How to include kids with food allergies at Playgroup

I'm not sure how many children with food allergies you encounter in your daily life, playgroup, pre-school etc. but it probably hasn't escaped your notice that numbers on are on the rise. 

Although I was aware of kids with food allergies when I was working as a teacher, it never really hit my 'radar' until I had a child of my own and she was diagnosed with milk allergy as a newborn. It was quite a bolt from the blue, I can tell you!

My daughter eventually grew out of her allergy (fortunately many do) but it was an incredibly isolating experience in many ways, as it made going out and about so much more difficult. As a result, it has made me determined that at our playgroup, those with food allergies can come and feel welcome. Although it may not always prove possible, we do our best to include them in whatever way we can. 

If you would like to do the same, here's just a few pointers to think about:


1. Registration

We register all children when they come to our group for the first time. The registration form includes a section on allergies, so we can identify who may be at risk. At this point we try to fit in a chat about the severity of the allergy and what we can/cannot provide. We cannot guarantee 100% safety, but we will do our best. We never turn anyone away, it is always up to the parent to make the risk assessment for themselves.


2. Catering for all

a) Our catering team have a checklist of which children have allergies and what they are. We communicate with them about which children are present that session.

Our chart just shows the allergens present in our group

b) Our catering team have clear instructions about procedures (see picture above). The important thing is to avoid what's called 'cross-contamination' of food.

Orgran are usually a 'safe' bet

c) We usually provide healthy snacks for the children involving fruit/veg. and rice cakes/bread sticks, but we also have a few treats in the cupboard like these. *Orgran are a great company for producing allergy alternatives. If not available at a store near you, they can be purchased online.

d) Some nurseries and pre-schools use separate coloured bowls for children with food allergies. We prefer to label the bowl, if necessary, but usually it's not, as we only usually have a few each session, so we can easily keep tabs.

3. Separate activities and food

We try to avoid having drinks or food in the main play and craft area. This also helps with clearing up afterwards and reduces some risk of accidents with hot drinks. 

We do this by having a separate room for coffee/snack time, immediately followed by singing (whilst we have everyone seated) this allows time for everyone to finish.

A separate area for food/drink also helps any parents who would prefer to avoid this part of the session. We have only had one do this regularly and one of our volunteers usually takes her out a drink and chats with her, whilst the singing takes place.

4. Keep clean

a) A quick visual inspection (as you are setting up) is vital for safety anyway, especially if, like us, you share the use of a hall, so keep an eye out for any traces of food/drink as you do so.

b) We try to ensure baby wipes are always on hand for any sticky fingers! This way we can try to avoid traces of food transferring via toys and helps keep the toys cleaner too! 

c) Regular toy cleaning sessions help too and not just for food allergies, but for general hygiene. We try to avoid buying/accepting (people always try to pass on toys) which cannot be washed easily. Toys that can go through a dishwasher are the best!

d) Clear up any spillages as soon as possible, which makes sense in terms of safety too!

5. Food Free Craft/Activities

a) We avoid doing activities involving food, unless they can be made suitable for all. Particularly be aware of any that involve cereal, or bird seed, especially regarding children with nut allergies. There are so many fun crafts and activities out there, so there is really no need to include food!

b) Check materials, when purchasing e.g. paint, chalk, play dough, to make sure there are no hidden allergens!

6. Food Free Prizes

We try to avoid giving out food/sweets as prizes, which in this day and age is probably for the best anyway. When giving out sweets for special occasions e.g. Easter we try to give them all the same. *Haribo have always been great for us, so far. At Easter they do multi packs containing Easter sweets, which is what we use!

8. Communicate!

Keep the channels of communication flowing between you and the parent. It helps build relationship and trust on all sides and not just in relation to food allergies. Sometimes our Mums just need to talk to a fellow human being.

8. First Aid

A number of our staff (all volunteers) are trained in first aid, including with use of an Epi pen, but thankfully, we've never had to use one yet!

May be it's just because I'm so used to it, but I don't think including children with food allergies is that difficult. We've had a number that have been regulars over the years, without any incident. You may have noticed that most of these tips are just good practice anyway, in keeping safe and clean. So let's be welcoming and inclusive and let ALL the little children play!

*Just to be clear: we are not affiliated with any of the companies listed. Any products recommended are purely to assist in sourcing.

Sunflower Pots

Hopefully it won't be too long before Spring arrives, and with it, the thrill of watching plants blossom and grow. Every year we try to plant something with our little ones, and this year we'll be returning to planting sunflowers.

It's not exactly a craft activity as such, but such great fun and so educational too! To extend the fun, we like to turn it into a little competition - who can grow the tallest sunflower!

Equipment

• small plant pots or large paper cups
• compost
• sunflower seeds (giant sunflowers have bigger seeds and are easier for small fingers to handle)
• stickers
• lollipop sticks/pens (to make name labels)
• washing up bowl/water/soap & towel
• list of growing instructions
• certificates (to be awarded in a few months time)

Preparation

Don't forget to buy those seeds and compost!

Method:

1. Show children how to fill pots with compost, poke a hole in the soil & plant their seed.

2. Children decorate pot with stickers. 

3. Give each child a lolly pop stick with their name to poke into the soil, beside their seed. We allow a couple of seeds per child, just in case one doesn't grow.

4. Now give those little hands a scrub once they're done, in the bowl of water.

5. Send each family home with a set of instructions. Hopefully, once the plants are growing well, they'll be able to plant them out into a garden.

6. Ask parents to take a picture of their child with their sunflower in the final week of the competition, and measure it. Pictures can be emailed to the group's secretary, to judge the tallest!

7. Don't forget to give a certificate to all the entrants and a little prize to the winner.

Sheep craft

Every so often, our theme seems to require a sheep craft somewhere along the line! A year or so ago, we made this one! 

What we were aiming for...

Looking at it, you may well wonder whether we just ended up with a whole load of identikit sheep, BUT...

true to form, the children's versions did not reflect our original idea! HOWEVER that's the beauty of it. AND along the way the children have been handling different materials and refining their fine motor skills, so it's all good!

I love the individuality of each sheep! Especially the red-nosed one! 

Equipment:

• Paper plates
• Pre-cut legs & heads (from black card)
• Cotton wool balls
• PVA glue/spreaders/pots
• Googly eyes
• Babywipes

Preparation:

1. Cut our head and legs - there's no getting 'round this one, but it's not so bad, when you're watching a TV programme, to have something to do at the same time.

2. Make an example for the children and Mums.

Method:

1. First write child's name on the back of the plate - it's not so easy to do this, once you have glue and cotton wool all over the other side.

2. Getting down to making the sheep, the trick is to glue the head on first!

3. Then, spread the glue over a bit of the plate, stick on some cotton wool balls, before it dries and then do a bit more, until the plate is covered.

4. Add googly eyes and legs.

5. Leave to dry on the home table.

Paper Cup Penguins

Another fun Winter craft for little ones involves penguins! There's something so attractive about these little creatures that really appeal!

Making these gives me the perfect opportunity to reprise 'Have you ever seen a Penguin come to Tea?'* during our singing session. If you haven't sung it before, it's great fun... but I did get some funny looks from the parents first time around!

This craft doesn't give quite so much room for individual creativity, but somehow, our crafty little things manage to make them all their own!

Equipment:

• Black plastic/paper cups
• White paper circles
• Orange triangles (for beaks) & feet cut from card/foam
• Googly eyes
• PVA glue/spreaders/pots
• Baby wipes
• Pens (for adding names)

Preparation:

1. Source your cups! I think we found these in Tesco. They were the large ones. If you can't find these, you may need to purchase white paper cups and paint them black, but this adds an extra layer to the craft.

2. Cut circles from white paper/card.

3. Cut triangles for beaks and feet for the penguins. This requires a little bit of time. See if you can find an enthusiastic volunteer, who doesn't mind cutting out whilst watching TV in the evening.

4. Make a sample, for the children to see.

Method:

1. Stick a white circle on to the cup, using PVA glue.

2. Add googly eyes, beaks and feet.

3. Add child's name to the bottom of a foot, or inside the cup, using a permanent marker.

4. Leave to dry on the Home table.

*  Click the song title for a demo of the song: Have you ever seen a penguin come to tea?


Please note: any links to or mentions of specific materials are purely to aid sourcing, no earnings are made via these links.

Snowmen

Feeling the chilly blast yet? It's definitely feeling wintry right now and we're kicking off this term with some wintry crafts!

We made these snowmen a few years ago. They were based on one that I'd made with my daughter when she was tiny. There are similar crafts on Pinterest, but what I love about those made by our kids, is that you can see the children have made them their own - which is just the way it should be! Each one is unique - just like their creators!!

Unique!

Equipment:

• Blue card (A4)
• Cotton wool pads
• PVA glue/glue spreaders/glue pots
• Black sequins
• Snowflake sequins/table scatter
• Buttons
• White paint
• Blue paint
• Paintbrushes/pallets/pots
• Coloured pipe cleaners
• Overalls
• Babywipes

Preparation:

1. Cut pipe cleaners into appropriate lengths. We used short lengths of orange pipe cleaners for the carrot nose.

2. Pour paint/glue in to pots (we reuse plastic containers recycled from food, but try to avoid using containers that cannot first be cleaned thoroughly in a dishwasher - to avoid any children with food allergies being affected).

3. Make a sample for the children and mums to get the idea of what we're trying to achieve.

Method:

1. Overalls on and sleeves rolled up.

2. Name written on the back/front of the paper.

3. First glue cotton wool pads into position. 

4. Add eyes, nose, mouth, buttons. PVA glue is best for this!

5. Paint, snowman sequins and even glitter can be added as desired.

6. Add lengths of pipe cleaners for arms, scarves etc.

7. Leave to dry, on the Home table.

New Year Calendar Craft

New Year is already upon us! And at the start of a New Year what do we all need? 
YES! That's right, a calendar. Well I do, anyway!

Toddlers not so much, but we make calendars with them at playgroup, attached to a relevant craft. 


Two years ago, we made these:

Regardless of whether the calendars themselves are hugely relevant to the children, this craft is a great way of getting children familiar with the shapes of the numerals, as well as allowing them to explore different textures.

If this is a bit challenging for your little ones(our younger ones needed a fair bit of help, with this one), try using stickers or, if you want to retain the sensory element of the craft, you could use paint to make the numerals with finger prints.

Equipment:

• Calendar Craft background
• Calendar Pads (Baker Ross)
• Glue/spreaders/pots (we use PVA, I prefer the Pritt version)
• String/ribbon/scissors
• Stapler
• Overalls
• Wet Wipes
• Variety of sensory materials: rice, lentils, feathers, sand, glitter, buttons. sequins etc. (Please see allergy note below*.)

Preparation:

1. Make the calendar backing. You can do whatever suits you, but basically I used Word and did the following:

A simple border was added to a blank document page, before I inserted a Word Art text box. I typed the numerals for '2017' using Comic Sans font which was enlarged to size 250. I added a box to show where to stick the calendar blocks, then printed out the page on to card of different colours, to provide choice. 

2. We used a hole punch to add holes at the top of the card, to insert string/ribbon for hanging the calendar. Alternatively, you could sellotape the string loop to the back of the cards.

3. Pre-cut string/ribbon (we use left-over curling ribbon) lengths for hanging the calendars.

4. Order the calendar blocks (we usually order these during the Autumn Term, but they are still available now. Baker Ross sell the traditional little calendar booklets that we use. You can probably get them elsewhere, but they do seem to be on offer at Baker Ross, right now.

5. As usual, we make a sample to help our mums/carers and toddlers to see what we're working towards.



Method:


1. Overalls on and sleeves rolled up.

2. Write name on the back or front (as desired).

3. Show how to use glue spreader to spread glue around the first numeral. Encourage children to feel the different materials and select one to press in to the glue.

4. Repeat for all the numerals.

5. Select and tie ribbon for handle.

6. Staple the calendar booklet in place on the card(obviously this stage will have to be done by adults).

7. The border of the calendar can also be decorated by the children, if time/interest will allow. For this part, I would suggest using stickers. Stars would work well with the New Year theme.

8. Calendars can then be left to dry, until going home time!


* When families come to our group for the first time, we ask them to fill in a Registration Form, which includes details of any allergies. If children have allergies we try our very best to include them. Rice/lentil allergy are less common than for example milk or nuts, but if we were aware of anyone with these allergies we would change the materials to suit. Allergies are not all food related e.g. some children might be allergic to feathers. 

Please note: any links to or mentions of specific materials are purely to aid sourcing, no earnings are made via these links.

Holly Christmas Wreaths

It's the first of December and Christmas has truly begun! This is when my Christmas decorations go up, one of the first being a Wreath on the door. I love a good wreath! I often have them inside my house as well as out. This one hangs in my hallway:

At toddler group this week, we made these cute little wreaths. Obviously not the kind you put outside the door, as they'd soon disintegrate in the rain! 

The mums and tots absolutely loved them! 

I could show you a picture perfect version, but this is the work of one of our tots!

Of course, they're made with a craft staple of ours, the good old paper plate! 

Equipment:

• Paper Plates/Scissors
• Tissue paper light green & dark green
• Holly and Berry shapes (see below for stockists)
• Ribbon/Sellotape
• PVA glue/spreaders
• Baby wipes

Preparation:

This craft involves a bit of prep. First you need to order/make your Holly shapes. Then you need to cut out the centre of your paper plates. You also need to rough cut up two shades of green tissue paper. you could use just one colour, but two adds a nice touch of light and shade. Also, cut Short lengths of ribbon for hanging and final touches.

Here's 'the one we made earlier'!

We usually make a 'here's one we made earlier' to help the mums and tots see what we are trying to achieve and of course we lay out materials on the day.

Method:

1. Cover the paper plate rim with glue. If using PVA, it needs to be spread thinly, or you will end up with a gloopy mess, that takes a while to dry!

2. Layer a mix of dark and light green tissue paper over the glue.

3. Add holly leaves and berries. We aimed for about 6-8 Holly leaves per plate. 

4. Add a loop of ribbon to the back of the wreath (at the top) with selloptape. This will enable the wreath to be hung up.

5. Add two pieces of ribbon to the bottom of the wreath, for a nice finishing touch.


*The Holly Stickers came from Baker Ross. They also make larger cardboard holly shapes, but these look a little more expensive. You can, of course, cut your own, if you prefer!

Baker Ross actually make a Wreath Foam Blank, which is probably easier than cutting out loads of paper plates, but it's nice to create something with more of a home made touch.


Please note: any links to or mentions of specific materials are purely to aid sourcing, no earnings are made via these links.