Very preschooler, how to challenge her without conflicting what she will be doing in reception from September?

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DD is very bored and she is actually starting to get a bit destructive and grumpy with it! It just seems like she's outgrown what they do at nursery. Of course she enjoys playing with her friends, but she needs something on top of that.

Her older brother started school having already taught himself to read. The school have just started doing 'read, write, inc' which I attended a workshop for and I'm really impressed with. She is desperate to read, and spends lots of time everyday attempting to write.

Any suggestions for activities for her that are going to give her the challenge she needs without getting in the way of what they'll be teaching her (and in effect possibly even making things harder for her!)?

In my experience it won't make things harder for her if she can already read when she starts school. It may make it harder for her if she gets used to being destructive and grumpy because she is not being challenged. I would take my lead from her and teach her the stuff she is keen to learn.

How can a child be bored at nursery? I'm just thinking of all the nursery children we have in our EYFS unit and one thing they never seem to be is bored.

As a teacher I would say- take your lead from her. If she wants to learn to read and write let her. Play board games, card games, let her cook, garden, make shopping lists etc.
The school will only be too pleased! They differentiate. Even if every DC came in at the same level (an impossibility) they would progress at very different rates anyway.

She shouldn't be bored in nursery.

Sorry- she shouldn't be bored in a good nursery.

you are setting yourself up for disaster if you are starting a pattern of .putting her behaviour problems down to boredom before she even starts school

She can do lots of drawing, develops the same motor skills that they need for writing.
You can play lots of speaking games, improving her vocabulary & making her more articulate. I was told that DS1 being very articulate would help a lot with future literacy & so it proved to be.
There are simple maths games, like Pop to the Shops or the Incy-Wincy Spider game, that develop maths skills.
No need to focus on reading + writing in particular.

I assume she knows that she's starting school in September? I think when 3 or 4 year olds are told 'you'll be going to school soon' or whatever and weeks later, they're still at nursery, the waiting and anticipation gets a bit much for them.

Yes, teach her to read and write if you want to but also bear in mind there's probably a lot more than just 'boredom' going on. My dd was in a difficult space the summer before she started school - some kids just sail through this transition and some find it much more stressful.

As a childcarer, Muma and Gran of over 35 years, I think its a common phase, I know the two 4 year old I care for at the moment are exactly the same.

I always think the 6 months running up to school is the hardest time of preschool age. They are eldest at preschool, and have the been there done it attitude.

I have been doing lots of things that they dont really do at preschool, (favourite. thing at the moment is chalking their own hopscotch and playing it).

Giving them more responsibility, putting their own clothes away, getting them out in the morning, setting the table, helping with the younger ones, basically giving them a sense of their age.

If she is very bright then she shouldn't be "bored" at preschool. She should be able to take herself off and entertain herself, by reading, writing etc without much supervision. If they are painting then she should be putting more details in etc... Be careful that she isn't just behaving badly and people making excuses for her, that more than anything you teach her will make her life hard in reception.
However i do remember at this stage before school wishing the next few months would hurry up as DD was going through a difficult phase and i wanted school to start and sort her out!

It's not so much that she's bored at nursery, just that she's hungry for more. If she'd been born a few months earlier she would have started last September, and she is just very 'ready' for it. I'm not desperate to teach her reading or writing, just as posters have suggested I want to follow her lead.

Shoshe yes I think you seem to understand where I'm coming from, doing lots of the same here.

By the way, nursery haven't comlplained about her behaviour. Her days at home she is bored, and I'm looking for ways to challenge her and feed her hunger for learning new skills. However, yes she is totally going through a naughty phase! There are lots of reasons for this though, including having to deal with her autistic brother. Seems like a difficult balancing act at the moment, and rather than just punishing her (which didn't work ultimately) I have tried to look for the causes for her behaviour and make sure her needs are being met.

Do you play games? Ones like "The House that Jack Built", Matching pairs, snakes and ladders, insey winsey spider (a lot are orchard games). My DD is very much into these at the moment. Also, do you do play-dates with other children her age on her home days? For me I find if it's just me and my DD in the house for too long this is not a recipe for success. Not every week but fairly frequently we meet up with others and it's good for the kids and the adults . Other than that changing the routine, getting outside more (hard in this rubbish weather but ok if you're keen and dress appropriately), trying different activities, all these things help. And yes, leaving space for them to go off and play by themselves too.

Does she like being read to, lots of reading books to her- maybe get some more challenging ones, DS was into Knights and Castles at this stage, not sure what girl equivalent is. Oh yes DS was majorly into "making" - ie junk modelling at this stage as well. It will be much easier when the weather is better, or at least this is what I find, then you can spend a good chunk of the day outside.

Sorry didn't answer your question about reading and writing. I would just get her to draw loads, I wouldn't bother with the writing and reading you could go over the letter sounds and start a little bit of blending with her- DS learnt this at nursery and read the first songbirds phonic books in the Summer very easily- recommended if she's keen, DS seemed to have covered it in nursery and indeed I was pleasantly surprised when he read "Mum Bug's Bag" to me, one of those proud Mummy moments!

I would be quite concerned if my child was bored at pre-school as this would mean the staff were not doing their job.

My DS was working at yr 2 levels in literacy and y1 for numeracy when he started YR but he was never bored at pre-school as they ensured he played lots (surely children never get bored playing) and then at keyworking time (approx 10-15 mins per session) gave him harder activities to do and let him read whenever he wanted.

The reason for the grumpy behaviour is unlikely to be boredom, it is really common for children towards the end of pre-school to be a bit restless, they know a big change is coming up and just behave oddly for a want of a better word. DS2 is not particularly ahead for his age but is just going through that odd phase now in his last term at pre-school.

Sorry missed your post about her being bored at home, again though, I can't see how children would be bored playing with their toys and playing games etc?

Certainly with my DD (4 in nursery school and due to start reception in sept) it was not about her being bored with her toys (although she is not great at entertaining herself it was more about knowing she was ready to learn more iyswim.

She was obsessed (still is) letters/phonics etc so I started to introduce the phonics sounds/early reading which she has picked up incredibly quickly which to me shows she was ready if that makes sense.

Her nursery school do some differentiated work with her and give her harder books to read at home with me (she is also having the same teacher next yr in reception so that is good ). I cannot imagine DD being bored in reception...