Learning and nursery

[Namechange90]

Hi all,

My kids go to a mess and play nursery and aren't learning anything, I'm trying to help them with writing their name and recognise letters and numbers but surely this should be done at nursery also. Both can count to ten but at nursery they don't. I'm starting to think this particular nursery isn't the best one. They start school next September and can't spell their name yet my friends boy is younger just gone 2 and can write his name if someone writes it down he copies. Mine refuse to do this.

I've spoken to the teachers and they say it's all about playing and learning comes later. Am I wrong to think they are talking poo!! Lol any advice welcome xx

They are not talking poo.

recognising letters, numbers, counting and writing, are not necessary, and are only a small part of the things they need to learn. They are also pretty simple, especially if you have the basics, so it's better for nursery to concentrate on those basics - so they'll be building the strength to write for example.

If you really want to help out your children, get them as fit and strong as possible, and talk and read to them loads so their receptive vocabulary is as large as possible. Doing those will mean you wont have time for writing their name at 2 party tricks.

It's true that there are lots of activities that will lead to reading and writing that may look like it's useless/not learning.
For example my nursery has a group of activities called "finger gym". They're things like playing with playdough, threading beads, games using big tweezers etc. They develop refined motor skills needed to hold a pen and form letters.
Alongside these, my son does more explicit learning such as trying to write letters in a sand tray (so it's fun and there's no pressure to get it right) or they do phonics work (one sound "s" is picked for a couple of weeks and they read a story about a Serpent for example and they exaggerate the S sound and children are encouraged to say Ssss).
It's difficult to know for sure what is going on at your children's nursery from a short message. You could be right and your children aren't doing pre-literacy activities or it could be that staff are doing those things but aren't good at explaining what it is for.
I'd ask them for a list of activities the children do. How is the day filled?
Good luck

It’s quite normal for kids to learn to spell their name at school rather than a year before they start - a teacher friend says her school doesn’t start that til the second term of reception. If they’re happy and we’ll-adjusted I’d see that as more of an achievement at this point.