Our Nursery Pets
Our nursery pets are very important to us at Kiddlywinks. Studies have shown that the presence of companion animals can improve the well-being of children and lower the rate of anxiety, simply by making the environment happier, more enjoyable and less forbidding. The value of pet ‘therapy’ is widely accepted. Pets provide children with a connection to nature and teach respect for all living things. They provide children with lessons on life, death, birth, illness but most of all they provide:
- A building block for developing empathy. They provide a wealth of opportunity for children to learn about caring for something that is unable to care for itself, being gentle, managing risk, understanding boundaries such as how to handle animals within the wider community.
- Playing with and stroking an animal can elevate levels of serotonin and dopamine, which helps to calm and relax people
- Increase self-confidence and self-esteem by providing an outward focus.
- Provide language rich communication opportunities
If, however, you do not wish your child to have access to our pets then please don’t worry, this will be arranged.
Our Therapy Dogs
At our Penrith Nursery Patrick, Walter, Bertie and Dougal are our official nursery dogs. The beautiful Ada and Sid are the official nursery dogs over at The Meadows. They were introduced to the nursery from 2018 and have been in nursery since they were 8 weeks old.
Ada is a Cockerpoo, Patrick is a Bichon Frise, Walter is a poochon, Bertie and Dougal are miniature Golden doodles and Ada and Sid are cockapoo's. All these breeds are particularly known for having a calm gentle temperament and deemed to be ‘hypoallergenic’ and be particularly good with children.
The dogs visit from time to time and are accustomed to excessive attention and handling from small children, having their own children to pamper them in their own homes. They enjoy visiting children in their rooms, playing with them in the garden and going on walks with Pre-school.
All our pets are registered with our local vets. Our doggy friends are fully inoculated and regularly wormed and treated to prevent parasites such as fleas, ticks etc. Risk assessments are in place that inform daily practice for the safe management of our pets and children’s interactions.
Our Guinea Pigs
We have two beautiful nursery Guinea pigs at our penrith nursery, Willow and Penny. These little piggies also have a huge impact on the children. All children tend to our Guinea pigs, having cuddles, stroking and feeding them, as well as helping to clean them out regularly. They often go to our children’s homes for bank holidays and Christmas.
