What to Pack for Nursery for a 3-year-old | Forest School Edition – A Quick Guide

What to Pack for Nursery for a 3-year-old | Forest School Edition

If your little one is starting nursery, you’ll probably be wondering what they might need to take with them every day. Your chosen preschool will most likely give you a list of the items needed in their particular setting but there’s no harm in being prepared.

• A backpack

The first thing you will need is a backpack that’s big enough to fit most of your child’s stuff but also small enough for them to be able to carry. At preschool, your child will most likely have a peg to hang their bag and coat on. Some nurseries have one for each child with their name on while others simply have a bunch of hooks for everyone to use.

• Spare Clothes

The most important thing to pack in the backpack is spare clothes! Nursery play can often be messy – playing outdoors as well as doing craft activities or baking. Don’t send any precious clothes to preschool – either go for dedicated uniform or play-wear that is fine to be stained. If your child is potty trained, they’ll need spare pants and spare clothes in case of accidents too. If your child is still in nappies, then nappies and wipes are needed.

• Water Bottle & Lunch

Some school will have a system with drinking cups for the children to use to get water when they’re thirsty while others will require the children to take their own water bottles. If your child will be taking a packed lunch to have at nursery, then they’ll need a lunchbox and lunch bag as well. Choose a water bottle and a lunchbox that your child can easily open by themselves to practice their independence.

• Outdoor Gear

Kids love to play outside in all weathers. There’s no such thing as bag weather, just inappropriate clothing! For forest school settings especially, it’s important that your child has another bag with rainproof clothes (jacket and trousers, puddle suit or similar) and wellies as the school is likely to head out into nature all through the year, in any weather.

It’s a good idea to check the weather forecast each morning to see what to expect so that you can make an informed decision about what to send. Hats and gloves or sun cream and sun hat?

• Don’t forget to label it all!

Last but not least, everything for nursery that belongs to your child needs to be labelled. I use a Sharpie permanent marker for clothes and TinyMe name labels for things like bottles and lunchboxes. There are other options available too though, like name stamps and iron on name labels.

These are the essentials in my opinion! You might need some more items or less – all children are different and different school require different things. The above should give you an idea of what to pack for nursery for your little one.