The Bucket Story

This simple but effective idea came from one of our parents and is based on the book ‘Have You Filled Your Bucket Today’ by Carol McCloud. It is a guide to daily happiness for kids and adults, is fun and easy to understand and we have incorporated it throughout the provisions into our daily routine within VIP. The story has introduced the children to feelings – their own and their friends, i.e. how we feel sad if we get hurt (our buckets are empty) and if someone is nice to us we are happy (our buckets are full). This encourages empathy from an early age.

We first started using this concept with our staff by smiling, passing a few compliments every day, praising staff for good work, which has created a closer team. As this method has worked so well for our staff we then began to use it with the children in all sections of the provision. This has helped introduce our children to empathy which is essential in building happy relationships and supporting positive well being.

Our 'Bucket' full of happiness in the Toddler Room