Pre nursery activities to settle your toddler in weeks before day one: goodbyes, waiting turns, routines. Ten play ideas with scripts, ready to try today.
On a laptop?
Pre-nursery activities work best when you start weeks before the first day, not the night before. Settling in isn’t only about the drop-off itself. It’s built from small, repeated practice at home: waiting a turn, saying goodbye, managing the toilet, following a simple routine.
Below is a four-week countdown with ten activities from the Mooshie Moments app, for children aged 1 to 4. Each one uses things you already have at home, takes 5 to 15 minutes, and comes with the words to say, so the run-up to nursery feels manageable rather than daunting.
Nurseries are used to new starters and are gentle about it. What helps most from your end is practising the small mechanics in advance: sitting for a few minutes, waiting while someone else has a turn, saying goodbye and trusting you’ll be back, using the toilet somewhere unfamiliar. None of this needs to be serious. It works better as play.
Start early and keep it light. This is groundwork, not a test.
Stillness is a skill, and it’s easier to practise now, when nothing is at stake, than to expect it cold on the first day.
You’ll need: a timer
Nursery involves a lot of waiting. Rolling a die or picking a card, one go each, makes waiting feel like part of the fun rather than a punishment.
You’ll need: any simple game, cards or blocks
Confidence at nursery comes from believing you can attempt things yourself. Praise the attempt, not just the finished result.
You’ll need: nothing
Once the basics are practised, start describing what an actual nursery day looks like, in order.
Draw or print a simple picture sequence: morning circle, snack, playground, goodbye. Each picture is a small promise that nothing about the day will be a surprise.
You’ll need: pictures or drawings, a board or the fridge
Build a simple, true story together: wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed, go to nursery, come home. Keep it real rather than magical, so the actual day feels familiar when it arrives.
You’ll need: paper, crayons
Packing and unpacking a bag makes the physical motion familiar before the real school morning arrives.
You’ll need: a small backpack, water bottle, snack, a toy
In the final week, focus on the moments that tend to wobble: frustration, asking for help, and being brave about something new.
Choose something they’ll find properly hard, and stay with them through the frustration rather than stepping in immediately.
You’ll need: a genuinely tricky task, like lacing shoes or opening a jar
Telling your child about something you found hard as a child, and how messy learning it was, makes trying new things at nursery feel less frightening.
You’ll need: nothing
Nursery staff can’t hover the way you do at home, so this practises the gap between “properly stuck” and “trying, and it’s hard”.
You’ll need: nothing
A short, consistent goodbye matters more than a long one. Long goodbyes tend to stretch the worry out rather than shorten it.
Even for older toddlers, longer and longer peekaboo games rehearse the exact lesson a goodbye needs to teach: people who leave, come back.
At the nursery door, keep this same shape: say goodbye clearly, once, and go. Sneaking off without saying goodbye can feel quicker in the moment but tends to make the next goodbye harder, because it teaches your child to watch for you leaving rather than trust that you’ll say when you go.
You’ll need: a blanket or just your hands
Plus one picked for your child every day, matched to their age and how today is going.
“I used to spend 30 minutes looking for an activity on Pinterest, get overwhelmed, and just turn on the TV. Mooshie takes 5 seconds.”
“Finally, an app that tells me to put my phone away. The activities are actually doable with stuff I have in my junk drawer.”
“As a pediatric OT, I love that these activities build core developmental skills without feeling like ‘homework’ for parents.”
Mooshie has lifesavers built in for exactly this stretch, including settling in, potty training and hard goodbyes, alongside the everyday activities.
You get the idea; they get your full attention. Thirty seconds of reading, then it’s all play.
Four weeks gives plenty of time to build small skills without turning it into a big event. If nursery starts sooner than that, even a few days of the goodbye ritual and a schedule preview helps.
Yes, this is one of the most common parts of starting nursery, and it usually settles within a few weeks as your child learns the routine and trusts the key worker. Keep goodbyes short and consistent rather than avoiding them.
It’s best not to. It can feel easier in the moment but tends to make your child more anxious about you disappearing without warning. A short, clear goodbye is kinder in the long run.
Being able to sit briefly, wait a turn, manage a simple goodbye and attempt a task before asking for help all matter more than knowing letters or numbers. Toileting readiness helps too, though many nurseries support children still in nappies.
If the worry feels severe, doesn’t ease after a few weeks, or your child stops eating or sleeping well, it’s worth a chat with your health visitor or GP. They can rule out anything else going on and suggest extra support.
Mooshie is a play app, not medical advice. If you’re worried about your child’s development, speak to your health visitor or GP.
Your first moment is ready as soon as you tell us their age.
