Blanket love

 I love crochet and sometimes have time to make baby blankets for new siblings, even better when I’m looking after the baby and they bring their blanket with them to snuggle while they settle in!

Birthday Arts and Crafts

We always celebrate children’s birthdays with a little party! It’s so lovely to help make children feel special and learn about celebrating. It’s a great reason for doing some arts and crafts too. Today we made these gorgeous layer cake cards which provided an opportunity to practice cutting skills, counting and glueing and sticking. It’s also a chance for children to express their likes and dislikes and preferences as they choose their favourite colours and we talk about what happens at a party and make plans together!

Fantastic dens

My daughter was off school for an Insed day and decided to build a den with the little ones. They absolutely loved it and it has featured in all our games. She used canes ( sorry tomato plants!), pegs and a sheet. Dens provide endless fun; countless role play games and imaginative play, it provides a quiet space for down time and we even sheltered from the rain during story time.

Snail Love

We have had a lot of rain this summer and so the garden has been full of snails which the children have become fascinated with. I follow the children\"s interests in my planning and snails have provided lots of learning opportunities. We have gone on snail hunts, learning what they eat, following the silvery trails, looking at the patterns on their shells, collecting them, counting them and so on and on. And trying not to get cross that they\"ve eaten all our carrot seedlings we planted!! (we planted more higher up) Of course we read the Snail on the Whale too. We made these lovely paper plate snails. So many learning opportunities and all the prime areas of learning and development. Children\"s self esteem is enhanced through outdoor learning and I can literally see their confidence growing on a daily basis as they make choices and working together is great for social skill development. 

Perks of the job

The hugs I get and give on a day basis are more than a perk of the job! Of course it’s wonderful but it’s so much more. Helping children to feel secure attachment means that they will be ready to learn and grow. I love it when a child in my care starts to learn about their feelings and is confident about their needs and can tell me when they are tired or hungry or need a hug. It’s such a privilege to be able to show that professional love for my little gangs; teaching and nurturing them to care for each other, build resilience and supporting them on that journey of emotional discovery. 

Cress letters

Cress letters! This is always such a fun thing to do. There are fine motor skills to practice as we sprinkle the tiny seeds on, social skills too as we take turns, learning to care for something as we must remember to water each day, learning to recognise the shape of their own letter to help with early literacy skills. And of course the joy of watching something we’ve planted growing. We had egg and cress sandwiches and the children enjoyed tasting the slightly spicy peppery cress and deciding whether they liked it or not! 

Duck fun

Today has been all about ducks. The children were given little ducks in birthday party bags at the weekend so we read Daisy Duck books, sang the three little ducks and then decided to make a pond in the garden in this big tub. The children helped fill the bucket, then decided to look for lily pads and nasturtiums were perfect! This is such a lovely example of not knowing where the day will take us; on the spot planning allows the children’s interests to totally influence what we do. My role is to provide materials, ample provocation and stimulation and challenges to help further learning and promote interest.