This year at Finkley Down Farm Nursery for their second year they have been continuing one of their Christmas traditions by making Christmas shoe boxes for Andover Foodbank. This year their new Finkley Nursery Basecamp Winchester has also been involved in the project.
Last year they had a roaring success with almost 40 boxes made for the local Foodbank. This year they got off to a great start with 15 boxes made in less than 2 weeks. They are very excited and overwhelmed with their children and families supporting the local community, and overall created an incredible 51 shoe boxes to donate. Bethan who is daily lead at the nursery, has been busy organising and wrapping shoe boxes, and has been working her Christmas magic over the last few weeks to spread the word. One of their parents was even kind enough to put a box and the poster at her workplace, and several colleagues made very generous donations.
This project is a wonderful experience for families, especially during the current situation they really wanted to do their bit and give back to the community. At Finkley they make this experience accessible for everyone in their setting by asking for any donation possible. Their children love working with their parents to create a box full of joy.
At nursery they encourage children to talk about their experiences when making their box, who they made it for and what they got the child. “I went to the shops with my mummy and got this Elsa hairbrush” Nursery Child. These boxes also allow the practitioners to talk to the children about the diversity in the world and the experience of Christmas. There is also great pride and confidence shown when each child brings them to nursery is amazing. They appreciate working with their families and children to give back to the local community. This year has been difficult for many families, and this experience allows them to help and bring a little bit of joy to children in the local area.
The project has been a huge success once again and they are incredibly grateful to have such supportive parents and families, and a huge well done to Bethan for organising it all.
