As a practitioner in the Early Years Foundation Stage, I often had to reassure many anxious parents about concerns they had for their children leaving them for the first time and entering the world of nursery and school. These anxieties quite often centre around their children coping on their own for the first time in situations where, at home, they would have someone there to step in and help. Of course there are always caring, experienced adults in the Early Years environment ready to help, but these worries can still remain.

When my own children came along and I eventually waved my son and daughter off to nursery, all of these parental doubts came flooding back to me and I remember thinking, ‘will he remember to wash his hands?’ and ‘what if she can’t fasten her shoes?’

There are so many ways a parent can prepare a child for that first step of independence, and simple little things such as how to fasten a coat can make such a difference to a child and parent’s first experience of nursery or school. Many of our children come to our settings with good independent life skills knowing, for instance, how to fasten a shoe (thank goodness for Velcro) or remember to wash their hands, but others don’t. These independence skills aren’t always in place. Recently, the news has highlighted growing concerns about the number of children arriving in our settings not fully toilet trained.

We all have different ways of encouraging the children in our care to develop and practice these important skills. A good way of introducing a discussion about this is by using a relevant story and songs make a fun way to reinforce good habits.

Here are few resources I have used in the past or been recommended:

Happy, Healthy Song from Melody Treehouse

This is a lovely set of songs written especially for young children and covers a range of subjects such as hand washing, showering, and paying a visit to the loo!

The concept behind these songs came from an Early Years Practitioner who could never find quite the right song when it came to tackling these issues. They are short, snappy and lively and come with instrumental versions to sing along to, ideal for young children. This is the first set of songs I have come across to tackle the subjects such as nose blowing and hair combing.

My favourite song involves a dragon with a runny nose! For more information you can visit the Melody Treehouse Website.

Dirty Bertie by David Roberts Publisher Little Tiger Press

A classic story and a favourite with all children, it tells of the perils that befall Bertie as he continues with some very bad habits despite being warned otherwise. The text is simple with lots of repetition for your children to join in with. A really good ending too!

You can also buy the audio version too with an accompanying song.

Sticky Kids – Bend and Stretch Album

This album is full of lively, catchy songs and contains a brilliant song called ‘Wash your dirty hands’. The rest of the album is very good too!

If you would like to know more about these songs and other albums, you can visit the 
Sticky Kids Website.

Little Parachutes

Little Parachutes is a wonderful website providing lists of picture books covering many different situations and issues young children might face such as healthy life skills, visiting the doctor or starting nursery or school. These are just a few topics this marvellous site covers. All of the books are recommended by users and there are articles and book reviews. This website is well worth a visit.

All of these audio resources are also available to StoryPhones customers via the StoryPhones BookShelf Download store. For more information please visit the StoryPhones Website.

These are just a few suggestions, if any one has any other favourite audio books or songs to encourage children’s independent skills I would love to hear about them. You can contact me at eleanor@ameeca.co.uk or via twitter @storyphones.