Silkysteps early years forum - planning ideas for play - Activities for National Bed Month ...

March is 'National Bed Month' an awareness campaign that highlights the importance of a good nights sleep :cheerful:

The Sleep Council have some excellent advice for adults looking to buy a new bed and their leaflet is a good read - The Goodnight guide for Children

Routines for children and bedtimes

For the Children this is a great opportunity to bring in some Sleepy Activities' to show them just how important it is to get a good nights sleep and keep our bodies healthy.

Talk about how they get ready for bed, what they do and how they think they settle down to sleep.

These are a few ideas you could try with them ...

:flower: Sleeping lions game

:flower: Circle Time Bedding
Some resources you could take in are ..
Cot Blankets, Sheets, Pillows & cases.
Pyjamas, wooly socks, Nightdress.
Soft toys, Story books.

Pass the items around the circle of childrren and talk about who has what.
How they feel about them and if they like them.

Can they snore .. pick children at random and ask them to Snore 'quietly & loudly :D

:flower: Bed scrap books
What designs do the children have on their quilt covers.
Use old catalogues to look at bed linen & the shape of beds.

:flower: Fabric collage ~ explore the textures of fabrics used on beds.
Cotton & flanelette, Woven blankets, Knitted and embroidered throws.

:flower: Home Corner - have Cots, Prams, Pushchairs with a selection of bedding to wrap up the babies and soft toys for a sleep time!

:flower: Bedtime clocks
Use a paper plate to draw/cutNpaste pictures to show the childrens bedtime routine ..
Supper ~ Story ~ Brushing teeth ~ Changing into Pyjamas ~ Cuddling favourite toy!

:flower: Bed warmers ~ For History you could talk about what items help warm the children's bed through the cold months - Electric blankets, Old teracotta bed warmers, Hot water bottles, Flannel & fluffy sheets.

Other activities linked to sleep ...

:flower: Hibernation and why animals sleep
:flower: Nocturnal animals & birds and how their days are opposite to ours!
:flower: Members of the Children's family that do night shifts in their job - how do the children think this effects the member and day to day living at home.
What is the job and why does is need to be done at night.

Other Bed/Sleep websites and organisations

National Bed Federation
NAS.org ~ National Autistic Society - Great advice on sleep in the early Years.
Children First.NHS ~ Insomnia information.
Cry-sis.org.uk is a charitable organisation with practical help on coping with babies & young children that experience troubled sleep patterns.

Quote taken from RNIB.org.uk ~ Royal National Institute for the Blind.

Quote:

'Bed time - The bedroom will have different smells, sounds and textures and will signal settling down (with any luck). Stories, especially those with plenty of repetition, like some of the traditional ones cannot be started too early. A familiar tape can be gradually dimmed down until sleep takes over. In this way, a small baby can begin to differentiate between night-time sleep and a daytime nap taken in day-clothes and, if necessary, downstairs.'

Some nice books that detail good bedtime routines ...

Goodnight Sleep Tight ~ Claire Freedman & Rory Tyger

Down in the Woods at Sleepytime ~ Carole Lexa Schaefer & Vanessa Cabban

Can't you sleep PigLittle? ~ Sally Grindley & Andy Ellis

Sleep Tight Ginger Kitten by~ Adele Geras

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Please carry on posting your ideas & suggestions for this topic ... :thumbsup: