Kid’s Island Nursery in Dubai invests time in providing food exploration and kitchen creativity opportunities for the children. Purpose built Creative and Sensory Studios are filled with items that children may not normally have access to, to entice them to explore.
Under the guidance of their teachers, they are encouraged to cut, pour, sift, taste and laugh as they immerse themselves in the moment. Sensory words like melt, sprinkle, sift, fold, scrape, roll and blend are used by teachers to describe the sensory play. Children are encouraged to describe what they see, feel, hear, taste, and smell.
Apart from exploring new tastes, these sessions also allow children to create new positive food experiences similar to those they may have already experienced at home, like when families bake together.
Think back… Do you remember the time as a child when you were baking the tastiest chocolate cake with your grandmother or your mum? Do you remember the melted chocolate cake smell when you walked in the kitchen?
Close your eyes and you are there, in the kitchen. Grandma is seated at the table and mum is standing next to you, holding the dish while you stir in the sugar, the eggs then add the melted chocolate. The flour is sprinkled on the swirling mass of chocolaty goodness. Then the miracle of watching this chocolate cake baking in the oven, rising, cracking, steaming begins to unfold in front of you until it eventually cools down and you can have a piece.
Keep your eyes closed… can you see yourself cleaning the dish, scraping the leftover chocolate on the side of the dish and accidentally, on purpose, covering your fingers with cake mix, so you can enjoy licking it off later. You will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
These are priceless sensory filled memories which is why taking time to create childhood memories, which shapes our lives and make us who we are, will stay etched in our minds for all time. As a nursery in Dubai who has been established in Jumeirah for the last 30 years, we are honored to welcome the next generation of students into the Kid’s Island Nursery family and it is rewarding to hear parents say “I remember what it felt like when I experienced this at the nursery for the first time”. It is important to cherish your warm childhood memories and even more important to create new ones with your child.
