Date
30/06/2023
Grant holder
Katie Smith, Canonbie Nursery School
Project status
Completed

This nursery school was awarded a Froebel Trust grant to create family workshops all about songs, rhymes and Froebel's finger plays. 

Project Summary

Following the COVID pandemic, the educators at Canonbie (a rural Scottish nursery school) noted a significant negative impact on children's speech and language. They had also seen a reduction in contact between the school staff and the parents in the community.

Social distancing restrictions meant that parents and carers had not had an opportunity to see first hand the development of Froebelian Principles in the setting.

The nursery were awarded a Froebel Trust grant to launch a project with the aim to reconnect with local families.

They planned to deliver a series of free parent/ carer and child sessions - all about the importance of signing and finger play for children's development both in a nurture and relationship context, and for early literacy skill development.

The family workshops used Froebel's concept of finger plays (or finger rhymes) to inform parents in some of his wider principles such as unity, engagement with nature, symbolic life and the importance of first hand experiences.

Read the final project report published November 2023.

FT Considered Canonbie Connections

Free resources

Froebel Trust pamphlets series

Find out more about singing with babies and young children. Take a look at our free to download pamphlet series.

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Download the final report