Pancake day celebrations start early at Kidderminster nursery

As well as celebrating Shrove Tuesday by making pancakes, the children also learned about St David's Day by making daffodil flowers and pinwheels to create a collage alongside taking part in pancake face-making and snack-time.

Gaynor Carter, nursery manager, said: “The children just love celebrating pancake day with all the scrummy pancake fun and learning it brings.

"The children also talked about the many celebrations around the country and the world as they also added in their own personal experiences and likes as well as dislikes.”

"Shrove Tuesday is the traditional day of feasting before Ash Wednesday, and the 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter.

"It enables Christians and those observing the Lent practice to use up their surplus eggs and fats before embarking upon the traditional Lenten fast.

"Pancakes offer the perfect way of utilising these ingredients.

"St David's Day is the celebration of St David, the patron saint of Wales, with people marking the day by wearing either a daffodil or a leek, both being Wales’s national emblems and the children were keen to learn all about these traditions.

"Taking part in creative and craft activities, such as cutting shapes and PE sessions are important for children as they help to develop physical, fine motor and gross motor skills and, of course, the special pancake ‘tuff tray’ aiding their expressive development as they took part in art and design and acted out different scenarios during the day through role-play.

"This type of creative play promotes and stimulates communication, language and personal and social development and Pancake Day offers a yummy creative play activity which can involve even our youngest children from two-years-old and upwards.

"I have to say that the staff also thoroughly enjoyed the yummy celebrations."