Our programme

In our private nursery we like structuring the group in an age-diverse manner with a maximum of 20 children. In such a mixed group, the differences in personal development are more pronounced. In addition, this structure is more family- and life-like, children tend to settle in better, the bigger ones help their little friends and/or siblings to get used to the new environment easier. The settling in period typically reduces, as the children new to the group with an existing daily routine can see and copy their new friends, which enables them to adapt to their new lifestyle quicker. Friends, family, all in one group. The bigger children can practice the caring, helping, loving behaviour towards their little peers, which brings a sense of security in the little ones and strengthens in them the sense togetherness. This would – in a slightly different way – apply to the ’only children’ as well, which would help to buid their selfconfidence and the development of self-assessing behaviour.

In mixed groups the usual and at times significant changes relating to delayed maturity levels (e.g. big children staying on an extra year before they go to school) are minimised. The foundations of learning based on copying, role modelling are laid perfectly, which enables enhanced social learning, and accelerates the development of independency. They become more tolerant and learn different types of behavioural elements in an age- (and background-) diverse environment, which helps them become more empathic and be more open to cultural differences. Conflict between children reduces significantly due to the differences in their maturity levels, which help them develop a pool of different and acceptable behavioural elements.

When structuring our group, we pay particular attention to have the right balance and number of children with different ages ensuring they all find a new friend to play with and to help their development through creating a community with children at different stages of their developmental journey.

Daily physical education

Through our play based daily physical education (PE) we are able to enhance our children’s need for exercise and make them enjoy these sessions even more. Whilst exercising, we do rhymes, actions and even singing.

Children love short stories, which they typically present with actions. Our ’relaxation stories’ stimulate their imagination and fantasy.

We do PE to:

• help keeping their physical and mental health at a great level
• enhance their physical skills
• satisfy their need for exercise
• improve body posture

How we do it: through exercises developing the heart, the circulatory and respiratory system.

Skills these enhance:

• Body awareness and spatial orientation
• Movement coordination
• Balance
• Rhythm
• Ball skills
• Strengthening of core/skeletal muscles
• Power, endurance, speed

The curriculum consists of a large number of simple and playful elements, which are easy enough so they can be carried out by all children, yet strengthens them all. Balance exercises enhance concentration and strengthen the muscles found on the legs and feet.

The exercises for the core muscles (abs, back and legs) help to develop concentration, and the exercises in pairs support their endurance and the optimal operation of their organs.

Breathing exercises:

Through correct breathing, chest is being stretched and the capacity of lungs is growing. Our children learn these exercises through play as well.

• Relaxation through breathing exercises
• Stretching exercises in relaxed poses – whilst laying on back, sitting cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed

Warm up exercises:

• Walking: copying different animals’ walking techniques. These develop natural movements.
• Running, jumping, crawling, walking on all fours, rolling. The entire body is moved through.
• Gymnastics: head, shoulders, hips, lower back, torso, abs and leg exercises.

Play!

Meditation and cool down. (With music, stories.)

Playing outdoors develops resistance to germs and illnesses whilst enables children to satisfy their own personal need for exercise. With this in mind, we regularly take our children to our own outdoor space, playgrounds in the nearby and for walks – weather permitted. We tend to adapt to the seasons – from spring onwards we spend more and more time outside in the fresh air!

 

Daily routine

Daily routine helps to create the optimal conditions for children’s mental and biological health. If children have a set daily routine, they settle in easier and develop a greater sense of security.

 

Rest, sleep

The satisfaction of children’s sleep typically lies among the duties of a nursery. Throughout their afternoon nap we ensure they can rest in complete peace and silence, which helps with the development of their brain activities. We allow children to nap according to their very own needs and let them sleep until they come around by themselves. Before sleepy time we air the room they sleep in very thoroughly!

We pay particular attention to let our little ones learn how to dress up and down on their own, to leave their garments on a chair next to them in a tidy manner and when they wake up to fold up their bedding too.

A good afternoon rest’s predecessor is always a lovely story or lullaby, which helps to enhance their imagination, vocabulary, perseverance, also they can choose a positive role model from these stories. Sometimes, if they fancy, they can actually tell a story to their little friends.

 

Musical education

Children’s musical education is not only designed to further their musical talent, but to develop their cerebral hemispheres, which helps them become more sensitive, creative, tenacious, diligent, disciplined and intelligent, which typically goes hand in hand with enhanced communication skills as well.

Activities:

• Getting to know and play instruments
• Echo tunes
• Musical games and rhymes in both languages
• Listening to music
• Dance moves, acquisition of aesthetic movements
• Circle time
• Rhythm, consistent pulse
• Learning of quite-loud, fast-slow, high-low tunes
• Melody concealment
• Body percussions

 

Lingual education

We try to create varied and colourful sessions to our group when it comes to lingual education too! In addition to the constant English speaking in their learning environment, English stories, drama, singing and actions, conversations, recognition and learning of letters and the culture of different countries of the world, we build upon the richness of the Hungarian language as well.

Activities:

• Tongue and lip training (facial strengthening, observation skills, body awareness, strengthening of tongue, develpment of articulation and concentration)
• Trains, cover your eyes games, slalom (spatial awareness, movement coordination)
• Finger and hand exercises (fine motor skills)
• Enhancement of vocabulary (expressive skills, creativity, imagination, concentration, focus, hand-eye coordination)

E.g. ’What changed? Onomatopoeics, echo tunes, syllables, ending stories differently, observation of timelines, opposites, pairing, communication games, left-right, writing preparatory, labyrinths, tongue twisters, riddles, poems etc.

 

• Spatial awareness,
• Perception of shapes
• Visual perception
• Tactile perception
• Memory development
• Verbal memory
• Development of intonation
• Development of movements
• Development of fine motor skills

 

Mathematics

We aim to deepen our childrens knwoledge when it comes to maths too. (Counting, estimation, grouping, recognition of numbers, additions, subtractions, relations, more-less-equal, smaller-bigger-equal size, sizes, length, tangram, dominos, shapes, forms, series etc.)

 

Science

Children are fully aware of the world around them, they learn about the term of a family, transportation links, their immediate and wider surroundings, the four seasons and how they are changing, veggies, fruit, plants, animals, dressing, body parts, the job of a doctor, the meaning of named holidays, sports, their home etc.

 

Drawing, crafting

Through our creative sessions, children gain aesthetic experiences provided by drawing, painting, moulding (playdough, clay). They learn how to hold tools properly (pencils, crayons, scissors, glue, brushes) and get to know different types of techniques (colouring, copying, lacing, beading, origami, tearing, mosaic, colour mixing etc.). Our children’s work is always displayed on our cork boards, in the rooms, corridors and the changing rooms. In addition, the sculptural works are accommodated on our shelves, where everyone can admire the children’s artwork! Parents can take a peek into our everday lives through the images in our gallery.

 

Additional classes

Music: our nursery teachers provide fun atmosphere through singing English and Hungarian songs and nursery rhymes every day and playing the piano and the recorder.

 

Pedagogical Programme of Kiddi-Care English-Hungarian Private Nursery

Due to the fact that the majority of our children are Hungarian natives, who will eventually go to Hungarian schools, we believe it is imperative that we develop their mothertongue language, in addition to English, so not only Incy-wincy spider, but Bóbita Bóbita táncol will also be engrained into their little brains.

Through our Hungarian lingual education our little ones acquire everything other children would do in state nurseries. They will not be missing out on the wide array of Hungarian rhymes, songs, circle time either!

Our pedagogical programme is thoroughly thought through, purpuseful, but not explicit. The main emphasis is on play and learning through playing. Our most important duty is the development of mental and emotional intelligence through play, music, story and exercise. The educational system in Hungary sets way too high expectations towards our 6-7 year old nursery ’graduates’. The only children, who are able to meet these high expectations are the ones, who learnt how to deal with social relationships and interactions as well as their own role in their community. Fortunately there is just about enough time for this: in the 3-4 years spent in our nursery, our little ones get all the necessary emotional security and mental maturity that arms them with tools to handle all the challenges their school years will bring along.

We are extremely proud that in the past 15 years children graduating from our nursery have been able to easily adapt to and deal with the hurdles early school years had on stock for them.

Us, nursery teachers and nursery staff are all nature lovers, who love a good hike, take our children outdoors, to explore nature, teaching them to look after their environment. We believe in the joy of free and happy play, fresh air as well as playful learning, being it an English nursery rhyme, a complex puzzle or a simple cookie baking exercise whilst displaying close togetherness.

Directed learning is far from the concept we build our learning experiences on, as the foundation of everything we do is experience. We allow our children to get covered in mud, so they learn what autumn is about, let them get covered in flour, so they see how bread is made and let them aimlessly stare at a bug for hours on end, so they experience how that little bug lives.

We trust that this type of learning will give them a more profound, life-like knowledge and experience than what the great big pedagogical books would provide.