Hygge (Hue-gah) - You know hygge when you feel it
What is Hygge?
Hygge is a Danish approach to life that focuses on living in the moment and enjoying every minute!
How we Hygge!
At Poppins we are passionate about creating a home-from-home experience for our children. We aim to provide a space that promotes emotional wellbeing and togetherness. When you walk through our doors we want your family to feel safe, secure, cosy and relaxed; like you have come to a family members house for the day. We have neutral colours on the walls to emulate a home. Our staff wear soft, familiar clothing that allows their personalities to shine and children to feel more comfortable when settling. We have sofas and soft furnishings, family photos on the wall all of which you would find in a typical home. Every resource is considered, cherished and has meaning. Many of our toys are wooden or ‘real life’ items such as brass cups for sand play or pine cones for cooking in the role play kitchen. We avoid purpose built toys and plastics we believe more natural resources promote imagination and improvisation along with being a more ecological choice. We like to bring the outside in when ever possible and have lots of plants and greenery to care for. This gives our children a sensory rich opportunity to explore the benefits of nature and care for our Earth from an early age.
It is vital to us that our children spend a good proportion of their day outside. We embrace all the seasons and our outdoor areas provide a wealth of experiences for our children. Ranging from, engaging in some ‘risky play’ on our outdoor equipment to exploring nature in our wildness garden. The outdoors holds huge importance in our ethos; the benefit of some good old fresh air with friends is undeniable for emotional wellbeing along with physical development.
We are a child-led setting and use ‘in the moment planning’ to extend our children’s ideas and current thoughts, its a natural and progressive approach to learning that allows the child to take the lead and the adult to scaffold and support rather than dictate. We believe in slowing down, absorbing our environment and making magic in all of the ‘little moments’ that occur during a child’s day. We enjoy the everyday moments with great love, and in doing so create secure relationships built on peaceful, mutual respect. No rushing, we take it all at the child’s pace.
Lunch time is more than just a meal; our meal times are slow, social and wholesome. All of our food is cooked fresh on site by our nursery cook. Children are encouraged to help in the preparation when possible by collecting our seasonal vegetables from the garden. We encourage conversation and reflection on our day at these times, modelling thought processes and conversational skills. We have a no pressure approach to food and instead focus on modelling and promoting healthy choices; giving our children an understanding of what fuels our bodies well.
We have plenty more Hygge inspired ideas to implement this year, including
New lighting to create a warmer, cosier light.
The introduction of essential oil defusers to stimulate the senses and create atmosphere.
Introducing ‘free the feet!’ when inside to promote all things from walking and balancing to brain development- and of course getting cosy!
And blankets, more blankets, you can’t have too many right!?!
