all doing phonics and maths and xyz and he wasn’t doing anything at the state nursery (attached to a primary). So I had a mini panic and started doing it myself in a fun game way. He then loved it so we kept on. Then he wanted to learn numbers so we got some number blocks and started that.

Then he got a whiteboard for Xmas so he wanted to do teacher games.

Basically it escalated to mini home school and our work is quite flexible so he does short hours and he is at home a lot so there’s time for play and these activities.

So it didn’t start child led if honest but I just sat down to ask this question and then he just presented the read write inc pack to me and that’s where I have been for the last 20 minutes is doing phonics again!

And yes he can do all these things although the wiping needs some work!

I can only remember as far back as primary 3 being really bored and pretending to accidentally do the primary 4 work in the mixed class

It’s nonsense. Which child gets bored with playing?!! Nurseries are used to catering for differences in abilities. If your child is getting bored then the nursery is not doing their job properly.

The early learning goals are not behind a paywall (early years lead here!)they are freely available online. “Knowing numbers” does not meet the early learning goal for maths, it’s more complex than than! But the point of reception is to learn through play and play based learning! With respect op, you are not a teacher so you don’t have the knowledge underpinning the early years foundation stage that his teacher will, which is very heavily research based! Your son will be fine!

I learned to read at 3 and honestly, I was a bit bored at infant school, it was a long time ago now and not many children were reading before they started school. I used to have to go over to the junior school to get reading books and I remember being really nervous 😩 I was quite a dreamy child and spent a lot of time playing in the wendy house and dressing up box! Hopefully things have moved on a bit since then and your son's school will be able to set work for him that challenges him!

OP I think it is great what you’ve been doing

Independence, social skills, being able to play without adult input/direction, listening and attention much more important at this stage than knowing lots of numbers.

Do you even know how to deliver Phonics?

If he's only doing short hours at nursery.... How much peer interaction is he getting?

So many people think they know the sounds...but they have no clue and go "cuh" "ah* "tuh" ...cat. Etc

I have a bright child and purposefully didn't teach them things I knew school would like reading as my own experience as a child was yes, I did get bored and had to do other activities/worksheets. My child therefore had something to learn at school but was still ahead, actually, and still gets bored and does other things.

I also do not think end of April is particularly young in year to feel you need to do prep work to be school ready.

This is the other thing. Sometimes doing too much at home then makes it harder for the child having to unlearn what they have been taught which doesn't gel with how the school teaches that particular thing. My child flew through learning to read and is a better reader than I was at their age despite me having already been able to read before school and being ahead because they have learnt the school method with their peers but got the hang of the rules quick and was still able to fly ahead. I'm glad I didnt do too much at home and focused on creative stuff like drawing and just being able to be a kid and play

Are you experienced in teaching phonics? Many parents seen to teach them incorrectly, which can cause issues later on when they have to unlearn the wrong things and relearn the correct ones. I'd carry on but in a more relaxed way.

I'm jealous, my dd has struggled throughout her whole short school life (currently year 5) not for want of trying..... she has zero retention, lives for break, lunch and hometime - if your child is receptive to learning at home then grab it with open arms. Fwiw I knew something was "wrong" in reception so follow your gut.

Thank you, yes I am confident now he will be fine. I am over my wobble with the state provision and actually really happy he’s going there now. He has learned lots there.

So yes basically no my panic is over but he still wants to keep learning and absolutely not going to say no to that so now I have got myself in a bit of a pickle because as others say I don’t want to do it wrong.

No, but I did get the read write inc pack and learnt the speed sets on YouTube so I think I am doing them correctly.

Havent figured out how to get him to blend sounds yet, but if I give him the letters he can make the word.

He might know how to read basic words but he won’t know about sounds, anomalies, phonics. That will be new to him.

as others have said, there’s waaay more to reception than letters and numbers. They do PE, library time, topics such as dinosaurs/planets, learning rules such as queuing, sitting on their carpet spots.