What leaving gift can DD buy for her nursery?

[Hulababy]

DD is leaving her nursery in July to go to another one closer to home, as I am moving work. She's been going to the nursery since she was 21 weeks and over the nearly two years she has loved it and they have been great, and really encouraged her and helped her to develop.

So, I am trying to think of what leaving gift DD can get her nursery. I am very inclined to go for a toy of some form from her to her friends and peers, rather than the nursery nurses.

She is between classes at the moment and therefore is in regular contact with 5 or 6 nursery nurses so more practical anyway.Was going to get a huge box of choccies for them to share instead.

So what to buy? It needs to be reasonably sturdy and hard wearing and aimed at her kind of age group I think (she's 2 - and is mainly in with the 2.5-4yos). I think the gift ought to be something DD would like to choose - as it is from her. But not sure on what. Have about £20-£25 to spend(to include any P&P if online), not wanting to go above this really.

Thought about outdoor toys - little bike, pushchair, etc.

Or indoors: DD loves the home corner and the dolls, so maybe toy food, pots and pans, shopping trolley/basket, or a baby doll.

Or: should I stick to books and jigsaws, although they do have a few of these already anyway.

Or, any other ideas???

I'd give them the money, or ask them what kind of toy they'd like. a child left our nursery last winter and his mum & dad got the nursery a lovely wooden nativity scene. at the moment the favourite thing in our nursery is the sprinkler! (wet children when I get home )

I really would rather it be a gift direct from DD rather than money, otherwise I suspect it'd just get swallowed with everything else rather than a specific child orientated toy. I did consider a water based toy as they have been out most days recently having water fights in the yard. But as she is leaving mid July it may have lost out of most of the hot weather

Hula - what about a couple of the big teacher sized story books (they are about A3 sized) that they can read as a group.

Or maybe one of those fabric calendars where you velcro on the different days of the week, weather etc.

Orchard toys do some fantastic early educational toys. Those that might be particularly interesting might be rescue services or animal related allowing the nursery to build them into any projects they might be doing.

Or a set of bean bags, hula () hoops, soft balls for outdoor play.

ikwym about the money being 'lost' but each of our 3 rooms have a budget and try to buy in things which fit in with their current topics/early years goals. maybe you could ask about the kind of things they need, and then decide yourself which to go for. you could even get one of those engraved tags (like you get on darts trophies ) stuck/screwed onto the base of a wooden toy with your dd's name and the date on it.

Cheers, some good ideas to look into there I wonder if ELC are do there 3 for 2 special offers on the outdoor stuff still too - will go investigate!

Ooh yes they are - could get a selection of 6 outdoor toys for around £20 too there (pay for 4, ge 2 free). What do people think of that idea? Any good?

Their pop up tents & tunnel look nice, but at £30 maybe a bit over your budget. they'd be fine for indoor use when it's wet too.

They do don't they - may have to speak to Dh about budget though if I can find no other ideas.

I caught dd (13 mths) chasing a much older boy through one of those tunnels the other day at a birthday party ..what a flirt..

I think it's a lovely idea Hula, and very generous of you. Personally I think I would ask for a suggestion for something to buy, but if you don't want to, then make sure it's something they have room to store, something that is suitable for the age range, something they want, something that they don't already have loads of duplicates of ...

We have quite a lot of the ELC outdoor toys, (our house ressembles and ELC shop sometimes) ... but although the toys are good, I would say some of them are not sufficiently robust for the level of use they would get at a nursery. But you can't go far wrong with balls, beanbags, that sort of thing.

Not a lot of point in asking really. I did that first time when it was Christmas but they were very wishy washy about it, almost as though they felt uncomfortable about it all. I ended up getting them the Little Tykes plastic rocker which the toddlers adore Hence, just asking for ideas here!

I bought ds1's nursery a traffic light from ikea because when they had been doing road safety they'd had to hold up different coloured cards. So I bought them one that lit up and went on the wall by the fire door.

When my dd left nursery last year we got a couple of sets of puppets from ELC, where you get a whole set for a particular fairy story. They had a couple of sets already, but dd knew exactly which ones, so we got 3 new sets. They seemed really pleased, teachers and children, and it was something dd had always enjoyed which made it special.

get the staff something yummy

codswallop - staff are getting choccies to share as well.