Preschool morning vs afternoon sessions

[WhyBird2k]

Looking for advice on the difference you have noticed between activities in preschool in morning sessions compared to afternoon sessions. Do you think morning sessions are more mentally stimulating, maybe a bit more based on learning, letters, numbers etc. Are afternoons more nap and play based?!

DD is 3 (has been at day nursery since aged 1) but starting a new preschool in September. They have said she can definitely do afternoons and I am waiting to hear back from them to see if they have morning availability too under the 30 hours scheme. If I end up having a choice of which sessions to put her in I feel like I'd like a mix of morning and afternoon. Thank you!

Oh and as a follow up question...Im pregnant and due in August so trying to decide how many sessions to put her in for. The whole 30 hours seems like a lot given that I'm at home anyway, maybe closer to 6 or 7 sessions? Any pros and cons from your experiences?

30 hours is so you can work so if you don't need it then I would enjoy time with your child and do 15.
The content of sessions should be the same, numbers and letters are not taught formally until your child enters year 1 but learn through play.

I don't think that afternoon sessions are necessarily more nap and play based - I would expect the content to be similar.

My DS went to afternoon sessions at that age (as that was all that was available) and it worked out really well for us as a family. I had a 1yo DD at the time, so the three of us would all do something together in the morning, then in the afternoon he would go to pre-school, she would have a nap and I would have a couple of hours off - perfect!

Afternoon sessions wouldn't have worked for DD at that age though, as she still had a nap at that age and she wouldn't have had one at pre-school.

My four mainly did afternoons. It just happened like that for the first two and I could still do all our activities (toys groups and swimming) in the mornings then nursery in the afternoons so I did housework etc then. They have done a few mornings here and there and afternoons always seemed quieter and a more relaxed atmosphere.

Generally the afternoon is a repeat of the morning session, so that all of the children attending the nursery get the same input and opportunities.

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. Maybe I'm used to her being in the younger nursery rooms where afternoons are predominantly nap and chill! And good point that they are usually quiuter in the afternoons. She can go without a nap if she wants to...and there are lots of nice morning playgroups that we could go to too.

I work at a nursery and we generally do the same mornings and afternoons. I’m in a pre school room so we don’t have many who sleep but if they do it makes no difference to the activities. Everything should be play based in EYFS anyway, nurseries are not about formal learning.

When I was expecting DD2 and DD1 was going into the school nursery, I was one of the few parents who actively opted for afternoons as it made it easier in the morning when we were tired due to being up in the night.

That was my only consideration when I chose which session.