👩‍🚒🔧 People Who Help Us — A Week of Real-World Learning at Fun Box Day Nursery

This week, the children’s curiosity turned to a theme they always enjoy: People Who Help Us. We looked at different jobs, talked about what people actually do in their everyday roles, and even discovered some of the professions our own parents work in. The children were full of questions — they wanted to know how these jobs look in real life and what skills people use when helping others.

🔥 Firefighters in Training

Learning about firefighters was definitely one of the highlights. The children had a go at a mini “training course,” climbing over, under and through different obstacles — building confidence, balance and strength without even realising it.

Inside, they used pipettes to “put out” chalk fires in the sensory tray. It was wonderful to watch how carefully they squeezed, aimed, and extinguished each little flame. A lovely mix of imagination and fine-motor practice.

🍳 A Mini Chef at Work

One child became absolutely taken with the idea of being a chef. They spent ages cooking meals — stirring, adding ingredients, serving, tasting, and showing proudly as they worked. It supported creativity and communication in such a natural, playful way.

💇 Hairdressing Studio

Hairdressing also captured a lot of attention this week. The children brushed, dried, and styled our model heads, choosing colours, taking turns, and offering each other suggestions. It was a great opportunity for creativity, cooperation, and gentle fine-motor control.

🛠️ Little Engineers and Tool Detectives

We had a group of very determined engineers who volunteered to “fix” our broken robots using screws and screwdrivers.

Tools were a big interest across the room, so we set up a tool-matching hunt in the garden. The children searched for chalk tool outlines and matched them with the real versions. This encouraged shape recognition, problem-solving, and early maths thinking — all through hands-on play.

⛑️ Hats & Helmets for Our Youngest Learners

Even our tiniest ones joined in. They explored a range of hats and helmets, trying them on, turning them over in their hands, and beginning to link clothing with roles and the people who help us every day.

🌍 How This Theme Supported the EYFS

What made this week so special is how naturally the learning unfolded. The children weren’t following instructions — they were simply exploring, asking questions, and trying things out, and through that, all areas of the EYFS gently came to life.

As they shared tools, took turns with the hairdryers, or helped each other around the firefighter course, you could see their social skills and cooperation strengthening moment by moment. Their vocabulary grew without effort — new words like extinguish, nozzle, screwdriver, and chef popped up in their play as if they’d always known them.

There was so much movement too. From climbing and crawling through the obstacle course to the careful squeeze of a pipette or the delicate twist of a screwdriver, their gross and fine motor skills were being challenged in the best kind of way — joyful, meaningful, and full of purpose.

Maths made a quiet appearance as well: comparing the sizes of tools, spotting shapes in the chalk outlines, counting “fires,” and matching what they saw outdoors with what they held in their hands.

Their understanding of the world deepened as they made connections between real professions and their play — trying on helmets, creating fire engines, fixing robots, and realising how many different people help keep a community running.

And of course, creativity was everywhere. In the pretend kitchens, the hair salon, the robot workshop, and every imaginative storyline they invented together.

All seven areas of learning were woven into the week so naturally that the children hardly noticed — they were too busy discovering, creating, and being completely absorbed in their play.

🌈 A Week of Wholesome Learning about the People Who Help Us

It really was a lovely week — full of exploration, teamwork, and genuine interest. The children learnt about the world, and about themselves, in the way early years does best: through play, imagination, and real-life connections.