Fun Box Day Nursery

A garden that children can move into throughout the day and an Early Years Learning Centre offering targeted developmental support give Fun Box Day Nursery its character. This Totton setting combines play shaped by children's interests with a more structured service for children who need additional help. The practical detail matters: support includes individual and group sessions, progress monitoring and regular meetings with parents.

At its 31 May 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated Fun Box Good overall and found that children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), made good progress. That judgement belongs to the nursery at that date. Its current offer includes a Baby Room alongside a Preschool Room, while its accepted age range is 9 to 59 months.

Babies have a full-day booking pattern; preschool families can choose flexible hours with either term-time or year-round attendance. Those are different arrangements, with different charge structures. Understanding that distinction is essential to deciding whether Fun Box fits your family.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room serves the under-two stage, with a daily fee that includes care supplies, food, activities and app updates. The Preschool Room covers ages two to five and uses flexible hourly bookings, making it possible to fit attendance around work or other family routines. These room bands describe the organisation of care; the nursery's accepted age range remains 9 to 59 months.

Free movement between the garden and indoor space runs through the day. Resources change quarterly, with children's interests helping determine what is offered. This gives children a choice of where to play and keeps the materials responsive to what engages them, rather than making every experience depend on a fixed group activity.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for learning, development and care: children build language, physical skills, early mathematical understanding and creativity through play. Fun Box's activities connect those areas rather than treating them as separate lessons. A game involving patterns can also involve conversation, turn-taking and coordination.

In August 2025, for example, children matched wooden fruit lollies to pattern cards, worked with animal dominoes and explored colour sequences using a fishbone activity. Fruit printing brought texture, shape and paint together. Lentil pouring used funnels and scoops to explore quantity, while clay bowls gave fingers a different sort of work. These are concrete examples of how practical materials can carry several kinds of learning at once.

Children's interests also shape larger projects. During that same period, toy vehicle play developed into a cardboard truck, decorated collaboratively with recycled materials. A guided yoga session added gentle movement and breathing. Neither example needs to be a separate lesson to have educational purpose: the truck involved shared decisions and making, while yoga involved listening and physical coordination.

Outdoor and Community Life

Stories extend into the garden. World Book Day 2026 included a bear hunt, outdoor storytelling and activities based on Goldilocks, Pete the Cat and Paddington. Familiar characters gave children several ways into a story, through messy play, colour mixing and food as well as listening.

Family events add another layer. The annual Halloween Workshop brought pumpkin carving, face painting, crafts and a treasure hunt together in 2025. These occasions give families something to share with their children beyond routine attendance. In May 2023, children also took outings to a local library and duck pond, connecting nursery learning with places in their community.

Relationships and Communication

Settling has a clear sequence. Fun Box offers at least three free sessions, generally in the fortnight before a child's start, with each lasting about an hour. Parents remain throughout the first session and meet the assigned key practitioner. Staff use that time to learn about familiar routines, preferences and what helps when the child is tired or upset.

Separation then develops according to how the child responds. A later session can involve a parent remaining nearby or leaving briefly, with a return if the child becomes distressed. The sequence is adaptable rather than a deadline children must meet. For a family approaching a first separation, that gives the transition a recognisable structure while allowing more time where needed.

Baby Room families receive photographs and daily updates through an app. Parents can also stay and play, and the nursery offers ideas for supporting development at home. These arrangements create several routes for exchanging information: everyday updates, shared time in the setting and practical suggestions that can carry learning into family life.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The Early Years Learning Centre is intended for children aged two to five who could benefit from targeted developmental help but do not need one-to-one care. Its Early Years Learning Curriculum is tailored to the child's developmental needs and includes individual and group sessions, with progress monitored by a SEN professional. A monthly meeting with parents lasts 30 minutes and is used to review progress and agree next steps.

That is a substantial addition to the general nursery offer. It gives families a defined process for discussing goals and reviewing support, rather than relying only on informal conversations. The boundary matters too: this particular service is designed for children who can participate without one-to-one care, so the level of support must match the child's needs.

At the May 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described successful work with other professionals to support children's needs, including preparation for starting school. In May 2023, staff brought relevant professionals together and arranged additional plans where a child needed help with that transition. This was support for the move itself, rather than an admissions advantage.

Food and care supplies follow the room's charging arrangement: the Baby Room fee includes milk, breakfast, snacks, tea, nappies, wipes and creams. Preschool meals and specified care materials are covered by a separate Extras & Essentials charge, so the same inclusion does not apply across both rooms.

Sessions and Attendance

Fun Box is at Totton Christian Centre, 9 Ringwood Road, Southampton, SO40 8DA, in Totton beside Asda. It opens on weekdays from 8am to 5pm, operating for 50 weeks of the year, with bank holidays and a two-week Christmas closure excluded. Families using year-round care therefore need another arrangement during those closures.

Baby Room full-day care runs from 8am to 5pm. Preschool attendance is sold by the hour, with term-time-only and all-year-round options. The distinction gives the two stages different practical uses: a complete daytime booking for babies and a more adjustable pattern for older children. Flexible preschool hours can also fit a family that needs attendance around school runs rather than a whole day.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 023 8086 1166, by email at info@funboxdaynursery.co.uk or through the contact form. Registration forms can be returned by email or post. These are straightforward routes for starting the joining process, while the settling sequence provides the bridge between registration and the child's first regular attendance.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is accepted for eligible children from nine months, as well as eligible two-, three- and four-year-olds. Additional paid hours can sit alongside funded time. The funding arrangements include term-time use and a stretched option across the nursery year, so families can choose between concentrating hours during terms and spreading them more evenly.

For the working-parent entitlement, Fun Box offers 30 hours over 38 weeks or 22 hours over 50 weeks, subject to its terms. Its separate funding arrangements also describe 15 hours over 38 weeks or 11 hours over 50 weeks for eligible two-, three- and four-year-olds. These are the nursery's stated delivery patterns, rather than a promise that every family qualifies.

Funded time carries no top-up charge for the hours themselves, although meals or additional activities may carry costs. Separately, the Preschool Room's Extras & Essentials charge covers food and non-food items including wipes, nappies, sun cream and spare clothing; the Baby Room daily fee includes its listed food and care supplies. A written quotation should distinguish the room's charges from the treatment of funded hours.

The Baby Room terms exclude registration and administration charges, and there is no charge for bank holidays or the Christmas closure. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The opening hours and fees page sets out the different room arrangements.

• Independence at mealtimes. In May 2023, staff sometimes did jobs that children could manage themselves, and greater consistency in supporting independence was the improvement requested. On a visit, ask how children now take responsibility for everyday tasks, especially around food.
• The right level of developmental support. The Early Years Learning Centre is for children who benefit from targeted help but do not require one-to-one care. Discuss how its individual sessions, group work and monthly reviews would fit your child's needs before choosing that service.
• Two room arrangements. Babies use full-day care, while preschool children can attend by the hour; food and consumables are included for the former and separately charged for the latter. Request a written quotation that separates funded time, paid hours and extras.
• The Christmas gap. Year-round operation still includes a two-week Christmas closure and bank holidays. Families dependent on continuous weekday childcare will need to plan around those dates.

Fun Box suits families seeking full-day baby care or flexible preschool hours, with a choice between term-time and year-round preschool attendance. Its strongest practical addition is the Early Years Learning Centre: targeted sessions and scheduled parent reviews give developmental support a clear structure.

The garden, child-led projects and story-based activities provide substance to the everyday offer. The dated Good judgement supports the account of education and care, while the independence recommendation gives parents a useful point to explore. Room-specific charging and the learning centre's support boundary deserve close attention when deciding whether the arrangement fits.