Top tips: Keeping special days in early years settings inclusive
Celebrating special days and celebrations can be a source of joy for children, families and staff.
Family dynamics can be wide and varied. You should ensure you are keeping special days in early years settings inclusive to all the families in your nursery community. Our top tips will help you to review your inclusive approach to celebrations.
Here are 7 tips for keeping special days in early years settings inclusive:
- Allocate time to get to know your families and the special people that are in their child’s lives
- Be careful not to make assumptions about family dynamics
- Ask families who else they might like to include during special events
- Find out about special days or events in a families calendar and include them into your annual plans, enabling you to share new traditions and experiences
- Open up special days, e.g. mother’s day/father’s day/grandparent’s day – invite ‘anyone who is a mother/father/grandparent figure in a child’s life’ rather than just suggesting ‘Mothers, Fathers or Grandparents’
- Be mindful that naming special activities, such as Mother’s/Father’s Day cards may not include all your family groups. Think about what you name the events so that they are inclusive, for example, creating a card for someone special to you.
- Review your environment to ensure your resources reflect the range of families that attend your setting, e.g. same sex parents, foster parents, kinship care, single parent families.
Disclaimer: Activities with children must always be risk assessed, including for allergies or choking. Children must always have adequate supervision. Resources and materials must always be appropriate for children’s age and stage of development.
